:seedling: Seed Prep :seedling:

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Hey everyone, I was so excited to see this week’s OWC, #SpringPrep! I already made plans to begin my seedlings for the year, but this helped give me a boost. Additionally, I’ve been doing spring cleaning, and reconnecting with my practice.

I’m one of those people who loves winter in the beginning of the season, but by mid February I’m just 100% done. Around this time means everything is covered in sand and salt, slush, ugh. It doesn’t look very nice, and honestly gets pretty depressing. So I already knew the minute it hit March, I was going to get planting because I know there still won’t be green outside a while.

I have been feeling pretty depleted and depressed lately overall. I have had a lot of negative and difficult things going on lately in life that are really out of my control. Like many of us, when I get too down, my practice falls to the side, and I become disconnected. I haven’t been meditating, taking care of my few small plants I kept indoors over the winter well enough, no research or study, divination nothing. I needed a refresh.

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Last week, I spent the entire week cleaning my apartment. I made the place spotless, and cleansed all my spaces. I let the fresh air in, and imagined all the negative flowing away. I’ve picked up my tarot cards again, and I’m not all there, but starting to feel better. Along with all this, I sorted out some of my garden things, and got ready for planting. I also re-potted my plants, since they were all looking sad. I also let them sit under my grow light (I’ll explain more below) to give them a boost of light & growth they desperately need after this long winter.

Gardening is a form of meditation for me. I feel truly at peace, and calm. I haven’t been a gardener long, and I’m no expert. In fact, you should definitely not rely on most of this post cause I’m just working with what I have, and what I’ve researched. I have no idea how it will work out in the long run. But I truly love gardening, tending to plants and watching them grow. It’d incorporated into my practice quite a bit too. Meditation, plants cleansing the air and energy, healing herbs, and feeling connected with the earth.

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So I went pretty basic so far as far as seeds planted. I used seeds and supplies I had from last year. I had these puck things for seedlings. They are made of soil, nutrients and peat moss dehydrated into actual little hard pucks, which you have to add quite a bit of water to slowly. It’s a bit time consuming, but fun! and various seeds left over. Chives, Basil, cilantro, mint - all of these I gave 4-5 of the little pucks. Then I had one left over, and I found some marigold seeds. So yay! It’s defiantly a good start.

So I’m pretty lucky, I was given a hydroponic growing system from my husband a couple years ago. Usually, the idea is you buy these pre-packaged seed pods & let them sit in the water filtration system. There is a constant LED light going down on the plants which simulate sunlight. Honestly, it’s pretty darn helpful. But I was lucky and he found it more than half off.

Unfortunately the pods are really expensive and kinda trash. Also they are just annoying. So instead of buying those I am just using the light.

I’ve created a little greenhouse effect, the recycled plastic right covering all the seedlings. This is great for the first few days. First I started with a bunch of recycled plastic and taped it all together. It was rough but did the trick.

Side note, you definitely don’t need a fancy grow system to start your seedlings & honestly if I didn’t have one there are a zillion alternatives. I am just lucky I have one. A sunny window sill which is warm will work absolutely fine.   But if you are interested in grow lights, I definitely recommend not getting a pod like system. Just get an actual light. They are actually pretty cheap for ones around the size I have. But, for those on a budget, the free option is always the best option. And there are other ways to do it without the pucks too, just soil and an empty egg carton and recycled plastic wrap, but I got like 75 of the pucks for something like $7 last year so it worked it pretty good!

Anyway...After about 5 days under the light, almost all of them are sprouting. The light definitely accelerates the process, but not by much if you have good sun! This is always the super exciting part. The marigold especially is just shooting up fast as heck. I already moved it to a mini terracotta planter, but it will likely need to be moved to something bigger soon.

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Anyway. I decided that they needed more space. So I got an even better idea. Instead of just letting them sit in the actual tray, I got the bucket where the water/filtration is supposed to take place. I put all the little sprouts in there, and used some plastic over the top. Now they have much more room, they are more secure from kitties, and I can let fresh air in as needed. I grabbed some cardboard pots to move them into after they get too big, which will biodegrade once they go to an even bigger pot (hopefully around late May when I can put them outside). Woo!

So that’s my little garden so far. Hopefully I can get more going, and eventually have a proper herb garden again (and this fall I won’t be lazy and let them die in the frost, I’ll bring them indoors so I can have them all year!). I would still like to get a few herbs, along with some flowers.

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Anyway, thanks for listening to this garden babbling. I’ll try to give some updates soon with progress, and maybe to more into plant profiles of the stuff I’m growing. Take care, and I hope you are having great spring or autumn prep yourself.

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