Odds and ends

March is birthday month! Lisa celebrated on the 1st with a lovely vanilla cake with homemade fresh strawberry frosting:


And I chose a classic yellow cake with chocolate frosting (all homemade) for mine on the 16th:


Spring is here! We've had a number of nice days already and this week is supposed to be mostly clear. Lots of trees are beginning to bud, and our redbud is going to pop any day now...


Our plants are doing really well -- and getting so big! The tomatoes especially are much further along than they were this time last year. I think it was a combination of the correct lights plus the little layer of potting soil we put below the seed starting mix. They seem to like that early boost of nutrients! Now we are starting our slow process of acclimating them to the outdoors.



Here they are getting their first dose of light wind (and dog breath). All survived! We still have another flat of tomatoes that we just transplanted yesterday. They had a little bit of transplant shock so I haven't started setting them outside yet, but probably will soon. The sooner they can all live outside all the time, the better!

And finally, I wanted to share Caretta's unfortunate incident with some renegade packing material:


Like a good mom, I ripped it off her like a Band-aid when she was least expecting it. That's one way to get rid of that winter coat...

March madness

We do this every year. We try so hard to keep our seed starting under control, but somehow it always gets out of hand. Last weekend, as we were discussing the need to move most of our seedlings to larger pots, Lisa summed up the scene quite well when she said, "Oh my god, what have we done?"

A couple of flats of seedlings doesn't seem too overwhelming, but that quickly turned into 3 flats, plus an assortment of pots that will (hopefully) sprout some nice wildflowers:


We KNOW that all of these cute, little seedlings are going to become nice, big, healthy plants needing larger pots and more elbow room. We KNOW that once all said plants are in said pots there will never be enough room under the grow lights, but we remain in denial until reality sets in. This year we really overdid it, and our makeshift set-ups from years past were not going to cut it.

Luckily, we did not panic (well, maybe a little) but figured out a way to accommodate all the plants. And it turned out to be a pretty good set up, with only one trip to Lowe's needed and a cheap bill at that. Behold, the triple-decker:



We made great use out of a shelving unit we already had, and it created only a minor fire hazard.


Notice the flat still on the bottom shelf? They will be ready to transplant in a week or so. Yeah, denial is setting back in...

So yes, we are a bit crazy here, but it keeps things exciting! Plus, look at how happy they are in their new homes:



They grow up so fast...