There are some items I grow from seeds that go directly outdoors when they reach a certain size. Onions and peas are two of those (beans would be a third). Regular onions I plant directly outdoors since they have a large seed onion. Bunching onions, on the other hand, are tiny seeds and seem to work best if I start them indoors. These are onions that you would grow for their stems - green onions. I love green onions and eat them on a lot of things. As such, I try to grow at least two window boxes of these every year.

Pea plants can grow very quickly. It's not uncommon to find that they've grown several inches in a day. As such, once they get several true leaves on them I plant them outside. 

Both of these plants have reached the point where they are ready to plant outside. Now I just have to get things ready. It's perfect timing as I also need to start moving squash plants into bigger pots and I am going to need the room. One flat of seedling pods holds 72 plants, while the flat of larger pots only holds 18. 

I've used the same soil for the past few years. Each year I get a few new plants, and therefore buy some more potting soil. But some of the soil I've had is at least three years old. As such, I felt it was time to revitalize it. I went to Home Depot and picked up a small tarp that would be big enough to cover the majority of my patio. I also picked up four bags of compost.

I picked out this one type of compost because it sounded interesting - there are no synthetic chemicals, no poop, and is natural and organic. It started when two college students noticed how much food was wasted at an all-you-can-eat buffet. Now food scraps from restaurants and such along with yard trimmings are turned into compost.

I spread out the tarp and then I dumped one bag of compost on it.

Next I select several pots, make sure that all the plant matter is gone from the top of the planters (some might have grass growth or leftovers from last year), and then I dump that on top of the compost.

Next I go to work mixing up the two so that there is a fairly even mixture of compost into the old soil.

Next comes filing up all the empty planters with the mixture I made and then put some plants into them.

Since it is still a little cold outside at night, I am covering them at night to help them stay warm and then removing the cover once it starts warming up in the morning.