March is Busting Out All Over

We have signs of Spring all winter long down here. It's one of our three planting seasons, after all, and lots of people in our neighborhood have had tons of things growing in their yards. We have been a little behind since we're the newcomers. But our little green guys inside have been making us proud!

They've been sleeping with the window open, just like their parents, for the past week. This has been getting them use to cooler temperatures at night. Tomorrow morning is their first journey outside. I am going to leave them in their Jiffy pots but put them in full sunlight. This will acclimate them to the wonders of the sun, as well as get them adjusted to breezes from the wind. It will be good for them to start getting stronger so they can survive "transplant" time in two weeks. Transplanting won't be too hard on them...we simply put the Jiffy pot full of the seedlings into a larger pot full of potting soil. Nothing needs to be dug up or uprooted. I see a 100% success rate in the upcoming transplants as a result. I could have been a surgeon.

I've been dying for some color outside, so I remedied it yesterday by purchasing a beautiful poppy plant ($3 at Home Depot) and bright blue pot ($3 at Walmart). These little guys have tons of flowers left to bloom, and the red blossom opened up just since yesterday when it was planted! I love looking out the window to see a bright burst of color. And I really love flowers. What woman doesn't?

I also planted two more herbs yesterday. It's so nice outside that they are able to start their growing journey in the great outdoors from Day 1. They will begin sprouting in less than a week and will soon be the size of all their other herb buddies who have been living indoors for the past month. What a happy reunion when they all live outside in their peaceful pots! We are doing all of the herbs in pots instead of in the garden boxes. This will prevent things from cross-pollinating as well as keeping the herbs in check by limited their root growth potential. I can hardly wait to head outside to snip off some fresh basil for some pasta!

Spring is certainly in the air. I hope we don't skip it entirely...this week will be in the high 80s. Where did my high 70s (utter perfection) go so quickly? We only had a few days of it before it jumped up an additional ten degrees. I hope it isn't an indicator that the summer is going to be miserable. This is my favorite season by far. When I was growing up, it meant softball was starting! But now? It just means my plants are growing like weeds and are almost ready to move out into the real world.

I just hope I've prepared them well enough to handle it. It's a cruel place out there.