Starting Vegetable Seeds

It's the first weekday of Daylight Savings Time, so naturally I stopped at my local hardware store for vegetable seeds, starter mix and a seed tray. I try to shop at this tiny place with three parking spaces when I can, even though when I ask the owner if he has a product, he says things like, "Yeah, it's here somewhere," while looking around helplessly until whichever one of us notices it first plucks it out of a heap.

It worked out today because one of the guys there gave me 3 giant pumpkin seeds out of a clear plastic bag hanging on the bulletin board, and rapid fire directions about how to grow THE biggest pumpkins. I'm supposed to plant them May 1st in a pot, or sooner since I have a cold frame this year, so we'll see how that goes.

I started seeds for basil, purple tomatillos and Purple Cherokee tomatoes (notice a theme?). Because - for a change - I am following package directions, I am saving my lettuce, spinach and cilantro seeds until I dig the window boxes out of the shed. The packages say to sow them directly in the ground, but I'm going to take advantage of the boxes and the cold frame (a Craigslist special!) to get them out a little earlier.

My goals for the garden this year, in true Doin'-It-My-Damn-Self fashion (to coin a phrase), is to see what I can figure out about feeding garden plants. It's possible that I have some quality, finished compost down at the bottom of the bin, but I haven't really thought that part of the process through. Marjorie, my trusty compost pile, is never quite full, and I keep adding more stuff to it as it compacts.

Note to self: research what one does after one builds a compost bin and dutifully hauls coffee grounds and forgotten vegetables out there for a year and a half.

My strategy last year was to throw some seeds in to holes and pots, water them whimsically, and grimace at the yellowing leaves in a concerned fashion. Luckily my brother and wife are more conscientious gardening companions, so I got a few vegetables out of that train wreck.

This year, I'm hoping to used what I learned (So far: the soil in my yard is unimpressive, plants require food and pumpkin leaves grow some kind of powdery mold) to grow edible foods. I'll leave you with that cliffhanger until something actually grows.

Will our tomato seedlings take hold this year?
Will our heroine finally find out what Marjorie is hiding?
Will it remain unseasonably warm?
Are there animals living in the shed?

Stay tuned for these answers and more, in the next episode of Doin' It My Damn Self in the garden.