Planting Day!

This was a day I had been looking forward to for a long time! On May 21st, I created the zinnia garden. Here are the steps:

The zinnia garden: lots of weeds have accumulated since the last time I weeded!

The garden after weeding

Ginnie loved lying in the dirt!

After breaking up the soil with the shovel. The soil is very clay-like.

After adding 50 lbs of gardening soil

After mixing the gardening soil with the soil that was already there

The whole peat pot goes into the hole.

Important to water!

The finished garden!

 On May 22nd, I planted the columbines and lupines in the big front garden.

The darker areas are the places where the columbine seedlings were planted.

I also prepared the little front garden that runs along the front of the house. It took a lot of work to take out all of the rocks, but it will be better for planting now.

The little front garden

After removing rocks and weeds (which took forever!).

I added the gardening soil to this garden too, because the soil here was also very clay-like.

I planted the poppies here.

Now, I am looking forward to moving the next set of seedlings out and hoping the ones that are already outside stay alive!

Picture Updates

Moving day (from garage to garden) is May 21! The zinnia, lupine, poppy, and columbine sprouts will be moving to their permanent homes. I have been moving them out daily, and the last thing I need to do before Saturday is add compost to the gardens. Here are the sprouts ready to move:

Zinnias and lupines in the future zinnia garden

The bloom that still hasn't bloomed

Lupine with lots of leaves

Columbine with 4 true leaves (2 in my hand, and 2 small ones that require careful inspection)

Many of the zinnia and lupine leaves have holes in them. I will need to do more research on controlling pests. There is so much to learn!

This makes me so sad!

Slug found at the scene of the crime...

Meanwhile, the rest of the sprouts are really growing quickly.

Beautiful tomato sprout

Snapdragon sprouts. Why are there different-colored leaves?

Pansy

Petunia

Delphinium

Snapdragon with 4 true leaves

Johnny Jump-Up (Viola tricolor)

The lavender especially has been growing like crazy. I thinned most of the sprouts out, and I will have to do the same for the snapdragons soon.

Getting ready to thin the lavender sprouts (and move to bigger containers)

Lavender sprout- they had long roots

Most of the lavender sprouts. I don't have room for these under the grow light!

Only three more days until May 21! 

Which also happens to be my two-year wedding anniversary! :)

Hardening Off

Today, I started the hardening off process, which basically means acclimating your seedlings to the outdoors by letting them spend more and more time outside for a week or two until you transplant them into the garden. I put them in a shady spot outside, and I'll let them stay outside for an hour or two today. Tomorrow, I'll put them outside for a little longer, and in a few days I'll try putting them in a sunny spot. Eventually, they will be spending all day outside in the sun, and then I can plant them in their permanent garden. I started the hardening off process with my zinnias and lupine, which are the most developed of my seedlings. 

Zinnia and lupine sprouts enjoying the nice weather

I will start hardening off my columbine and poppies soon, but my lavender, snapdragons, violas, pansies, and petunias need a little more time to grow. They are all still pretty young. The good news is when the older seedlings are transplanted to the garden, the young seedlings will have more access to the grow light (it is pretty overcrowded right now)!
I have also been trying to get the zinnia garden in shape. I dug out tons of weeds (and a huge tree stump and roots), and I am planning on buying compost in order to provide the best soil possible. Things are going to be very exciting for the gardens over the next couple of weeks! May might become my new favorite month!

Zinnia garden - before

Getting rid of everything

Zinnia garden - after (before compost)

Also exciting: one of the zinnia sprouts is starting to bloom!

Yep, that little thing in the middle is the beginning of a bloom!