Forcing Spring | Indoor Seed Starting

Are you impatient?

I think that would be an understatement for describing me.

I grew up in the southwest with a green thumb gardening granny

who I really didn't help all that much in her yard.

When I grew up, and still lived in New Mexico, 

I had a veritable small farm in my backyard.

It was AWESOME.

Now that I live in the Pacific Northwest

where we get snow

and lots of rain

and rarely ever see the sun

I get impatient 

for the 8 days of spring and approximately 17 days of summer

that we get every three years here.

That said, I LOVE 

that I can grow all sorts of great perennials and bulbs

(another couple of posts coming on that,

here's a sneak peek:

but most of all, I have just learned how to 

get my garden on inside.

So let me show you how I play God

and force nature to think that it is time to

push forth and prosper.

Or something like that.

Here's a bit of DIY on how to start your own garden

Straight through to how to create

your own little seed starting pots

by rolling paper.

No. Not that kind of paper.

Newspaper.

Come on now...

So...to start with, you need some pots to grow your seeds in.

You could spend half a million dollars on a seed maker like this

Or you could go ghetto fabulous

and break out the can of enchilada sauce.

A month of Sunday papers and here are your pots.

Then, you need some seed starting medium.

There are a billion and one recipes (google it, or trust me - that's on you)

for seed starting medium.

Do as I say and not as I do.

This year, I really wanted to experiment a little

so I made a special blend of hot mess.

If you try this and it doesn't work,

don't blame your crappy growing season on me.

Just know that SOME of my seeds sprouted super strong and super fast

and others...I'm still wondering about.

Here's what I used:

Essentially, I used some enriched compost mixed with some starter fertilizer

I also mixed in some earthworm castings

and some perlite to make it a little less than impossible

for baby seeds to push through all that gunk.

Here's what it looked like as I mixed it up:

Now.
If you're not as industrious,
you COULD just get pellets.

Personally, I always over water these
and end up with mold/fungus whatever the heck fuzzy stuff 
that doesn't necessarily make for good seedlings.


But.
I wanted to try these all natural ones this year.
I already know 
(partially)
how this story turns out.


I'll withhold judgment a little longer though.
You just never know what might 
"crop up"
(hahaha...I killed it!)
overnight.


So.
We have the pots, we have the filler.
Next time out,
let's get them filled and started up already.


What are you looking forward to growing this year?

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