Thawing Dirt and Sprouts

All my seeds have arrived. I've done some planting, but really I'm 1-2 weeks behind with much of it. It's so time consuming mixing dirt, filling 6-packs, seeding, watering when I have so many other obligations (and kids). Hoping to crank out quite a few flats today and get caught up.

These are pelleted wave petunia seeds. They are expensive and I made a mistake in ordering. When I changed my mind about the color of the ditch bed (110-feet long) I forgot to delete the original order. Now I will have 125 Hot Pink Tidal Wave Petunias without a place. That will also take up much of the grow room and later the greenhouse that I did not plan for.

Awhile back Nick brought in some of the frozen dirt and yesterday Emily got me more. 

It thaws by the wood stove that I keep going to keep the grow room warm. I think I had things a little too hot last night and we were chased out of there!

There are quite a few thing sprouting. These are geraniums that already have 3-4 leaves now. The peppers are up as well as some petunias. It will all keep me very busy for the next few months, but it's a busy I love.

Yes, the plant room is still a mess. I'm running out of places for flats so today I will have to do some cleaning.

110 Feet of Tidal Wave Petunias

Last summer I thought  it would be a great idea to make a 110 foot flower bed down the fence line just to the point where Daisy, my sheep, would be about to eat through the fence.  My son, Nick, helped me dig a trench about 10-inches deep and 10-inches wide. I lined the bottom with partially decomposed compost and then added dirt. We gathered rocks from the ditches to make a border. Last summer I planted around 90 Cherry Tidal Wave Petunias.

This is what the bed looks like now. At the time I never thought about how much work it would be to clean out each Spring especially when I've gotten so far behind and the grass had a chance to go crazy!

So far I have managed to clean out, rototill and plant 40 feet. Between the rain and the horrible swarms of gnats and mosquitoes we are dealing with this summer who knows when I'll finish!

My seeds were purchased from Harris Seeds. These are Purple Tidal Wave. Not even close to my idea of what purple is. I definitely think there was a mistake in packaging. I am going to go back and find my receipt. I know I intended to order purple, but maybe the mistake is on me.