First Warm Weekend in March

Ordered Seedling Heat Mats this weekend, basically my last component of the seed starting endevor. Organized my seedlings into Index Card files. (Dumplings idea of course!). This will be good since they are organized according to what row they are going into... We have 6 rows planned.

There are 450 plants in each row :)

Row 1 - Zinnias (I am most excitied about this row, thats why its facing the road!)
Row 2 - Rudbeckias/Shasta Daisy's - Many Varieties
Row 3 - Sunflowers
Row 4 - Bouquet Fillers/Spike Flowers
Row 5 - Smaller Flowers - Cosmos, Scabiosa, Dahlias, Celosia
Row 6 - Butterfly attracting Flowers (Dill, Butterfly weed, Butterfly bush)


Went to Michaels arts and crafts and got popsicle sticks to lable the seedlings with.

Have the biggest variety of zinnias - like 20 types. Very Exciting!!

Sifting out the peat moss to create the perfect light and airy seedling mix. All organic ingredients

After the peat moss is sifted...very light and fluffy.

These are the bigger chunks that I weeded out... put this out in the garden

Composting all winter...Looking for restaurants/coffee shops to donate non meat food scraps and used coffee grounds for the garden. Keep your food out of the trash...we can use at our flower farm!

We got a 5 gallon bucket full of used coffee grounds from Chris's Squadron.

The compost pail that we use.. Got it at tj maxx for $12.99 - Very Cool

Got to visit the bee yard with fellow TBA members this weekend! Our first real experience out in the field. After reading books and watching videos all winter this was a cool experience to get to hear all the bees buzzing around our head. I was only scared for the first few minutes but then got used to it. Of course I had the full bee suit, dumpling did not.

Poor dumpling.. He only got the veil and gloves. I could tell he was feeling alittle wary.

Feeding the bees. Looking like space cadets...but we learned a bunch!

Dumpling was inspired and finished sealing our 2 new hives. Our bees are coming next month!! The english hives are so pretty, will make great yard art with the copper tops. Bee-utiful!

I have plans to plant flowers near the hives that will make windbreaks and also provide pollen and nectar for the bees. We learned that mediteranean heather provides the first flowers for nectar production, as early as Jan. so I will definetly be on the lookout for that!!


Things are finally starting to warm up. It has felt like the longest winter ever with all these outdoor projects just waiting to launch!