Garden 2020: Well That Escalated Quickly

About a month ago I started getting ready to plant some seeds. Original plan was to start some cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, zucchini and watermelon plants form seeds in the basement shower that isn't used. Well with the whole covid-19 thing going on those plans changed. No way I was going to make trips to greenhouses to buy flowers so those got added to the list too. Luckily I have a bunch of seeds as you can see from the above picture.

First thing I decided to do was to move the new seed starter trays out of the shower since they hold water. Original plan was to move them to the laundry area but they eventually ended up on the basement kitchen counter. Yes I have a kitchen in my basement. My grandmother liked her old kitchen so well she had it moved to the basement when she remodeled. So I have lots of counter space. Next I went outside and dug out some of my starter trays and pots. Started off with about 10 trays and 105 4" square pots. Cleaning the trays was easy. Set them on the tables in the shower and well showered them off. Pots were a bit more labor intensive. First I knocked all the loose dirt off of them outside. Then I washed each one in hot water in the utility sink in the laundry area. Enough to get most of the dirt off and make sure there were no insect eggs.

So in a matter of a day the project went from 5 trays in my shower to 15 trays spread out over the shower, kitchen counter and laundry area. Then I sat down and sorted all my seeds to see what I had. Divided them into categories and alphabetized them. Added them all to my gardening log and quickly realized that I needed more pots. So round 2 of cleaning starter pots commenced. Grabbed all my round 4" pots, any starter trays that looked like they held water, and the rest of my 4" square pots. Washed all those the same way. While I was washing them I was doing some calculations and quickly came to the realization that if I wanted to do flowers I needed more. To cut to the chase 3 more rounds of grabbing every tray and starter insert for them and washing them all. On top of that I had some old plastic jars in the garage that I made into pots and never used that I grabbed as well.

So in under a week the project took over the laundry area, most of the kitchen counters, kitchen table and another card table. I am now in the middle of planting 17 types of flower seeds, 24 varieties of cucumbers, 10 types of peppers, 10 types of tomatoes, broccoli, cantaloupe, lima beans, watermelon, zucchini, and ever a pumpkin. I'll also be starting some beets, carrots, cilantro, basil, green and regular onions, and radishes outside. Going to be a challenge to get all this into my backyard garden. It will take every inch of space and then some.

Here is what the shower layout became. It's full of cucumbers and tomatoes. The color is off due to the grow bulb.

The card table is covered with flowers and cucumbers. Some have already germinated. More since these pics were taken 2 days ago.

Kitchen table has lima beans, sunflowers, and a pumpkin pot. Rest of the pots are for cucumbers. Most of those got planted today.

Kitchen counters have a variety of things. Cucumbers, peppers, flowers, and zucchini. The rest of those were planted yesterday and today.

If you are wondering what the pots are sitting on some are on the lids of the starter trays, others are on tote lids. I have a lot of lidless totes right now. When I move them outside in a couple of weeks I'll just shower the lids off, let them dry, and put them back where they go.

Finally my laundry area. Good thing I don't need to do any laundry for awhile. The washing machine has flowers on it. The sink I have been using to dump the potting mix into to fill the pots. When I'm done those large round pots in the sink will be filled an sitting on top of the sink. Those will have zucchini, watermelons

I haven't made too big of a mess yet. Nothing a quick wipe off with some Windex and paper towels or sweeper and mop won't fix. Sinks and shower are self cleaning. One almost mess. One of the trays that are supposed to hold water leaked. Made a bit of a muddy mess by the card table but nothing hard to clean up. Fixed that tray and another with some silicon and a garbage bag.

I have about half a day of planting to go then I need to put up the rest of the grow lights. If they ever get here. Amazon being slow on me.

