Planting Day -- Happy Easter!

Sunday, April 5th, 2015

Today was planting day.

We bought our seeds at Skinner's Garden Store the other day and we started soaking them around 7 p.m. last night (Saturday, April4th). This speeds up the germination process. (I linked to an article in my previous post that explains soaking seeds in more detail.)

We added some Miracle Gro

garden soil in rows where we

were going to plant.

First, we laid down some Miracle Gro Garden Soil, which I got on sale at Home Depot for $3.88/cubic foot. A little more than one bag was needed to do what is pictured here (on the left).

In the first two rows we planted cilantro. I'm not really sure what to expect. We followed the instructions on the packet and planted them a 1/2" deep 3" apart. We had some leftover seeds, so Ryan planted them in a hanging planter and we hung that on the chainlink above the other cilantro we planted. Now, we just need to remember to water that particular cilantro a bit more than the other.

We decided to then do the non-heirloom spinach, separated by the mesclun mix with the other spinach (heirloom) on the opposite side of the mesclun so it's separated and we can keep them straight. This way we can know which spinach is which.

The regular spinach said to plant 3 seeds 4"-6" apart whereas the heirloom spinach called for 3 seeds

Marigolds are bright in color
and offer many benefits
to your home garden.

planted 12"-14" apart because I think it's more like a bush.

I don't know how well the mesclun mix is going to turn out. The instructions said to plant 1/2"- 3/4" apart, so I was assuming that meant one seed because it didn't really specify. Then, because the seeds were so small and sticking together from being soaked, I wasn't able to get them to plant the way the pack said to. I ended up with one row when it said I should end up with two. So I will see what happens. I decided not to worry too much about it, this is my first time planting food, and there will be more opportunities in the future to do better.

UPDATE: After talking to a friend who has more gardening experience than me, she said to add the seeds to a little bit of sand, then sprinkle that mixture where I plant to plant, that way they are dispersed more evenly. She said you may still need to thin them out a bit, but for the most part the sand trick helps spread the seeds apart a little bit better.

Another thing we figured out is that we should count our seeds and plan how many we are going to plant before soaking them. We ended up with extra seeds we had nowhere to plant but that had already been soaked. So, in the future I hope to remember to count them, then soak them, then plant.

After planting, I also planted marigolds around my beds. Here is more on why to plant marigolds.

This photo was taken after we
mulched and watered.

Next came watering. I had to fill my waterer with water from our rain barrels because we have yet to figure out a good hose system for them. Ryan also tried something new: He hooked up soaker hoses to the barrels and laid them in the north garden where we have yet to plant anything. It actually worked! He was able to leave the soaker hoses and the water came out of the rain barrels and slowly watered the garden. Now, we just need to get some new hoses that will work better with our garden setup.

Lastly, we spread an alfalfa mulch all over where we planted. This will help with pests, weeds, water retention and nutrients for next year.

The packets say to expect to see growth in as little as five days. I'll keep watering and hope it works. I'll post more soon, once things start to grow.

This is the north bed where Ryan is trying out
the soaker hoses. It works, we just need better hoses.