starting the garden indoors

Last night, we started our garden indoors!

We started with going through the seed packets to decide which ones should be started first. Birdie is all about her petunias - she had a couple of plants last year which were HERS and DON'T TOUCH THEM. She was very excited to plant some more this year.

We start with this little tool that AC made out of a block of wood and a piece of PVC pipe. The PVC pipe goes into the dirt and the wooden round thing is used to pound it firm, and push it out the other side. The soil block is now compressed and ready for a seed!

And then we mix the dirt - potting soil, compost, vermiculite, and whatever else AC decides to put in his soil concoction. Add water. Mix it with your hands to make mud. Mix mix mix.

(A gratuitous shot of Magnolia to prove she was there, since apparently I missed any pictures of her mixing the soil.)

Mix some more!

Now, run all over the house with muddy, sticky hands and track dirt all over the just-vacuumed living room. YES! Gardening is FUN! (After insisting that the girls shower before bed, Dad finished the soil blocks and planting late at night. They're under grow lights in our basement.)