Spring Has Sprung!

Every year for as long as I can remember, springtime at my house has always revolved around flowers. My family and I would go out to local nurseries and pick out our favorite flowers and shrubs and plant them in the flowerbeds around our house.  Marigolds and zinnias, impatiens and geraniums always surrounded my home.

Now that I'm on my own, I've continued the tradition of planing flowers to brighten my day.  But being in an apartment has presented some challenges to this. Obviously, I do not have a flowerbed to play in, however, last year I installed several window boxes and pots around the apartment's balcony and stoop, to help make things more springy.  I tried several different types of plants, but only petunias and impatiens survived, and only for a short time. 

I spent a small fortune on those flowers.  But I learned from my mistakes and I'm trying something new.  This year, I've bought a small greenhouse to grow my own plants in.  It's a really cool system.  You fill the bottom with warm water, which causes the soil pellets to expand, allowing you to plant your seeds. After you've finished planting, you put the cover on and place it in an area with indirect sunlight, and wait.  No watering is necessary so it's no hassle at all!  After several weeks, you have seedlings that are ready to be planted in the ground (or in my case, pots).  Because they were so successful last year, I've decided to only plant petunias and impatiens.  That way I don't waste time on other plants that won't survive.  Also, this is a much cheaper way of gardening.  At the nursery, it's not unusual for me to spend over $40 on flowers.  Assuming that I'm successful, I will only have spent $9 all together.  That is... if it works. I'll post updates on how the seedlings are coming along as they grow!

I took pictures of the box and the finished product, but I forgot to take them off my camera.  I will add them to this post once I get them.

Happy Spring!