The Seeds are Sowed!

Seed starting pellets-look at how much they expand!

Well I finally got the seeds planted yesterday that need an early start. I am experimenting this year with the different kinds of peat pellets. It is amazing that one little tray can hold 5 cups of water! Look at how much the peat pellets expand!

The little trays are the Burpee brand. I have both the self watering and the ones you have to water.

I also am trying the Jiffy brand as well. The planting material seems more loamy feeling in the Jiffy brand. We will see which one works best. I put them all on the heating mats to speed up germination. The are in my dining room right now but once I put them under the lights I will need to find a better location.

Two varieties of Eggplants

I started two kinds of eggplants, peppers, tomatoes, and a variety of herbs.

All warming up on the heat mats

So everything I needed to start now for the vegetable garden is started. Next up, milkweed seeds for the Monarch Butterflies. I started a native garden two summers ago. At first it went against by gardening sense to leave common milkweed in my garden. The former "weed" in my garden is the milkweed that really attracts the monarch butterflies. I was able to find monarch eggs and then raise the caterpillars into butterflies. Monarch butterflies are losing their habitat. That will be another post.

Common milkweed

Yesterday I decided that I had been paying for my Ancestry.com account for long enough. I wanted to try one more time though to find my dad's grandpa. I knew that his name was Thomas Riley but I kept hitting road blocks. I also knew that my great grandma, Ann,  died shortly after giving birth to my grandpa. I was about to quit when I found a Thomas Riley! The person that had Thomas Riley in their family tree had a private account. I sent her an email thinking maybe I'd get a response.

She responded to my email, appropriately for a Riley, on St. Patrick's Day!! Turns out my grandpa lived with her family when she was a child. I found my Riley relatives! She is my dad's first cousin. She is my age.  We are going to meet after Easter. AND her name is Rose! How perfect for a girl blogging about gardening to find a Rose! I am excited to learn my Riley family history.