Changed My Mind

I changed my mind. 

I'd planted some tomato seeds in my hydroponic sponges Saturday evening, but after watching several gardening videos on YouTube, I decided to take a different tack.  Almost every one of the videos I watched suggested planting tomato seeds in red Solo cups.  The reasoning is that as the plant grows, you can trim off the lower leaves and add soil.  This will make the seedling put out more roots, and result in a stronger, healthier plant.  

But the first thing I had to do was go to the dentist -- and for once, nothing was wrong.  Woo Hoo!  Heh, I told the hygienist that I was at work wondering if it was too late to cancel my appointment and just go home.  She said, "I feel you, girl!"  But I didn't.  I said to myself, "Self, if you do that, you'll just have to reschedule and you'll still have it hanging over your head.  Might as well go and get it over with."  That's just what I did. 

Since I was already in town, I'd thought about running by Walmart after my appointment, but I didn't.  I have all I need for planting this year.  I'll just pick up more bags of soil during my weekly shopping trips. 

When I got home, I found some clear Solo cups, because that's what I had, and filled them about halfway with potting soil.  I didn't want to disturb the seeds I'd already planted, so I just shoved the entire hydroponic sponge down into the soil. 

I put the cups into a plastic container and set the whole thing onto the heat mat, at least until the seeds germinate. 

And I did put the humidity dome over the cups after I took the photo -- at least until the seeds germinate.  

The next project will be to pinch my zinnias.   

I took the difficult step of thinning them last night, and now they're down to one per cell.  I won't need to up-pot these, I don't think.  That's the reason I bought the 16 cell tray instead of the 32 cell tray.  Each cell is big enough that I'm pretty sure they'll be OK going straight into the bed.  The fewer times you have to disturb them, the better it is for the plants.  

I'm going to watch a few vids on pinching before I do that to them, since I've never done it before.  Mainly because I usually buy my plants already started from the garden center.  I want to get more into starting my own seeds because it's pretty fun watching them grow.  

Now for a bit of good news.  Ever since I dug the clay out from under that garden bed, this corner has drained so much better.  At least after that one rain we had. 

I think maybe this fall, I'll empty the other bed out and dig the clay out from under it, too.  I wish I'd thought to do that before I planted stuff in the beds in the other corner.  Oh well.  Maybe once I get started on the other half of the garden, I can shift things over and do that.  

And finally, there has been knitting...and watching Easter shows. 

 When the hat gets a little bigger, I'll show you a progress photo.  But right now, I need to go grab a quick shower and start getting ready for bed.  

Yes, I know it's early, but when one gets up ridiculously early, one must also go to bed ridiculously early.