Today’s gardening lesson was identifying seedlings. See, I had labeled the tray and not the pots in the tray, so when it got dumped over the other evening, everything got scrambled. Anyone who has ever seen a seedling of any type will tell you, they pretty much all look the same. Therefore, I had to try to identify at least two in each pot grouping, in order to orientate them to the chart I made. Ugh.

It’s easier after the second set of leaves come in, at least it’s easier to tell a pepper from a tomato or a marigold, but the tomato seedlings are still somewhat of a mystery. I think I’ve worked it out. Maybe I’ll be better able to tell them apart when they get some more leaves on them. Or, as will likely happen, they will all die and it won’t be an issue. At least I was able to sort out which were the Calundula, since those are the ones getting transplanted today. I only have two surviving seedlings, and I need four plants, so it looks like two seeds will be directly sown. Well, more than two seeds, because I have to have at least two more plants, and I don’t trust any seeds to be 100% reliable.

So I learned a bit about identifying various plant species at the baby stage, but most importantly, I learned to label the pots and not the tray they are in … because all it takes is a gust of wind to scramble my careful arrangement making my delightful chart completely useless.

Off to dig in the dirt now and get some seeds set in the soil! I went out and chopped up the area a little earlier, and it should be just right for planting now.

And so, Spring Garden 2009 officially begins…