Growing Things!

I'm taking an agroecology class this semester and we get to grow some of our own stuff which is very exciting. I've worked on a farm but only used a push seeder and haven't had the experience of tracking a seed to a seedling to a plant (hopefully bearing fruit!) day by day.

Yesterday we planted two types of lettuce, heirloom tomatoes, leeks, and peppers. The seeds come from a company in Maine because, as my professor wisely pointed out, it's important to get seeds from a place that has a climate similar to the one in which you will be planting them. That's such an obvious statement but it is something that could easily be overlooked.

I will take pictures of the seedlings as they come up and post them for you (whoever reads this, haha) to see. They are indoors right now in a classroom under a wide-spectrum light. We took soil from a professor's garden, from an indoor compost bucket (worms included!) and from the earth outside the classroom and mixed it together for the plants to grow in. This way we are hoping to get a good balance of nutrients to help the seeds grow. We all named the worms that made it into our pots. My worm's name is Fredrick and I told him I'm entrusting him with the health of my little seeds so I hope he helps them grow. I'm definitely going to talk to them to encourage them to grow and be healthy! I don't care if people think it's strange! They'll see: My plants will be the healthiest, haha. =)

No but really, I think it is very interesting how plants seem to respond to being talked to and to classical music. I need to look into that more.