Spring is Here!

Happy Vernal Equinox all! The day and the night are equal and soon the days will be getting longer and longer...... Here is a nice little spring poem that pretty much sums up my excitement:

Spring is Here! Spring is Here!

Winter is Gone and Two Flowers Appear

Three Little Robins Begin to Sing,

Bicycle Bells Begin to Ring.

Children on the Sidewalk Jumping Rope, 

Spring is Here Now! I Hope, I Hope! 

The original forecast for today was supposed to be partly sunny and in the high 40's. Well, It was overcast and 40 and slightly drizzly by the end of the day. I did manage, however, to get a little bed prep done. I framed off a nice 12X6 section in cedar for cold crops. I at least wanted to get a leg up on that since planting time for the cold ones is sneaking up awfully quickly. I will have plenty of time to shape my warm weather beds after that. After reading an article about raised bed raspberries I decided why not? So I purchased some dormant canes and the cedar to to make the raised bed. I chose a golden and a red ever-bearing type and a red summer bearer, 5 plants total. I didn't have time to start my tomatoes or my broccoli this weekend so I am trying for tomorrow. The peppers and kale that I started two weeks ago are coming along quite nicely, though. I did finally get around to doing a soil test and found out that my soil is on the alkaline side. I had a feeling, I was going to till some rotted guinea pig bedding into the bed in the fall but someone convinced me not to. Wish I would have now! Rotted wood shavings are acidic and that is just what I needed! I will trust my gardeners intuition next time. 

There are 4 3X6 semi raised beds within the cedar frame.
What is that little orb in the left side of the bed? A garden
fairy perhaps? 

This is the raised bed for the raspberries. It is 8X2 and will
house 5 plants. Raspberries like acidy soil so with a raised
bed I will be able to control that a little easier.

Dried pole beans

Yellow Crocus 

Purple Crocus

Tulips trying to push their way through the leaves

A baby bleeding heart all pink and new

Alpine strawberry seedlings! 

Nice strong little peppers

This Kale is getting huge! Already has true leaves!

Had to add a picture of my little garden ally. He has
provided soiled shavings galore for my compose pile! 

The Great Reveal

Well, the last of the snow has melted off of the gardens. It is supposed to be in the mid 40's and 50's and semi-sunny the next few days so guess what my weekend project is!?!? 

Ready to be worked!

Perennial bed, I will be sneaking some melons in here.....

Herb box, cold frame for starting early lettuce, and
strawberries covered in pine needle mulch

Although spring won't officially start for another 5 days, I believe she has already come. As I was eating breakfast this morning gazing out into the yard guess who hops up on my deck rail? A big old fat robin red breast! That is a sure sign in any gardeners book!

Sowing Seeds - Fine Gardening Video

Sowing Seeds - Fine Gardening Video
A good example about how you can use almost any container you have to start seeds.

Seed Starting Part 2

Whew, what a yucky day! In the wake of two delightfully sunny March days I awoke to gray sky's and a slushy snow/rain mix. At this rate I am unsure of when I am going to be able to get out and do bed preparations and sew my early spring spinach and sugar snap peas. However, Mr. Sunshine is supposed to be making his debut on Monday so I will surely be anticipating his arrival! Hopefully he sticks around for a while....

For a little inspiration today I thought I would post some more about starting seeds indoors. These are the methods I use and they have worked well for me so far.

It is important to start off with a good seeds starting mix. You don't want to use regular potting soil as it is too heavy, and you shouldn't use dirt from the garden because it could have various pathogens that could kill seedlings. I like a good peat and vermiculite mix. They are labeled specifically for seed starting. 

Add warm water, you actually have to add quite a bit but make sure
 you d in batches as you don't want "mud"

When the medium is like moist cake crumbs it is perfect.

Fill whatever pots you have. Peat pots are nice because you can
 tear off the bottoms and  put the pot and the plant right into the ground.

