The raised bed is ready to plant

Well, the weather turned from short-sleeves to sweatshirts and hats overnight -- dampening our gardening enthusiasm.  Nonetheless, we managed to finally fill our large raised bed with our best approximation of Mel's mix (basically a self-mixed potting soil made of multiple composts, peat moss and vermiculite.)  The mix made sense to me since my raised bed is basically a very large container.

The light and fluffy mix is begging to be planted.  So I am probably lucky that the weather changed so quickly or I might have turned my tender veggie sprouts out too soon.  I will have to read up on this but I think the plants can go out once they have true leaves and/or their roots break through the pellets. 

I imagine it would be be best if I harden, or leave the pellets outside protected, for a day or two before I plant them out in the soil.  To help me harden my pellets, I am thinking of building a small square frame and covering it with a heavy, clear(ish) plastic sheet -- kind of like a smaller version of My Tiny Plot's peach frame -- so I am ready when the time comes.

In the end I am happy that the weather has bought me a chance to regroup.  And I am also pleased that the colder weather is bringing rain.  I am sure my new strawberries will appreciate it since I am a lazy waterer (my soaker hose still isn't attached to the faucet!)  

We started our seeds

So I still don't have soil in my raised bed and it is already March 2. No problem. The kids and I sowed our first crops in pellets today. Hopefully the soil will be in the bed by time our veggies need to be planted.

Turns out the Burpee "ecofriendly" seed starting kit I bought was really easy to use. A little over 4 cups of warm water turned the dry pellets into dark, moist 2 inch seed beds in about a minute. (In my mind that process would have taken hours. In fact I got the first one started before naps even though we didn't start 'planting' until after my kindergartner returned from school because I was worried that the pellets wouldn't be ready for the seeds.) On a side note, Burpee claims that the trays and lids are made from plants. They feel like plastic. How is that possible?

In the end, I would say that starting seed pellets was not the least stressful task to take on with kids. At first, none of the kids seemed to understand what 'plant a row' meant. But we made it through. Each kid got their own seed (spinach, beets, fennel) and 10 pellets (2 rows) to plant -- then I did the rest (chard, peas, and flowers.) I am still not sure if I got it right. Are you supposed to cover the seeds with something? I did my best to get the seeds down in the center but so far have left them to their own devices.

Finally, I am proud to say that my garden window is being used for its intended purpose for the first time. Up until now it has been largely used as a dish drain.

So as behind as I feel in the planting department, I am now started. Looking forward to seeing some sprouts soon!