Project: Sprout & About

In the last post, I shed some light on the who and what of Project: Sprout & About, and in this post, I am sharing more about the whys and hows of it… or something like that. I am glad to have you on board 🙂

¿Porqué?

I will start by sharing a short story.
This story takes us to the end of the year 2024 when it’s a cold winter, and there is snow everywhere. I am wandering in the garden outside when my eyes stop and stay at the greenhouse. I feel a gentle wind around me, like a whisper in my ear, but I do not yet understand what is going on. While my eyes are still on the greenhouse, suddenly, like lightning from the sky, this clear thought strikes me and everything starts to make sense. I know what this wind is trying to tell me. “Sprout & About,” it whispers. The GODS OF NATURE were communicating with me (the god of wildlife, the god of plants, and someone else, too; I think they were all together there). From that moment on, the greenhouse transformation was my calling. Believe it or not.
Now, if you are EVER chosen by the gods for a job like this, you know you must act on it immediately.
Right then and there, it was obvious to me that I wouldn’t leave the greenhouse alone, empty and grey, if instead it could be blooming and full of life. It would be such a waste of natural resources not to move forward with it.

And let’s say that if you are not a believer of the gods of nature, then truth speaking the greenhouse could REALLY benefit from a little glow-up, a slight facelift, if you may…

Godly jokes aside. But honestly, although now the greenhouse is in its resting phase (=grey and alone), I think the “makeover” could really be a refreshing thing to do. Also apart from wishing to have some fresh goodies by the end of this project, I think the why for me is rather the process itself – as cliché as it may sound. I enjoy doing different projects, and this one really requires a little bit of commitment, consistency, and creativity. And, of course, there is the green part of SPROUT & About, which is undoubtedly very important for me. Any plant person knows that there can NEVER be too many plants and I can firmly confirm this.
The more plants a person can have, the happier they are – which is a fact.

Another notable porque is that I want to learn and have some fun. Certainly, this project will teach me a thing AND two. It will surely get uncomfortable doing something I am not good at or have no previous experience in whatsoever. Speaking about writing, photographing and video editing, greenhouse-anything really, or let alone blogging! Still, I am REALLY looking forward to improving my writing skills and learning all the things a sprout can teach one – take patience and slow growth, for example ❤

Going With The Flow

Once the gods of nature had made me realize that I was the chosen one for transforming the greenhouse, my natural next step was going to be towards a bookstore. (Alright, I am stopping with the god jokes).
It is understood that I am a Millennial, right? Hand in hand with that goes the fact that I was raised in a way as “find your information from a book”. And quite seriously speaking, I think that books, bookstores, and libraries are great times. So, I took the second step towards the bookstore in the city and found this book called “Organic Gardening at Home”. You can only imagine how happy I was and I promise that this book is absolutely great. I started reading and learning a bit about basics, like how to make a good compost, or what mulch is, for example. The book makes me feel like I might stand a chance as a person in gardening, or then they are just very convincing writers…

The book will be an important guide for me (and sure, the internet too). But when it comes to the actual how of Project: Sprout & About, I feel like I am approaching it in a way that is rather holistic and fun. This project is going to work as my mental getaway and an endurance test. Will she make it?
Truth be told, I have not calculated specific budgets or set timeframes for the project. Knowing me, a schedule like “Winter to Summer 2025” feels just fine! Of course, I will study my sprouts’ needs, and spring is coming up fairly fast, so if something I know, it is that I must respect the seed-specific dates. Anyhow, the plan is to come here once or twice a week and post about how the process is going highs and lows 🙂

What I have heard is that a good gardening person is nothing without good gardening equipment. Got at least that one right, didn’t I? Lucky for me, I have got the equipment part covered. On the other hand, seeds, maybe some special (natural) fertilizers, cleaning products, decor items, and even construction equipment, may all be necessary to acquire, and definitely lots of new soil!
In addition, I will try to upcycle some old items I have at home and use those in the interiors of the greenhouse.

Here is a slightly more tangible list of things and steps to be taken during the greenhouse transformation journey:

1) Plant investigation and seed selection (doing right now)
2) Germinating seeds inside (should start soon)
3) Cleaning surfaces in the greenhouse, cleaning/removing the old soil.
4) Planning decor and other possible interior elements.
5) Possible structural changes
6) Planting pre-grown plants and buying some companion plants ( was thinking of growing the flowers too, but maybe it’s going to be too much and too ambitious).
7) Do more decor along the way.
8) Care for (now bigger) plants.

= Have a cozy morning tea in the cozy greenhouse eating cozy tomatoes ❤

Easy as that, only 8 actions to a flourishing greenhouse and a happy kid. How the reality will be, we shall see. I recognize February is shortly coming to an end, so yeah, I have to start putting more ACTION in place soon. I truly, really, very much hope that the project goes as planned or at least around 70-80% as imagined. The rest 20-30% can work as a margin for my errors in calculations, and that margin will make the final result come out even better than planned.

Yes? ¡Sí! 🙂