Long Weekends are for Sowing

Not that I can strut around in a freshly tilled field like this swank dude of yore, but I can at least sow a few long-day seeds and get them started in my Deluxe Germination Station (aka the dead freezer).  After a week, my leeks and onions have popped up and are ready to move into the light.  Now, it's time to start a few others:

• Watercress!  Yes, my 'cress seeds are in and I'm ready to try germinating them.  It sounds like if I sow them in saturated soil in the warmth of the Germination Station, I should be able to get little seedlings fairy quickly.
• Dahlias: I think I'm going to give these an early start, in the hopes of getting a handful of seedlings to pot on into larger and larger pots, and hopefully have a good sized plant to put out after the last frost leaves us.  These are the Mignon mix I picked out from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, and I am really excited to give them a try.
• Lavender: My sad little plants got completely burnt up in the November yard fire (sob) and I need to restart them.  They are quite slow to germinate, and to grow, so I'm starting them early in hopes that I'll have fair sized plants to put out come spring.  Once they go outside, they grow on fairly quickly and happily.  It's just getting them to the right size for transplanting that is the trick.

I'm also spending part of the weekend organizing my plant light shelves, and preheating the incubator to get it up to temperature.  That's right--hatching eggs will be on the way next Monday!  Whee!