Here is a list of what I am planting. The ones with a - in front of them are done:

Flowers:
-Daisy			
-Echinacea		
-Forget-me-not		
-Hollyhock 				
-Lavendar		
-Marigolds		
-Morning Glory		
-Nasturtium		
-Pansy			
-Petunia		
-Poppy california			
-Poppy oriental		
-Portulaca		
-Scabiosa		
-Snapdragon		
-Sunflower		
-Zinnia			

Cucumbers:
-Armenian
-Boston Pickeling
-Burpless beauty				
-Bush Champion
-Celebrity
-Cross Country
-Double Yield				
-Garden Sweet				
-Lemon
-Little Delicious			
-Lungo Della Cina
-Marketmore 76
-Mici
-Muncher				
-National pickeling
-Pickelbush				
-Pick a bushel				
-Poinsett 76
-Spacemaster
-Straight 8
-Sumter
-Talladega				
Tasty Green				
Tendergreen

Peppers:
-Anneheim
-Casabella
-Cayenne
-Corni di Toro
-Greek Pepperoncini			
-Habanero
-Jalapeno
-Poinsetta				
-Serrano
-Sweet Banana

Tomato:
-Beefsteak
-Big Boy
-Brandywine
-Jelly Bean
-Jet Star
-Juliet (grape)
-Red Cherry
-Roma
-Snack Attack					
-Super Sweet 100

-Basil
Beet
Broccoli								
-Cantaloupe
Carrots
Cilantro
Green onion
-Lima Beans
Onions
-Pumpkin						
Radish
Watermelon
Zucchini

And here is the current layout. Layout isn't quite complete and is subject to change a bit for anything not planted yet.:

384 small 8 48 flats
	1 flat pansy
	1 flat 
		32 petunia
		16 zinnia
	1 flat zinnia
	1 flat 
		20 zinnia
		28 Nasturtium	
	1 flat Scabiosa		
	1 flat Portulaca		
	1/2 flat Echinacea
	1/2 flat snapdragon 		
	1/3 flat Hollyhock
	1/3 morning glory 
	1/3 flat poppy california
24 2 large 1 flat
	12 zucchini
	12 canalope
192 4 medium square 6 flats of 32
	tomatoes
		1 flat
			Super sweet 100
			Red cherrry
		1 flat
			beefsteak
			big boy
			roma
		1 flat 
			brandywine
			snack attack
		1 flat
			jelly bean
			juilette
	cucumbers	
		1 flat 
			12 taladaga
			20 muncher
		1 flat 
			19 sumpter
			13 Pick a bushel
72 3 medium 2 flats of 36
	1 flat Poppy oriental
	1 flat Lavendar
75 big 5 flats of 15
	cucumbers
		1 flat spacemaster
		1 flat pickelbush
		1 flat bush champion
		1 flat stright 8
		1 flat double yield
10 big 5 each of 2 tote lids
	cucumbers
		1 lid armenian
		1 lid lemon
40 big 4 flats of 10 
	cucumbers
		2 flat national pickeling
		1 flat celebrity
		1 flat cross country
5 10x round no flats
	cucumbers
		1 flat marketmore 76
		1 flat poinsette 76
		1 flat garden sweet
		1 flat boston pickeling
		1 flat burpless beauty
360 5 peat pods of 72
	2 flat peppers
		4 rows casabella
		3 rows cayenne
		3 rows jalapeno
		3 rows serrano
		1 row corro de torro
		2 rows x 5 all others
	2 flats merigolds 
	1 flat
	 	half daisy
		half Forget-me-not
flat of 23 11 big single, 8 large 2x4, 1 small 4
	cucumbers
		1 small mici
		8 large Lungo Della Cina
		11 big tendergreen
3 big round black watermellon mix
3 big round watermellon mix 
5 big round pots watermellon
1 big round pot pumpkin
6 small round broccoli
6 small round broccoli
7 jars sunflower
3 rice pudding lima beans
8 big round sun soy zucchini
1 jar 	tomato 	jet star
1 jar little delicous
10 jars lima beans
4 jars mici
4 jars taladega
? jars tasty green

Yes it seems like a lot and probably is too much. They are old seeds though so better to over plant and have some plants to give away then not have any germinate. Any potting mix from ungerminated seeds won't go to waste. I'll just put it in the bottom of hanging baskets with flowers and cucumbers.

Oh and here is one creature that is already waiting on the garden:

Haven't seen a rabbit in years. Too many feral cats around. But on my way to get a bag of potting mix there he (or she) was. Big one too. I'll just protect the seedlings and let him eat the weeds.