Manageability

Definition of the word MANAGE

transitive verb
1 : to handle or direct with a degree of skill: as a : to make and keep compliant b : to treat with care : husband c : to exercise executive, administrative, and supervisory direction of
2 : to work upon or try to alter for a purpose
3 : to succeed in accomplishing : contrive
4 : to direct the professional career of

Soooooo I think that my first error occurred many weeks ago on the Johnny's Selected Seeds website http://www.johnnyseeds.com/.  Influenced by red wine, weeks of cold weather, and very short days, I was dreaming of lush green gardens, bountiful vegetables, and filling my flower vase daily with freshly picked flowers.  I vowed to start my flowers and vegetables from seed for the first time (I also vowed to run the Mother's Day 5K, but that's a different story).  I finally made decisions on a heating mat, a soil block maker, cell flats and biodegradble pots.  I clicked "add to cart" more times than I can count.  I justified my purchases with receipts from the grocery store, the benefits of organically grown produce, teaching the kids about gardening, and the satisfaction that comes from putting my hands in the soil.

At this point the word MANAGE may be part of my vocabulary, but not my life.  I have spent many a late night germinating and potting up.  Every morning I carry 23 trays of seedlings to the deck, then back inside at night.  Of course a day surgery that I had last week did not help.  This all on top of a 2 year old, a 6 year old, 2 cats, a hubby... you know the drill.

I had some FB correspondence with some friends yesterday about the weather forecast, the date of the next full moon, the actual temperature of a "frost", and ultimately when to actually plant our seedlings.  There were opinions ranging from daring to cautious, but one friend summed up my situation quite succinctly.  She wrote that she planted most of her seedlings already and that "Some of my seedlings did die when we got that cold snap, but they would have died in the house too because I couldn't stand them anymore and would have refused to care for them!"

Very well said!  One of my four followers (yes, I'm up to four!  Wohoo!) commented on my last post that my pic of out of control seedlings looked like her house.  So I'm glad to know that I'm not the only one out there. 

So here is my plan for MANAGEABILITY NOW:

1)  Get as many seedlings into the ground as possible so I'm not schlepping them back and forth.  I HAVE DECIDED TO PLANT THIS WEEKEND!!!  WOHOOOO!!!
2)  Extra plants go to friends, family, and donated to the Plant-A-Row program and my town's Garden Club Plant Sale on Memorial Day Weekend.

And here is my plan for FUTURE MANAGEABILITY: 
1)  Re-read this post in January of 2011, BEFORE purchasing seeds
2)  Do some cost comparisons between growing from seed versus purchasing seedlings (Yes, I will post my thorough analysis) 
3)  Evaluate my success rate between which seeds I purchased and which were succuessful
4)  Purchase all of my needs ahead of time so that I am not constantly running to the garden shop for more soil, bio-degradable pots, etc.

Wish me luck!!!!