Here We Go...

Today was extra early release at Caralie's school, so we spent the afternoon planting our herb seeds. I purchased a mini green house at Walmart for a couple of bucks. Totally worth it. It contains 72 peat pellets. All we had to do was add warm water:

The pellets absorbed the water and expanded. Then we had to tear away the top of the netting of each pellet to make room for the seeds:
Then we removed a little of the soil, dropped in some seeds, and replaced the soil. Once we were finished, we placed the dome on top.

Right now the seeds are supposed to be out of direct sunlight, so I'm going to have to close my blinds. Once they sprout, we have a place for them in our bedroom which has a south-facing window. I put a trash bag under the little greenhouse to prevent any spills and labeled the rows so we would know which plant was which.

We are hoping to grow 12 plants each of parsley, chives, and basil ...

... and also rosemary, lavender, and chamomile. If they all succeed, I'll most likely give some of them away. I don't need that much rosemary.

To update you on the herbs we planted outside in February ... they are still alive:

We had tons of rain the last couple of days so they are a little waterlogged. The basil is still unhappy with me for putting it out before the weather was warm enough. That little "heat wave" back in February really threw me for a loop. It will do better in the summer. Apparently basil loves heat, which is good because it's going to get plenty of that! And that means more basil for me to eat.

And to add to the happiness factor that I have been blogging about this week:

Caralie's kindergarten teacher gave me this fabulous book today! During a recent science night at the school I mentioned that we were going to try to grow our own herbs. She remembered that conversation and thought of us when she saw it. How wonderful is that? Have I mentioned how much I love this teacher? Just looking at the beautiful photos of that book is seriously perking me up.

One last positive note: Chad is at an interview right now. Wish him luck!