Country Living 101 - Gardening Season Is Coming!

We're having a heat wave here in east Tennessee! The temperature officially reached 62 degrees up here on English Mountain and to put it mildly, it was MARVELOUS!  I threw open the windows and let all that fresh mountain air flow through the house.

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE the four seasons. One of the reasons we picked the foothills of the Tennessee Appalachians was because of the well defined, yet mild seasons we get. All that changed when we got our first major snow before Thanksgiving!  NORMALLY, we get hardly ANY snow...this year, I was snowed in more than I wasn't.  I did make the best of it though. I tried to enjoy every single day of the season, I had all the fire places lit, baked up a storm, quilted, painted, wrote, and spent massive amounts of time with my teens...(THANK GOODNESS IT'S ALMOST SPRING!) You'd be surprised how quick everyone, including the kids, can get sick of snow days. We're a loving family, but there is a point of too much togetherness.

Soooo with the whisper of Spring outside my window, the songs of the birds at the feeders, and the thought of getting my garden started I decided to get started on the 'Garden" section of Under the Willow Tree!

Right before I began this article I received a news alert warning me that food and gas prices were set to spiral up again...wow...what a surprise <yawn>. Who would have thunk it?  That's OK, I've got a master plan for saving tons of money this year. Go grab a drink and let me share it with you! We're going to start the series with Homemade Paper Seed Pots because after all, you gotta start somewhere and your seed pots are the first step!.

Whether you are an experienced gardener or a novice like myself, you can still utilize the tips and tricks of the pro's. Each year, I go out and spend a boat load of money on planting items like peat pots, planting trays, seeds, etc. By the time I'm done buying all the equipment, I don't really save much, although I do enjoy great homegrown veggies.  Most of you probably save some of the reusable stuff from the previous year but if you don't and you're starting from scratch, here is a good money saving tip for starting your seeds indoors with homemade Newspaper Seed Pots. Take a look at this wonderful video I found on You Tube.

As you can see, almost everyone has the materials for these handy-dandy little pots laying around the house. Depending on how many plants you grow your savings can start at approximately $15+. That's extra money for seeds and if you plan on preserving any of your bounty, you can use it towards preserving equipment (more on that later). 

I'd love to hear how your Paper Seed Pot projects go. Be sure to email me and send me pictures and I'll use them on the UTWT community.  This project may seem small and insignificant to you , but realize that you are  taking your first step towards being self-sufficient AND the pots are bio-degradable, how GREEN is that! You've already eliminated the need for those plastic, mass produced pots! Good job!