Spring is in the air, in my nose and all over Lenny

Its finally spring time which hopefully means more camping expeditions in the near future! The pollen here is incredible~ when it rains there are highly visible swirls of yellow in the puddles. We've been laying low, working a lot and saving money- so I haven't had much to blog about. Lenny just hangs out in the driveway, waiting for another camp out. We drive him around a little but we still have yet to replace the caliper. We can't figure out if one is not engaging or one is not dis-engaging, so we are going to replace them both. We did get one of our starters re-built so we have a good spare, considering we won't know how long the one we replaced it with will last. Look how new & shiny!
Other than working, and painting I started some seedlings that are now sprouting~ we planted the beans last and they were second to sprout (cucumbers were the first to go) and they grow quick! Here's a picture I took Sunday~ (the smaller ones are tomatoes)

and here's what they look like today (Monday)~


Cucumbers~

from left~ 1 row Jalapeno, 2 rows spinach, 2 rows Bell pepper.
We will be container gardening and we've been scouring the thrift stores for random buckets, baskets, anything that is big enough to be re-purposed as planters. The large rubbermaid tub will have holes drilled in the bottom (like the other two plastic pots) and either a tomato plant, cucumber, or both will go in it. We just want to make sure our plants have enough space, which is where I failed last year. I am going to try to companion garden as well, if I find big enough buckets. Apparently 5 gallon buckets are large enough for tomatoes, peppers, etc but I am still a little weary about it, I feel like I should give them more space. What do you think? Has anyone grown peppers in containers? How large should they really be?
We also mixed our own potting mix with perilite, top soil and peat moss in equal parts. We saved a lot of money that way~ I wish I had done that before instead of buying pre-mixed soil. Oh well, live and learn, right? I am going to plant some herbs in a strawberry pot to keep inside, but I think I am going to buy already grown plants, instead of starting from seed. Although you save a lot of money starting from seed. Also the spinach will probably stay inside or at least come inside once summer hits because it will definitely not stand the heat, being a cold weather plant and all. I just hope the house will be cool enough for it, I eat so much spinach and when I heard it is one of the highest pesticide laden foods I really wanted to grow my own, and save money that way too.
As far as pesticides go, I am planning on making some mulch out of cedar and soaking it in Soap Nut water because soap nuts help repel bugs and isn't dangerous on plants. you can actually take your dish water after washing with soap nuts and water your plants. Now that's conservation if I've heard it!
Enough about plants~ this blog is supposed to be about Lenny~ so I must say good bye for now and hopefully I will have some Bus blogging to do soon!