Finally Getting the Garden Going

This Spring has not been very warm or cooperative at all, gardening-wise. Heck, we had 3 inches of snowfall less than two weeks ago! But today, I finally decided it was time to get cool weather crops in the ground. First though, I had to prepare the "soil" and fill the two new raised beds in the garden.

I follow the recommendation of Mel Bartholomew in his Square Foot Gardening book. One part composted manure, one part vermiculite and one part peat moss. It makes a rich, moisture-holding, wonderful fluffy blend that plants sure seem to love. After adding the mixture to the new beds, all four planting beds were ready to accept seeds and plants.

Ready to get started!

The seeds that went into the soil today are...

• Lettuce, 3 types: Oak Leaf, Lollo Rosa, and Rocky Top
• Spinach
• Sugar Peas
• Cilantro
• Onions, Red (from sets)
• Onions, Green (from sets)
• Marigolds

Tomorrow, I'll transplant these that should be ready for the outdoors...

• Onion, Bunching
• Sorrell
• Claytonia
• Onion, Italian Flat
• Purslane

If you're familiar with some of these "different" items, you'll know we really enjoy our fresh salads. If all goes well, we should have LOTS of variety and super delicious greens. 

Now...are they ready yet??? Can't wait. 

Spring, Oh Spring, Where Art Thou?

Did you ever have one of those winters that just seemed unwilling to release it's hold? Well, this appears to be just that type of year. As I write this in mid-April, it is 36° at 8:00 in the morning. The weather folks say we may see 52 degrees today, but enough already! We celebrate Easter this Sunday and at this rate my Easter bonnet won't have frills upon it; I'll be wearing my fur-lined hunting hat instead! (see profile photo at right)

The veggie seedlings are growing well for the garden, but unless something changes they won't be safe outdoors until July 4th or so. That's just not acceptable, Mother Nature. C'mon, let's get the warm up going, OK?

And unfortunately, this winter-hanger-oner affects more than just our temperature. As evidence, check out this photo from the back of our office building taken just 3 days ago:

Our 3-inch snowfall on April 18th. 

Yes, it all melted by day's end, but still...can we please hear the birds singing, feel sunshine and have afternoon temps of at least 60 degrees?!!!? 

{end of Paul's whining}

Seedlings for the Garden

I'm expanding our little garden this year, doubling the size actually, so I've started some seedlings in the hope warmer spring weather will visit us soon. We've passed by the vernal equinox, just a week ago, so the days are getting longer and I'm sure it will begin warming soon.

My "Grow Station" in the basement consists of an old wire display rack, with a suspended fluorescent light fixture containing two GroLight bulbs to offer the little buggers the widest spectrum of light available on an artificial basis. With that, I'm using a heating pad, set on the middle setting, to warm the potting soil and seeds just a bit.

Our basement growing station containing four tomato varieties,
three peppers and collard greens.

I added a sheet of aluminum foil to each side of the planter, trying to direct as much light as possible to the little seedlings. With heat, good soil, moisture and adequate lighting the miracle of life continues.

It's time to take the scissors to these starts, thinning them
down to just one or two of the healthiest plants.

The planter shown below was started on March 6th, so these seedlings are just three weeks old. This planter contains broccoli, claytonia, two varieties of onions, three types of sweet bell peppers, purslane, chives and sorrel.

I need to thin a bit more, as you can see. I've done that once already, but I've found it's hard to cut out what seems to be a perfectly healthy little plant. Without doing that, though, the roots just wouldn't have room to spread and grow well.

This planter is now sitting in an east-facing window,
trying to catch as much of the spring sunshine as possible. 

The lack of real sunshine has a few of these plants pretty spindly; I hope our warmer weather and some actual sunlight will remedy that problem.

Not all seeds will be started indoors. In just a couple weeks, some cool-weather crops will be sown directly into the garden soil outdoors. Lettuce varieties—we love fresh salad greens—spinach and sugar peas will be planted as soon as the soil warms up in early to mid April.

It is exciting to see these plants come to life with the hope and promise of delicious, healthy harvests to come.