Seedling shelves!

Pretty proud wife here - my self-proclaimed Unhandy Husband concocted a shelving solution to a peculiar problem I have been having with my seedlings. 

Two days ago I found something brown in my 11 month old's mouth...apparently he had been munching on a cabbage seedling and the surrounding potting soil. It looks like putting them on the windowsill isn't going to work this year! 

We discussed buying a cheap shelf to put in front of the window, but I have noticed that the seedlings even a few inches further from the window get much stretchier than the ones directly in the windowsill. 

...enter Husband With Powertools. 

The original plan was to screw little pieces of wood into the sides of the windowsill, and place a board on top, spanning the window. But that was too ghetto for this Husband. The new plan has absolutely nothing screwed or nailed into the walls or windowsill and is completely removable. I have to admit, I was mighty impressed!

Try to eat that, baby. 

Garden Gadgets!

It feels like spring here in Edmonton! My bigger boys have been sent to take their crazy outside, and my cabbage and broccoli seeds are starting to grow on the windowsill! Are you itching to get your garden started too?

Last year, I realized that with three kids taking up all my attention, my garden really took a hit. I still enjoyed pulling weeds, but I barely remembered to water. And even when I did remember, I would be at it for about 32 seconds before someone would interrupt. And since I have raised beds in the back, watering is kind of important! 

This year, during my annual devouring of the gardening catalogues, I found a couple new items that I am hoping will save my poor plants from a drought resembling that of 2014. 

1) The first is the "snip 'n' drip" system from West Coast Seeds. It's a regular/soaker hose combo that you can put together however you like. It comes with couplers that allow you to have regular hose going to the garden beds with several soaker hoses coming off of it (just look at the link, it makes way more sense in the photo!). It just came in the mail today and I'm very excited about its potential to help my three raised beds do their best!

2) The other item I bought is an EarthBox. I've been eyeing these for years so I finally bit the bullet and ordered one off Amazon.  I have terrible luck with peppers (probably because they never get watered...), so I'm going to try them in here this year. 

Are you trying anything new this gardening season?