I have seedlings!

 I checked my plants yesterday and I found 4 Sicilian Basil, 3 broad leaf Sage, & 1 catnip so far. There not very big, but they are there!!

Well, warm weather turned into about 2-3" of snow...but its supposed to get warm again, then turn cold & snowy this weekend, but hopefully in a couple weeks my plants should become seedlings. We'll see. I have them in my bay window, but I'm debating on moving them to the top of the refrigerator, I'm thinking the cold might be affecting their growth. I've got to clear some things off, but its manageable. I did end up putting my basil plants up higher, & its working out nicely. My onion experiment didn't work out very well, it looks like its going to die on me, its all wilty.

Yay for warm weather! We were in the 40's a couple days ago, and it got me motivated to plant some seeds. I took my foil lasagna pan, & 2 2ltr soda bottles (take and whack off the top of the bottles, fill with dirt & cover with plastic wrap). I'll get pictures as I can to upload them so everyone can see what I mean. I planted Catnip, Sage, Lavendar, Christmas Basil, and Scillian Basil. I planted them on Jan. 5th, so I'm sure I'll get some seedlings in Feb., and I'm anxiously waiting!! Will post the time span of each plant as they sprout up. I'm keeping them in my kitchen by light that's on all day, the lasagna pan is on the bay window, & the 2 soda bottles are on the microwave under our kitchen light which is on most of the day (but regardless from the windows & light they have constant light).
  Ok, well, on the microwave didn't work afterall.....my cats reclaimed it & knocked over one of my basil plants. So, I repoted & put it on a cabnit that they don't dare try to jump on :) (they'll get stuff falling on them if they do, lol).

Gardening Links

Here's a link to making a hotbed/cold frame for your gardening starters from Better Homes & Gardens:
http://www.bhg.com/gardening/landscaping-projects/garden-structures/building-a-simple-cold-frame/

(I personally will probably make a hotbed of manure since its the most eco-friendly & cheapest route to go! Even though I can only have a couple small ones, I'm also going to try & build a cold frame to put on my back deck which is the south-eastern part of the yard).

Here are a few more links for making a hotbed & cold frames:
http://www.savvygardener.com/Features/cold_frames-hotbeds.html
http://extension.missouri.edu/publications/DisplayPub.aspx?P=g6965
http://garden.lovetoknow.com/wiki/Building_a_Cold_Frame
http://www.gardenhelp.org/greenhouse/garden-construction-coach-on-how-to-build-a-cold-frame/
http://www.instructables.com/id/Cold-frame-construction-with-recycled-materials/
http://www.allotment.org.uk/greenhouse-growing/build-coldframe.php

Gardening Suggestions, Ideas & Tips

Ok, I've gotten to the point where I've been carrying a little notebook in my purse for gardening tips & ideas I plan on doing this coming Spring season. I'm also writing down what ideas I get from what books (with author names), so I can go back for references (and to share with you). (I'll get the book title & author soon for these tips). But I got some nice tips from a Missouri Gardening book:  It suggests to start growing tomato plants from seeds indoors (best way I've done it is in a mini-green house, or as in my other post, cheaper lasagna pan), on March 17th and plant outside on May 8th (not quite sure why, but I figured I'll give it a try this year and see if its better for the plan due to weather, etc.). I don't have very much information right now, but I'll be posting alot in the future.

Frugal Gardening for Small Spaces

 Well, I'm so anxious for Springtime gardening that I had found an onion I forgot we had in my veggie basket growing sprouts on top, so I decided to plant my store-bought onion & grow it. I got bored the other day, so put it in a short stocky pot I had as a start to renewing my gardening spirit for the season. I got a mini water globe from Dollar Tree a while back & its perfect for keeping the onion watered. So, here's to growing onions!! My next step will be starting my herb garden in a lasagna pan with those clear lids from Dollar Tree. I kept ALL my potting soil from last growing season & shook out roots (as many as I could at least), to save the dirt, and in all I probably have a good 10lbs of dirt. I plan on starting out with basic cooking herbs so I can keep them in my long rectangle pot on the bay window (its got a South-Western sunlight, so only has sun after about 3pm in the summer, and barely anything in the winter). I'm going to wait on that until at least March or April so we have more daylight. (By the way, I'm in central Missouri, for those who didn't peek at my profile, if its open to public, I honestly can't remember!) However, this is the first part of my gardening blog, and I'm sure as I go, I'll grow along with my plants, ideas & tips for other gardeners who are wanting to save money, eat healthy, in small spaces. At the moment, I started my herb garden last year in a studio apartment with 2 cats & my boyfriend. Now we still have our 2 cats (who think the plants are theirs & dig holes in them instead of using the litter box...) but, we rent a mobile home on about 1acre of a lot, and its enough space to have potted plants AND some ground plants. So my goal is to get the materials the rest of this winter, and early spring build a raised bed and get my tomato tepee's together (I'm going to use 2" dowel rods). As I can, I'll be posting pictures and stuff, it'll take time, but it'll get done :) I'm VERY brand new to blogging, so like I mentioned, I may repeat myself, & forget things, but I'll get better.