First Outdoor Sprouts

Happy Friday! Today marks the end of April which means all signs of frost for zone 6a should be clear! Better yet, the warm weather is going to stick around for a few days, perfect for seeds to grow!

As I walked into the garden for the first time this morning, I was pleasantly surprised with what was awaiting for me there. That's right, some hard work is starting to pay off! There's some actual veggie progress happening!! 🤩🙌

(Triple Purple Orach Spinach sprouts)

I'm so thrilled! They may not be the prettiest or fullest at the moment but the fact that they germinated makes me so happy 🤗. Despite all the generous advice that's been coming my way, warnings of doing this wrong or that too early, the little baby seeds came through! Maybe I can do this after all! 🤪

I wish I had more to offer in this post but really the main takeaway is to keep trying, keep reading and keep planting if it makes you happy.

I tend to call my own mom when I need some gardening advice, but the truth is, she's located in an entirely different zone than we are. Many times she's told me over the phone 'might be a bit early for that Olivia, it won't grow. There's still snow on the ground.' Meanwhile, in my zone we've been free from snow for about a month, maybe even 6 weeks now. Tulips and daffodils have been blooming. Her advice did not apply to what I was seeing around me. Actually, now that I'm thinking about it, a lot of the advice I was getting didn't always apply.

I decided to give it a go anyway. It's all about trial and error like I've been chanting about, right? So finding out what grows easy in different places in the garden versus what grows easy inside is exactly what I'm trying to do. Figuring out the best methods to go hand in hand with different plots. It's a lot harder than it looks 😅.

Alas! After transplanting outdoor tiny cool plant starters the first week of April, some died from frost and to my surprise later came back to life! I try to follow the instructions provided on the packages as much as possible, since I don't really know what I'm doing half the time 😋. I've been doing my best to grow cool plants, but turns out it's also hard to do that, because it still has to be warm enough to germinate. A greenhouse would be the optimal solution, but I'm fresh out of those at the moment.

Overall, this year we're more thankful than EVER to have a backyard to play and plant. It's a bit crazy to think that a year ago we made the decision to leave the big city apartment life and move back to good ol' country roots. Then COVID-19 happened. I honestly don't know what I would be doing right now if it weren't for my backyard. So yeah, thankful is probably an understatement.

Nevertheless this gardening experience is all about trial and error (and some exercise to get my ass out of the computer chair 😝) and I'm having a hell of a lotta fun doing it! Even if it makes me feel like an old lady sometimes 😋.

Are you a beginner as well? What questions do you have? There's nothing 'too simple' when it comes to gardening so please ask away! Seriously. A question like how often should you water is something I'm looking into right now 🙈.

Let's grow ! 🌱💚

- Liv