The past two weeks have been pretty much straight rain and grey clouds up here. It’s amazing the effect that many days without direct sunlight can have on one’s mood. I don’t know how people in Barrow, Alaska do it. Yesterday afternoon, I heard on the radio (because I’m an old lady who listens to the radio 8hrs a day but does not have television, haha! 
) that New England may be getting some sunshine this weekend. Excited, much? Today dawned crystal clear and the air has warmed up to a perfect 68F. I can’t even describe how a few rays of sunlight make me feel better about everything. In honor of this, the first sunny day in 2 weeks, here are some photos I took around my yard and house today.
Tomato seedlings!
Today I transplanted my precious tomato seedlings into individual Dixie cups. I hadn’t planned to transplant them before putting them in the ground in a couple of weeks, but they were starting to seriously outgrow their original containers. You know how organic and cage-free eggs often come in these strange plastic packages that seem to have too many layers of egg cups? I remember that when I bought my first dozen cage-free grocery store eggs, I was baffled by the plastic, 3-piece contraption they came in, and was frustrated that here, again, I couldn’t get away from plastic. Well, my friends, I repurposed those plastic egg cartons into perfect little mini-greenhouses. I was going to just explain this with words, but pictures are more fun! The empty cartons I just transplanted tomatoes out of will mime the act of being a mini-greenhouse, and my pepper seedlings will stand in as fresh young sprouts (even though my peppers are several weeks old at this point). Use your imagination.
The 3 parts of the plastic carton: 1) the flat lid w/label removed, 2) the bottom cup layer where the eggs sit, and 3) the middle cup flap that covers the tops of the eggs. Cut #3 off so you have two separate pieces. Using something sharp (I used the pokey end of my meat thermometer on top of a folded up kitchen towel), poke 1 hole in the bottom of each egg cup on #2. DO NOT poke holes in the cups on #3; this piece will become your watering and drainage space, so you don't want holes in it.
The idea is to put water in the bottom layer (no holes in these cups), and the soil in the top cups will absorb the water through the hole in each top cup. You're basically making a simple bottom-waterer. This way, you don't disrupt the seeds and sprouts by the harsh force of top-watering.
After putting soil in your top cups (these have the hole in the bottom of each), put water in the bottom cups so that when you put the top piece in, the water comes almost all the way up the sides without overflowing. Plant your seeds in each cup according to package directions. Close the lid and place in a sunny spot. You can use a little duct tape to seal the lid if you want a tight seal. Congrats, you have a mini-greenhouse!
When your seedlings have sprouted and are about 1 inch tall, open the lid. I cut my lids off completely at this point. Now you have a mini seedling tray. When the stalks are strong enough, you can start top-watering, or continue bottom watering if you want. Keep the seedlings well watered; the water cups act as drainage space, too! When your seedlings start to develop their second set of true leaves, you'll know you've been successful at seed-starting. Wahoo!
In case you’re wondering about the clothespin that appears in the photos, that’s how I keep track of my seed types. Instead of painstakingly writing the name of each plant on many, many little plant labels, I just stuck a clothespin on the end of the plastic carton with a letter or number to correspond with the notes in my garden log. For example, I did 3 types of tomatoes (Sun Cherry, heirloom Black Krim, and San Marzano roma) — I did one tray of each, and labeled them A, B, and C. In my garden log, I note that tray A is the Sun Cherry, B is the San Marzano, and so on. For my peppers I did 6 hot and 6 bell in one egg carton tray, so I noted on the clothespin which row was 1 vs 2, and my garden log indicates row 1 is the hot pepper and row 2 is the bell. Much quicker and easier…just make sure you keep good notes and don’t go moving your clothespins all around or you’ll end up with mystery garden! Now that you know how to make a mini-greenhouse out of plastic egg cartons, here are some more fun photos!
Clockwise from top Left: Crabapple tree in bloom, which many many bees were enjoying while I took this photo; another shot of the crabapple; a patch of pretty dandelions; a bunch of tarragon that came back this year after that planter sat outside buried under snow all winter; and a patch of white and purple violets growing under the red maple.
Clockwise from top Left: Strudel going all ninja cat on the deck railing; Gretta Pooh Bear, who is 14 this year and enjoying some warm sun rays; Bean, our Maine coon cat who truly believes he's human; a weird shot of Doodle, our little Maltese, who is white and not actually pink like she looks in this picture (she just got clipped so her skin is showing through); and Ingrid (who is a boy) doing one of his "I'm about to jump on you" distance assessments.
I’m off now to get some more sunshine into my system. Hope you all are having a sunny, fun-filled Saturday!
