The Grow Op

Yep, the Grow Op. That's what my husband lovingly calls my collection of seedlings that are slowly overtaking our home.
It started out innocently enough, but now it spans across three room on two floors, occupying every square inch of real estate in front of windows. My dearest, darling, ever-loving hubby has said that he's okay with it - so long as it stays organized (read: out of his way), and fortunately Gabriel doesn't play with the lower plants too much (he uprooted one of my precious tomato seedlings today, but that was an off moment I think).
If you'll remember a while back, I wrote about planting dill, beans and peas just to get something growing. Well it turns out, beans and peas really don't need to be started that early. I've had to build a container staking system for my peas out of coat hangers and I expect to see my beans bud any time now! As for the dill, it's happily filling three ittle pots in my kitchen - the only piece of my kitchen's culinary garden thus far. I had been intending to thin out the less healthy plants, but they were all doing so well that I've now got a lot of dill that I might be gifting this summer.
During round 2 I planted some tomatoes and some Bells of Ireland. A load of the Bells started dying off recently because they were running out of room, so I repotted them all today into 4" Jiffy pots. I just hope the weather picks up before they outgrow those, too!
During round 3 of planting I put in my Tawny Bell Peppers, some Cypress Vine and even more Bells of Ireland. Round 2 and 3 were space about 2 weeks apart and the only difference between the two planting methods was that I used indoor plant lights for round 3. Well, my Bells from round 3 caught up to the ones from round 2, and my Cypress Vine is now 4-5 inches tall - and that was only a week ago! My peppers haven't even finished their germination period!
So today, while I repotted my Bells and tomatoes from round 2, I also repotted some Cypress Vine and more Bells from round 3. I also repotted a dwarf sunflower that Gabe has been growing (He loves his 'flower'. He checks it daily, talks lovingly to it, moves it to the spot with the best sunlight and even pets it)
Oh, and as a little tip, when you buy store-bought pasta sauce, buy varieties that come in mason jars. Pasta sauces often go on great multiples sales (5 for $5 at my grocery store), so you can get a jar of sauce for a meal or two, plus a cute mason jar for crafting for dirt cheap! That's how I got the one I transpanted Gabe's sunflower into! I also used a plastic bowl from our kitchen for repotting today. It was one that was cute, but a bit repetitious in size, and I prefer glass anyway, so we were going to donate it until my brilliant husband suggested I use it for this purpose! He's so smart!
Well, after all of my replanting, I thinned out some of the less healthy seedlings and was left with a number of those jiffy seed-starting pellets begging me to fill them. So I did. I planted Sweet Basil, Thai Basil, and a fluffy, pink ornamental grass. I know, I'm insane. But at least I'll have at least half a chance of a nice garden this year!

Mrs. VanderLeek ;)