Crafting My Bliss

I planted seedlings indoors about a month ago and outdoors about two weeks ago. It was very educational and exciting. I now understand all the memes I’ve read about sowing too many seeds and not planning where to plant them all. I am in that situation right now. The funny thing is that I planted extra seeds on purpose. I was not sure if all my seeds were viable as some of them were old. I also was not very confident in my planting skills. I wanted to make sure I ended up with enough plants that were healthy enough to plant. I knew I had to thin the seedlings as too many of them were planted together. I planned for all these scenarios and ended up with more plants. I threw a few away, but part of me still worries exciting ones will not all survive this early stage and I’d rather play it safe. Now I have to accommodate more plants than I expected.

Since I spend so much time scrolling through various gardening websites and I follow several gardeners on social media, I have learned that I can use egg cartons and other plastic food containers. Instead of throwing them away, I reused them and planted more seeds. This creates a mini greenhouse, and it has already come in handy. Within a week, some of my seeds started to germinate. I know this all sounds positive so far, and it is. I will say that there have been some ups and downs, and as I mentioned earlier, this has been a learning experience.

I planted my lavender seeds first. They take almost a month to germinate. Since I want to have many lavender plants in my garden, I planted several seeds. The germination window on the packet was approaching the end, so I became anxious and started researching how to grow lavender seeds. I learned that they do well with cold stratification. This gave me hope, so I immediately got more of my seeds, placed them on a paper towel, sprayed the paper towel until it was wet, and then folded it over the seeds so they were covered top and bottom with the paper towel. I put the paper towel in one of my reusable ziplock bags and then put it in the fridge for three weeks. Over time, one of the original seeds I planted germinated days after the germination date on the packet. A few days later, another one germinated. So far, I have two “successful” lavender plants from my original sowing. I gave up on the others and decided to try my luck with the seeds I put in the fridge. After I planted the lavender seeds from the fridge, one of them germinated after a few days. I am optimistic that I will have more of them.

I also put my artichoke seeds in the fridge for a few weeks to cold stratify them. Within a few days of sowing these seeds, three of the six seeds germinated. I am very pleased about that. I was only going to plant two artichoke plants, but when I saw how big they were getting, I decided to plant just one. I made this decision before the three seeds germinated. Now I am not sure what I am going to do.

I planted a few flower seeds in seed starting pots. I started by soaking some of them to see which ones float and which ones sink. I read a lot of conflicting information on the internet about whether the seeds that sank were viable. In the end, none of them germinated. I even scratched them with a nail file, as they are large seeds that need to be scraped to encourage germination. This was all a failure. Another method is to wrap the seeds in a damp paper towel and wait to see which seeds germinate. This was much more successful. I had a few sprouts and now need to plant them in soil.

I am learning as I grow, and I am enjoying the process. Years ago, I would have given up on the seeds that did not germinate. This year, I am more determined than ever to make it work and learn from my mistakes. It also helps that I get to play in the dirt this way, and it’s very therapeutic for me. It’s quite a journey and I am enjoying every minute of it.