How to plant a garden....

Okay, actually this blog post might be more about "what not to do when planting a garden." In true summer style, this planting a garden idea turned out to be quite a scene, a hot mess if you will. This whole concept starting on a whim at Lowes....kind of like when you are at the grocery store and you see Krispy Kreme doughnuts on the end cap and all of a sudden you MUST have doughnuts. Well in this case it was "we must grow tomatoes." We must have a portable greenhouse. perfect. (we should have stuck with the krispy kremes)

I feel like it is appropriate at this point to mention that I have NEVER grown anything. I have planted pansies and hung a few hanging baskets but that is about the extent of it. Here is the crazy part....I didn't realize that you could buy these veggie plants already planted. I thought you had to grow them from seeds but a wise sage (our painter) told me that no, you can just buy them already growing from almost any garden center. Now this comment might make me sound dumb but I prefer to think of it as horticulturealy challenged. Yes, I made up that term. I think I will point out the mistakes I made along the way in order to prevent you from making the same ones in case have the same whim to buy a 25 cell greenhouse.

I am glad we are starting with just four things....less for me to kill.

Here was mistake #1. Do you see those 4 little directions at the bottom? That was the ONLY directions I followed, I did not see the book of instructions until later. This one little mistake caused a series of other small mistakes. So this is our seed starting greenhouse kit....fabulous.

Here are the little pod things that have the nutrients and such. If I had read the detailed instructions I would know that the pods are supposed to face upward in order to make sure they do not bust out the sides when they expand (mistake #2). However, I did not read the instructions....so....

So the pods started to expand. They looked so FUNNY. I didn't know if I should go get the Mason's pooper scooper or if this was what it was supposed to look like. Mistake #3....I didn't know how much water to put so I just started adding.

You see the problem right? That little bugger on the left kept expanding and then busted out the side. (Mistake #4)

Yep....the pods are trying to escape. I do not blame them.

So then came mistake #5 which was I didn't read that you were only supposed to put one or two seeds max per pod. I actually just emptied the full envelope....all 1.2 million seeds. Then came the needle in the haystack dig to try pinch out the tomato seeds....which apparently are "runners" said the before mentioned "painter" who apparently doubles as a gardening expert.

The main point here is we survived planting the "garden" and now we just have to wait for it to germinate (I don't even know what that means). I covered it with plastic and now we wait for 4-8 weeks.

Next time we are at Lowes and feel empowered, we will try to stay out of the gardening section. Home improvements stores give you confidence to be the ultimate do-it-yourselfer....making it look so easy....who knows maybe I will become an expert gardener.