I’m super excited to share with you the news of our family’s newest addition.

Sprouted seeds!

What, you thought it would be a different kind of addition? Mwahaha. No way.

I spent part of my weekend starting my garden in my mom’s REALLY warm sunroom. I decided to take the leap this year and start my vegetables and some flowers by seed. And, as you can see, so far, so good.

For me, the advantage of starting from seed is the enormous selection. Greenhouses typically sell only the most popular plants; chartreuse zinnias and personal serving melons are not on that list in my area. And we MUST have chartreuse zinnias and personal serving melons. So shop online and find some fun plants to grow! At the end of this post you’ll find a list of some great online seed sources.

So. Here’s my method. I’ve been saving egg shells for about a month; I’d wash them and set them on the windowsill to dry. Cue Kyle’s complaints that egg shells are “everywhere.” They’re only on one windowsill KYLE.  I packed them back into cartons, grabbed my seeds and seed-starting soil, and I was on my way.

Use a pointy object (I used a toothpick) to poke drainage holes through the bottom of the shell. I did one if they were big, two if small. It’s easiest to go from the inside toward the outside.

Fill the shells with soil. Just scoop and level it, you don’t want to pack it down!

Place the seeds on top of the soil and use your pointy object to push it down about a quarter inch.

At this point, LABELING is key! Unless you want to be surprised as to what grows where, then who cares.

Before I gave them a good soak, I sprayed them with water in a spray bottle. I mean, it’s not really necessary, but I like to think it settled the soil a little before I dumped water on them. Either way, give them enough water so that it drips out the bottom a little.

Check them over to make sure seeds didn’t float to the top. They’re sneaky like that. Just push them back into the soil with your trusty pointy object.

Cover them with something that provides ventilation but will keep them from drying out. I happened to have these very random…things…that fit over the carton perfectly, but even a plastic grocery bag will do. Keep them out of direct sunlight and water daily! You DO NOT want seeds drying out once they are wet.

DRY = DEATH

Once they have sprouted, remove the plastic bag or whatever you have covering them, and move to direct sunlight. Put them in the sunniest window you have! They’ll love it. Spray them a couple times a day with a spray bottle. They’ll love that too. Transplant them to larger pots when they look too big for the shell.

I also happened to have a cheapo mini greenhouse laying around that I used for my chartreuse zinnias and pink baby’s breath. Those are the cuties in the photo. Surprisingly, it was a lot more difficult to sow seeds in that than the egg shells. But obviously my little seeds are loving it in there!