We are New Parents…well, sort of.

So we may not truly be new parents, but the anticipation and the excitement of  our seeds sprouting through the wet soil have made us feel like it over the this past week.

Seedlings sprouting for Sangria plants

We got an early start on planting the Sangria pepper seeds,  our famous ornamental pepper plants.   Jim actually bought me the first plant a few years back for mother’s day, and we loved it so much that we  ended up saving the seeds of the this rare plant because they were so hard to find at our local nurseries.  Last year we planted the seeds in mid-February, but because they take so long to germinate, we decided to plant them in late January this year to get a chance to enjoy the beauty of the plant a little longer this summer.

Sangria plants in a pot on our back deck

Last year we planted a little over a hundred starters.  We enjoyed giving them to our friends and family and looked forward to the pictures they sent us over the course of the summer.  It was exciting to see where they planted their Sangria plants and the hear how the peppers made progress as they turned from purple to red.  We also used some of our plants in our garden beds as a small ground cover plant.  They really did well and filled in nicely.  This year, I think we will plant even more and possibly closer together (we planted close to 200 seeds this year).

Ornamental pepper plants at the Pergola on The Farm

We also decided to expand our seed starter collection to include the Poinsettia hot pepper plant, and what we hope to be Sweet Tangerine Dream pepper plants.  I say hope because we believe we might have purchased a mislabeled packet of seeds.  The picture on the front of the packet is what we were hoping for (Tangerine Dream), but after some research on various websites, the name on the packet (Tequila Sunrise)  appears to be much different than the picture displayed on the packet.  Only time will tell — and heck, who isn’t up for some ‘unknown’ adventure…that is how great things truly begin, right???

We also decided late last year to reuse yogurt cups as an alternative to traditional seed starting containers for our herbs this year.

Reuse of yogurt cups as starting pods for our herb garden

We recycle daily, but one day Jim came up with the idea that the cups would make  great planting containers for some of our seeds this year.  And what a great idea it was!!!  Now we won’t have to transplant the starters into bigger containers; they will be large enough to go from the yogurt cups  and be planted right into the ground.  Then yes, we will recycle the plastic.

We hope to continue to expand on our seed garden every year and are always looking for something new and exciting to plant.  The best part of all, is sharing our starters with others.  We will keep you up to date on the progress of the plants and eventually the answer to the mystery seed question.

Happy planting…only 33 days until Spring!!!!

Mary and Jim