First Seeds of 2015

I already put in an order on Burpee for some seeds.  I'm starting to worry that I'll spend hours planning what to get, and then when I finally go to order, they'll be out of what I want, or I'll have a trip come up and I won't get them started soon enough.

I got:

• Lacinato Kale
• Bright Lights Swiss Chard
• Radicchio, Red Verona (the round kind, not Trevisio)
• Sugar Snap Peas
• Toy Choi
• Joy Choi
• Radishes, Cherry Bell
• Creeping Thyme
• Coleus, Wizard Mix (big leaf)
• and "Burpee Booster," which was recommended for peas and beans

They obviously aren't here yet, but I got all psyched up for it.  I got a bag of seed starting mix- it's Jiffy brand, 60% peat moss and coir, vermiculite, and a little lyme.  I think last year I mostly used the Miracle Grow brand, which of course has a little fertilizer.  I'm able to reuse the trays I got from last year; they're pretty sturdy.  I started 2 trays each of my old Lacinato Kale and Red Verona Radicchio. I've stored the Radicchio seeds in a pill container, and the Kale just in the packet, all of the seeds in a wooden box with lots of those silica packets.  If these germinate, that will be great.  I'm sure it was too warm and too humid for ideal seed storage, but we'll see what happens.

If they do work, I will feel kind of dumb for buying the same thing again.  The Radicchio is 90 days to maturity, and the Kale is 60, so I'm hoping getting a really good head start will mean I can actually grow some and get them finished before summer starts.

I'm going to buy another grow light.  This time, I'm going for the 2 foot 4 tube one.  I think I can use that on 6 trays at a time, and use my current 2 tube light on 4 trays at a time.  And, I only have 10 trays, so, that should be enough.

When this seed order gets here, I'll start some coleus, as many trays as I can.  It needs to be started 8 weeks early, and probably can't go outside until May, since it's tropical.  I realize that I would be starting it a month early, but I can transplant them to bigger containers inside and grow them that way until it gets warm enough.  Since they're shade tolerant, they should be fine as house plants.  Last year I wanted to get a ton of coleus, since it's the easiest thing to grow, it looks amazing, it gets big and full, it's just a great bedding plant all around.  But for some reason, I couldn't really find any, or enough that looked good.  The landscaping people at work must have bought all the coleus in the area, because every bed was crammed with it.  And they never took care of it or pinched it back, so it was all tall and started to flower... I would much rather have it stay low and full.

I'll also get some Creeping Thyme started.  I've pretty much given up on growing Thyme to cook with, but this will work as a ground cover and should have some nice smell and maybe some flowers.  And it's perennial to Zone 5, so it should last for a while.

Compost

I bought this lovely raised bed thingy for my patio, and I'm delighted with it, it's perfect.  But I haven't planted anything in it.  Right now, I'm just throwing in all the cuttings from any plants, including all the cut-back liriope from 3 months ago.  It's like a pre-compost, I guess.

My actual compost bin has this dark, steamy, unctuous mass sitting at its bottom.  When I went outside a few days ago, it was 7 am and relatively cool, and the sun was not yet on the bin, but the thing was so hot I could barely touch it.  So I think that's going well.

Since it's almost done, I could just take it out and pile it up in some container, and start another batch.  I could pretty much get it finished before winter, right?

It's starting to look like a garden center run by crazies over here

Flower Market:

• 3 Yarrow, red and yellow flowers- planted in the Bed of Neglect across the sidewalk
• 2 Vinca Vines- maybe the wall planter? 
• 1 Thunburgia - wall planter?
• I feel like there was something else?

Lowe's (literally never stop improving)

• 4 Creeping Phlox (light light purple, not the color I wanted, but on the clearance rack for $3) - not sure yet where to plant these.  I might give them to mom.
• 3 Stella D'Oro Daylilies- in the front, but I need to think more strategically about that whole area 
• 3 New Guinea Impatiens- in containers on the patio on the trellis.  Done.   
• Sun Gold Cherry Tomato plant
• Jalapeno plant
• another trellis thing for pole beans

Wedgewood:

• 2 Creeping Phlox, to match my candy stripe pink ones- will plant just in front of the existing ones.
• 2 Echinacea (the regular purple-pink kind.  Probably should have gotten 3) - well, I was thinking it would go in the front bed, but now I'm kind of thinking the side bed needs some late summer flowers.  
• 1 Mandevilla, the standard bright pink kind- planted in a larger planter with the beautiful obelisk, placed in the middle of the bed.  
• A gorgeous obelisk trellis for the Mandy for only $30
• 6-pack of small Coleus- in containers on the patio
• a cocoa liner to fit my giant wall planter

Obviously I've gotten a little carried away.  I mean, I spent probably $500 so far.  As long as I actually take care of everything, I think it's justified.  

Still to do....

Raised Bed:  

• plant tomato and pepper plants
• put in new trellis frames, plant more pole beans
• I pulled the flower buds off the chives so they'd keep growing... that's ok, right?

Containers:

• transplant begonia bulbs to larger pots
• transplant coleus to pots
• plant nasturtiums in window box planters
• water the Mandevilla
• water the other containers
• get more potting mix for the wall planter
• figure out what to put in the wall planter

Side Bed:

• Plant the new creeping phlox.  I want to dig up all the hyacinths as I'm doing this, because I don't like their current location.  I want them clustered in the middle.  
• cut back camellia 
• Figure out what the hell I'm doing.  The hostas in there are kind of a mix of things that don't makes sense together.  The fern, oh my god, that fern is so stupid there.  It's really getting crowded by the rhododendron and the hosta.  The thing is, he seems to be thriving.  

Front Bed: 

• finish dealing with the tree-bush
• plant new day lilies, figure out if and where to move the old ones.