Braid Victory Garden - Starting Seeds

Today the kids and I made a trip down to Home Depot for some seeds and the required materials. While there they (all 3) decided it would be great fun to "sing" as loudly and obnoxiously as possible in the store. I had one of those jumbo carts that can hold my 3 small children so they were at least contained while I, embarrassed and frustrated, tried to find the vegetable varieties in the organic seed sections and read the backs of the labels to determine the best varieties to chose and try to get out of there as quickly as possible. It was not a fun trip to say the least. And to top it off, when we got home the red cabbage seed packet was empty. Oh well, no red cabbage for us this year. (I am NOT going back there again with these kids anytime soon!)

Once they had eaten lunch and calmed down we commenced the seed starting process. First, we wet the seed starting mix with some water and  I showed the girls how to test to make sure its just right by squeezing it with your hand. Then they got the very fun job of filling the little peat pots with the mixture.   

 This is what I look like after a long morning dealing with a trifecta of "singing" children in a store. :P

These are not our victory garden seeds, they are the flower seeds Uncle Justin and Aunty Gloria gave the girls the day we built the chicken coop. They are the test subjects for my fluorescent light that is fitted with two full spectrum bulbs (instead of plant lights - half the price!). They love it! :) Yes, I know they are "stretched", they were in the window sill before - western exposure so they didn't get enough light. Hoping to solve that problem for the veggie seedlings with this setup. It is 4 feet long so I can fit both flats of veggies under it. I just tucked it up under a kitchen cabinet hanging from the chain that came with it so I can adjust the height as needed. ($20 for complete setup at Home Depot including bulbs)