Time to think about starting seeds

The first day of March certainly came in like lion!  Daniel, Sarah and I left a little after 7:00 am to take Daniel to school and it was just starting to spit a little snow.  By the time we got to the school it was really coming down.  Later that morning around 10 o’clock I measured 4 inches of snow and it was still coming down. 

Yet even with the snow I can’t help but think about spring yard work and the garden I need to put in this year.  In the past I have left that to my husband because I don’t have much luck with gardens I plant them and the seeds either don’t come up or die soon after they make their appearance.  One year I planted a lot of beets because I love them so much especially if they are fresh from the garden.   I waited and watched for my little beets to come through the soil.  Well some how I must have planted them upside down or something because only a handful ever made it up out of their soil bed.  By the end of the summer I only harvested five or six beets.  It was sad but that seems to be my luck with gardening. 

If we are going to try to supply our table more and more from our garden I must somehow change my gardening skills.  I need a GREEN thumb!  I don’t know if you can teach an old dog new trick, but maybe a forty something can somehow grow a green thumb.

I have been reading several articles about starting seeds and decided to try and plant some lettuce in trays and grow it in the house.  It would be nice to get a jump on some nice fresh salad greens for our table.  After our big snow we have been having some very nice warm spring weather it hit 66 degrees Sunday and it was just as warm or warmer Monday.  We are supposed to get more snow this week so still to early to plant outside. 

One article talked about using egg shells to start your plants in and this softly crushing them before planting them into the garden.  Using egg shells to start your seeds in seem pretty small but the article said that the egg shell would add calcium to the soil.  So why not recycle your egg shells but just crush them and add them to the soil you will be using to start your seeds in?  I am going to also add this year to my potting soil for my seedlings worm castings.  We will see how the Plant Killer (me) does this spring with my seed starts.

I do need to order my seeds if we are going to go with heirloom seeds this year.  A friend sent me an e-mail talking about gmo in our foods and makes a very strong case for watching what we are buying.  Even in our garden seeds.   

If you are interested in learning more about GM foods he suggested the following films and lectures: 

Hidden Dangers in Kid's Meals Hidden Dangers in Kids Meals (pt.1)
Your Milk on Drugs - Just Say No! Your Milk on Drugs
Everything You Have to Know About Dangerous Genetically Modified Foods Everything you have to know about dangerous genetically modified foods

 Here is a helpful guide for no-gmo foods. Non-gmo shopping guide