Germination!

Starting plants from seeds can be extremely satisfying. My favorite stage of the plant's growth is when the sprout shoots up and the leaves are still trapped in the seed coat. Often these fall off under the soil, but occasionally they hang on just a bit longer for me to see. To think that in a span of 2-3 months it goes from that tender state to producing fruit with hundreds of new seeds is phenomenal.

My large bush tomatoes have begun to sprout along with a couple of the rainbow packet. I set the tray on top of a heat vent earlier this week which must have warmed up the soil to the seeds' liking. I decided to use an old egg crate to plant some columbines from seeds I harvested last fall, and I planted a couple of crooked neck squash seeds early. Last year the squash vine borers destroyed every squash plant in my garden. I read that sometimes sending out an early crop tricks the little boogers into leaving the real crop alone - we shall see how well that works.