Growing anew..starting veggies by seed...frightening!

For the first time in a long time, so long ago that I cannot even remember when it was, I have planted vegetable seeds in hope of saving some money on spring plants. I was encouraged to do so after reading the blog of a gardener in Kansas who reported that he started seeds in one gallon milk containers, making little greenhouses out of the containers. That actually is my big problem in starting plants, no where to start them. So after reading his accounts of his own experiences I did  the same.

Here is his blog I read, though he has now moved his blog, I will put both links below:

original--- 
http://sewa-ania.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2010-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-06%3A00&updated-max=2011-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-06%3A00&max-results=7

new blog--
http://growandtell.wordpress.com/


anyway... as I was saying I planted, and some have actually germinated and grown into sprouts. I hope they survive to plant in the garden. As of today only the squash have come up, so that encouraged me to start some flowers. I will keep you posted. It has been very warm here so everything was full speed ahead. Today it is much cooler, it rained for the morning and the sun is now out. I have the containers in a sunny spot on the porch so they are not fully out in the weather, that will be good and bad. He left his outside to the weather and said that they survived. Here on Shore Side Farm the problem is keeping the containers from blowing off the planet. The wind here is wonderful unrelenting and awesome, not very encouraging to baby plants-damn harsh as a matter of fact. But, this is a learning experience and I hope it is a successful foray.

We had a houseful of guests here for the past weekend. Its like we were hit by a car. Nothing is getting done. Our guests were great, we just couldn't handle it too well....or at least I couldn't. Can't get around physical damage I guess. I thought it was just me, but Mr doesn't seem to be in too much better shape, so I am rolling with it and hoping for a recovery soon.

Lots of new blooms in the garden today. Nothing dense, but even a sprinkling of color is an improvement on a property with no decorative plantings...well at least no flowers....There is an exception to that, there are lilacs on the property. A huge hedge of lilacs in fact..and a second clump next to the driveway. About two weeks ago I noticed that ancient lilacs next to the porch door, that had been chopped to below the ground level, had grown back and had buds on them. Can't fight history! Well the intense heat of the past five days has made them and almost every tree and plant in the area pop out. So many plants popped out that my car and everything else in the area was totally covered with yellow pollen. It was pretty darn goss, I hear the rest of the country has pretty well had the same happen there. Anyway I took a survey today and this is what has bloomed:

The Lilacs-Oh they smell so good!

These lilacs could be as old as the house!

                                                       tulips in the old iron wash cauldron

                                                             a lovely combination of yellow tulips and grape hyacinths

              These bulbs were scattered all through one side of our lawn but they never bloomed. I let them look untidy to allow them to bloom and they created a pretty white carpet of bloom. I think that they are Star of Bethelem, but I am not sure.

Well enough for today. Its been a big week here.