dirt and seeds and egg carton bottoms

I broke today, I HAD to buy some organic seeds I was eyeballing for the past few months at the store.
I have a large box of egg carton bottoms I was gifted that I plan to plant them in, and then I can just transfer them to the soil when the last frost isnt a threat.
I bought a bunch of greens seeds like dark zucchini, muncher cucumbers(relatively short), peas and viking asparagus and also picked up some dill and crackerjack marigold seeds as well. I read that marigold helps ward off any potential pests.
Every time I plant cucumber, it never grows right so I will be doing some research in hopes I can figure out what I am doing wrong. Peas will be perfect, but nervous for the zucchini as well if it grows like the cucumber. Last year we got 2 on a plant, and they ended up curling real tight and being very small even though they were a longish variety of cucumber. Everything else in the garden grew very large and perfect, and we even had too many tomatoes and peppers that our family could digest.

Here is a list of more veggies I plan on planting this year, and starting from seed:

long cucumbers
cherry tomatoes
okra(excited about this one)
yellow bush beans
sweet long carrots
green pepper
golden wax beans
brussel sprouts
pumpkin
spinach
broccoli
cauliflower
strawberries
rainbow tomatoes
garlic
onions
chives

& Some flower seeds :

a low growing wildflower mix
an all purpose mix
lavender(of course for soaps and stuffies and wool)
chamomile

I cant wait to get them into our rich soil and let the kids experience picking the bountiful fruit again this year. I have plans to grow the shorter veggies in front, and the higher ones in the back to make things easier this year. Last year I had peppers beside my cherry tomatoes and the peppers grew as high as the toms and the toms were at least 4-5ft in height. The toms ended up growing over the peppers and then in on themselves suffocating the fruits on the insides of the plant vines... I need to space properly, and ensure there is picking space for when the plants mature.

I am also planning to dig up a small plot for the kids to grow their own beans and tomatoes so they have some responsibility and keep out of my garden :P hope it works, now just need to figure out how to keep the dogs out...

Diverting Trash

I have recently bought some recycling bins, and have slowly been filling ours up :D teaching the munchkins to rinse and remember to recycle, is a hard task though.
I have recently discovered a program that will take other trash that would have gone to the dump or recycling plant, that will accept certain items to upcycle in their program, and also pay per item received, to a charity of our choice :D HOW COOL!!
I cant wait to ship off my first full box for upcycling, this is exciting.
I am VERY open to new ideas if anyone has any.
I also found a blanket for my garden that starves weeds so they dont grow, but allows the intended plant to grow, and it waters the ground as well :D I did not purchase this from the company who makes it, I got it at a great discount(2% of what it normally cost), but I would recommend finding a healthier option rather than using the tarp style blanket I got... this thing will take forever to decompose, and I'm kind of upset that I bought it. Ill have to look into what I can use it for when it breaks, or if the company will take it back to dispose of...
I am going to be collecting some food trash as of today as well, and re-start our starving compost bin, and hoping it will still work with a good stir...