The idea of growing my own food has been something I have poeticized in my mind for a long time. However, I have only been acting on this for a few years. Once my mom heard I was gardening she shared her excitement with a man named Frank Winstead. Frank is an important person! He has known me since I was born and has always treated my like a daughter. He is what I would call a master gardener and a dear friend. For as long as I can remember, he has kept a garden-a very unique garden. When he heard I had acquired his love for gardening, a box of seed catalogs and other treasures that I will share in a future post, were delivered within the week. From that day, I have had a voice in my head telling me to start my garden from seeds. This is the year I listen to Frank!
I am starting with my favorites….herbs! They are typically less temperamental and more fruitful than many other plants. However, there have been certain herbs that do not want to flourish in my garden so I am listening to Frank and grabbing some seeds. We will see how this goes!
Dill and cilantro are the two herbs that I find myself struggling with each year. Is it just me? I often wonder if there is a secret that I have not stumbled across. If you know a secret, please do tell. The way I see it, there isn’t much to lose. After all, the seeds are fairly inexpensive and a bag of seed starting mix will go a long way. This decision was really made when I saw that the really small plants at the nursery were nearly $4 each- for one plant! This could get pricey if you are like me and prefer to have several plants of each kind.
Here is a quick look at what you’ll need. If you do much gardening or planting you probably have most of this on hand and it will be quick to gather it up.
I started by adding some seed starting mix to Jiffy pots. Before you start planting your Burpee seeds you may want to grab something to use as a label for your herbs. Once you plant a few you may forget which ones are in which pot…trust me on this one! I simply used popsicle sticks and a sharpie because that’s what was on hand. Feel free to use anything from the recycling bin- repurpose cardboard or thin plastics by simply cutting some strips!
Once I have them all planted I put them in a plastic tub so that they’re easy to move as the sun shifts during the day. This will also help if we happen to get another freeze before April is over. Then I simply cover them with plastic wrap to try and hold in some heat. I will remove the plastic as soon as I see any green peeking through the dirt. Fingers crossed….I will make Frank proud.
