2013 Garden Has Begun!

The subject is very exciting – the 2013 garden has begun! Seeds have been planted for broccoli, cauliflower, onions, kale, spinach, cabbage, lettuce, brussels sprouts tonight.
Broccoli – 8 plants, hopefully as lovely as last year,  stay away aphids.
Cauliflower – 8 plants (2 different kinds – hybrid, giant of naples), hopefully as delicious as last year, stay away aphids.
Onions – hopefully as lovely as last year, this was matthews pride and joy last year.
Kale – hopefully will be monsters like last year, stay away white flies.
Spinach – i lied in this post, we are growing it again this year.  we have 2 different kinds – hybrid, new zealand.
Cabbage – never grew, please be successful so I can make halupkies.
Lettuce – never grew from seed, please be successful.
Brussels sprouts – never grew, please be successful because I  love you so much
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So there it is – what the Spring garden looks like so far.  Sugar snap peas and carrots will be planted directly into the soil on the roof sometime in late February, early March.  Whew!  Lots of greens, very excited.

I know I say it every year but it always amazes me that this little seed can turn into this big guy. Man, nature is amazing, I can’t even understand how it does what it does.  Thank you life. Thank you world.  Thank you to the plant gods that I love dearly and sing and dance to in the garden circling our plants, showering them with love and hopeful dreams of becoming big and strong.  I respect you nature.  You are A+ in my book. I give you so little and you give me so much.  Please love me back.

This is seedling box 1 of 2.  There’s alot of things going on.  I graphed everything out and wrote everything down but somehow a cabbage will get mixed up in the lettuce section and cause me anxiety for a week.  It always happens. I swear they come to life at night and move around.

Shout out to the best helpers in the world too, Brother Bear and Xanadu Pluto.  Xanadu just wanted a pencil I was writing with while Brother wanted every single seed packet.  We could not find the cauliflower seed pack anywhere, turns out Brother Bear laid on it and it was completely hidden under his belly.  He was also very fascinated with the Brussels sprouts.  What a guy.

This year we also got a new grow light system going on.   This used to be the old set up.  It was one small 24×12 shelf with 3 6500 CFL bulbs.

This is the new system.  It’s a 48×12 shelf with 4 4ft 6500 fluorescent bulbs.   We looked at premade kits on all the garden websites but they are so overpriced.  $200 for 2 bulbs and a light fixture? You out of your mind. So we went to Home Depot and bought our own supplies.  This setup cost about $70.  *High Five*

Have you started anything with your Spring Garden yet?  While at Home Depot we were overly excited to see they have a full selection of seeds, trays and supplies all ready to go.  Last year I don’t think they got their seeds until March.  I hope I had something to do with it as I constantly went there every single day pleading for potting mix. The garden section manager eventually just gave me his business card so I could call him for updates.  I felt both cool and pathetic.



Happy garden planning!