Ready, set, GO!…and just like that the growing season begins.
The journey kicks off with the smallest most important part –

seeds

Seed starting indoors is sometimes a success, and sometimes it’s not, but even when none of your early-spring seedlings end up making it all the way through to harvest time, it’s far from a failed attempt. Planting from seed always comes along with a learning experience. The more challenges you run into, the more you learn about what, when, where, and how to tackle the growing process differently next time. It’s important to keep that in mind, and not get discouraged. Buying a pack of seeds and some dirt will certainly cost less than buying starter plants, or the vegetables themselves. So it’s worth a shot!

 A very important factor in this process is timing. Getting a head start on the growing season can be exciting and beneficial, but you want to be sure that the plants will agree. Doing a little research about your gardening zone would be helpful before picking plants. Our gardening zone (we are in zone 5) determines what and when and where to plant. Some plants do better if they are started from seeds planted directly in the ground, while others may need a little extra time and warmth. Check the seed pack for clues. That’s where you will find out how long the plant’s growth cycle is and when it can safely live outdoors. Seeing as though we live in the Midwest, starting indoors may be necessary for some plants, especially certain vegetables that need to grow longer than our Chicago seasons will allow them to be outside. A good rule to follow is, generally speaking, most annual vegetables should be sown indoors about six weeks before the last frost.

And so it began.
They were all growing!

UNTIL…

This journey through a growing season is something I always find to be interesting and fun, and since I like to share, I usually always invite someone to join me. When I became a mom almost a decade ago, my daughter became my favorite go-to sidekick for many things, planting included. I’m thankful she is still interested, and I continue to invite her to join tasks from the beginning to the end of each plant’s life cycle. It’s pretty amazing to be able to watch a child grow right along with the plants that they are learning to nurture. 

We kicked off the 2022 growing season by grabbing a seed starting kit at the grocery store. I asked Laila to pick out a couple new seed packs to add to our collection too. We try to grow a couple new plants every year so we can learn about their flowers & fruits & everything inbetween. The plan this year is to start 10 kinds of seeds inside. We’ll nurture them until they are ready to be introduced, and eventually transferred to various outdoor locations where they will grow throughout the remainder of the summer.

… a fluffy menace caught sight of our array of crunchy spring green seedlings. One by one he bullied each and every living sprout that had been happily thriving in our seed starting kit. Some of the seedlings were ripped from their dirt and batted back and forth between the furry monster’s paws like a toy until they became too flimsy to play with. Then they were tossed aside in random corners, stashed under rugs, neglected and left to wilt completely. Was our seed growing project no more? Were any of our green babies salvageable?!

To be continued…