{"id":64,"date":"2014-03-10T17:19:21","date_gmt":"2014-03-10T21:19:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ericsorganicgarden.com\/blog\/?p=64"},"modified":"2014-03-13T15:32:53","modified_gmt":"2014-03-13T19:32:53","slug":"firstplantingoftheseason","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/ericsorganicgarden.com\/blog\/firstplantingoftheseason\/","title":{"rendered":"Start Planting Flowers, Sunflowers, and Watermelon"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today I decided it was time for getting some plants ready for the spring.\u00a0 This would include alyssum, dill, and queen annes lace.\u00a0 I grow these particular plants early mainly for attracting beneficial insects such as lady beetles, parasitic wasps, and even honey bees.<\/p>\n

I also like to get a head start with watermelons and sunflowers.\u00a0 Watermelons take a very long time to mature and produce fruit.\u00a0 Some can take as long as 110 days.\u00a0 Since I live in a temperate climate I always\u00a0 like to get right into growing this fruit as soon as possible.\u00a0 By the time they are ready to be planted into the garden it should be warm enough for them to flourish<\/p>\n

Sunflowers I like to get a head start on is because this is one of the first things I need to begin flowering.\u00a0 The flowers of mammoth sunflowers are perfect for attracting pollinating bees.\u00a0 Whether it be honeybees or native bees these plants can attract all kinds of pollinators.\u00a0 This is the main reason for getting them a head start as well.<\/p>\n

I always plant my flowers such as dill, alyssum, and queen annes lace into large plastic containers.\u00a0 These containers were once used for spinach which I rinsed out and recycled them for my gardening needs.\u00a0 They come in handy and are a great way to save and maximize space.\u00a0 Here is a picture of them:<\/p>\n

\"Alyssum<\/a><\/p>\n

When it comes to growing watermelons I love using peat pots because this makes it very easy to transplant them into the garden.\u00a0 Since they have very sensitive roots it will make the transition for them go much smoother.<\/p>\n

Sunflowers are pretty straightforward and simple to grow.\u00a0 You can use pretty much any type of container and in this case I decided to use the same size containers I used for planting spinach<\/a>.\u00a0 Here is a snapshot I took of them:<\/p>\n

\"Sunflowers<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today I decided it was time for getting some plants ready for the spring.\u00a0 This would include alyssum, dill, and queen annes lace.\u00a0 I grow these particular plants early mainly for attracting beneficial insects such as lady beetles, parasitic wasps, and even honey bees. I also like to get a …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":68,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,28],"tags":[20,21,19,23,22,25,26,24,27],"class_list":["post-64","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-flowers-and-herbs","category-planting-indoors","tag-alyssum","tag-dill","tag-flowers","tag-queen-anne-lace","tag-queen-annes-lace","tag-sunflower","tag-sunflowers","tag-watermelon","tag-watermelons","column","twocol","has-thumbnail"],"yoast_head":"\nStart Planting Flowers, Sunflowers, and Watermelon - Eric's Organic Gardening Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"If you want to get a head start on the growing season, then come check out this article and discover what are some of the best plants that you should begin growing before the weather gets warm enough to plant outside.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/ericsorganicgarden.com\/blog\/firstplantingoftheseason\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Start Planting Flowers, Sunflowers, and Watermelon - 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