Windowsill Greenhouse

Tomatoes and cucumbers and a few other garden plants have been purchased as seedlings when I'm ready to plant them unprotected outside for the most part.  I think once or twice I've tried starting them indoors in egg shell halves and got a sprout that I promptly killed because I couldn't seem to control the moisture.  I live in a very dry climate... and that tiny bit of soil doesn't hold much water.  But, I've rigged up a new plan this year and decided to give it another try!

The materials I pulled together were a rectangular clear plastic tub that salad greens come in from the grocery store, tubes from toilet paper rolls and some dirt (half soft garden dirt and half leftover potting soil from my last shot at houseplants).

I cut the TP tubes in half and placed them in the plastic tub, filled them with the soil mixture and poured a little warmish tap water over all.  Then I snapped the lid on and waited for it to get absorbed evenly.  The amount of steam it created, and so far kept, surprised me a little, but I figured it's a 'greenhouse' and so a little humidity was normal.

The next day, I planted my seeds...  After I searched through my stash that didn't get used last year (okay... some of them were older than last year) only to find I didn't have tomato or pumpkin seeds like I was planning on planting and made a quick run to Walmart's nursery.

I put 3 seeds in each half tube and will thin depending on what sprouts.  If I'm successful, there will be 3 hills of pumpkins and about a dozen tomato plants.  It's my first time growing pumpkins and I'm hopeful for a couple nice jack-o-lanterns and some frozen puree for pumpkin muffins.

Impatiently waiting to see those first sprouts.  And hoping they survive my "tender ministrations" and good intentions to make it into the garden!  And I can't help checking every time I walk by and thinking...

Now GROW, dammit!!

I've linked this post to the blog hop at My Simple Country Living.