I ended up making some news paper pots because I ran out of the other, but I actually prefer these. They are incredibly easy to make. If you don't have a pot maker you can use a tin can. The tomato paste size is perfect.  

These guys are already to go into a clear plastic bag
 for germination. The bag holds in  moisture and some warmth.
Also, as you can see I started my seeds in old enameled cake pans.
 Really you can use anything you have on hand!

This is my little seed starting station. It isn't fancy at all! My hubby rigged u a shop light on chains to hang from the top of the window. When starting seeds indoors it is important that they have proper light. Unless you have a huge south facing window, you will need to supplement light. One cool and one warm florescent is perfect. Once the seeds germinate,  make sure the light is about two inches away from the plants and that they are kept on for about 16 hrs a day. 

Bee Facts

Bees:
I found this and thought it would be nice to include in addition to my last post. Just click on "Bees" above.

Hope for the Zucchinis.......

Wow is all I have to say! I placed the order for these seeds on Thursday night and here they are already on Monday morning. That is why I love Botanical Interests, they are fast, friendly, and not only that look at the cute packaging!

Aside from the carrots, I purchased all of these herbs to bring beneficial insects into the garden to help with pollination. I just love bumble bees and honey bees, they are so cheerful and determined, bumbling along from blossom to blossom, carrying up to 35% of their body weight in their little pollen baskets. Bees are so important in the garden as almost every veggie plant needs them to pollinate so they can set fruit. I experienced this first hand  last year when none of my squash set fruit. I was perplexed as there is usually so many zucchinis produced by one plant that you have to stealthily hide it in the neighbors mailbox to get rid of it! I thought maybe my soil didn't have enough nutrients, maybe I didn't water enough, maybe, maybe, maybe. Then it dawned on me, no bees! My poor squash plants were smack dab in the middle of the garden with nothing around them to attract the little buzzers! They were all occupied with the perennial garden, why waste their time with a few squash blossoms when they have zinnias, and coneflower and many other tasty treats all in one delectable smorgasbord? This year I am bound and determined to bring my little friends back into the garden by interplanting my veggies with a tasty selection of herbs and flowers. Here are just a few of them:

Calendula

Borage

Bee Balm

Dill

Hyssop

Echinacea

Zinnias

Maragolds 

The bees will be happy!

Seed Starting Part 1

Well it is officially 10 weeks out from my areas last frost date so I had some sowin' to do today! This is what I planted: 

12 each of the yellow and red Alpine Strawberries,

3 each of Purple Beauty, Canary Bell, and Orange Wonder Peppers,  

6 Mini Red Cherry Peppers, 

8 Nero Toscana Kale,

4 Long Purple Eggplant,

and.....

8 Brazilian Verbenas

I also decided to try an experiment with my Yellow Coneflower Echinacea seeds. They need a period of stratification, or cold treatment, before they will germinate so I planted them in a milk jug and set them outside. This way they will get their cold treatment and be better adapted to outside life when it comes time to plant in their permanent spot. 

The Strawberries all tucked in!

Pepper seeds like to be warm and cozy when waking up from
hibernation. What better place than on the radiator!?!?

Milk jug planter. Cut three sides, add seed starter and seeds,
close up, tape and you are good to go!

Waiting to see what happens...

Organized Action

 I decided to get ultra organized this year so I started a garden binder. It includes a calendar that counts back from the last frost date, a section for both vegetable and flower information, a section for purchase receipts so I can keep track of what I've bought, and finally, clear pocket pages so that once the seeds are planted, I can put the packets in the clear pockets so that I will have easy access to their growing information.

I also solved my seed storage problem! I used to house my seed packets in little cardboard boxes but I couldn't stand the packets up for easy filing and since they weren't see through I never knew which was the flower or veggie box. While shopping the other day, I just happened to take a short cut down the container aisle and - aha! I found the perfect container! Now I can easily tell which is which and the seed packets stand up perfectly! Another bonus? These plastic containers will stack perfectly at the back of the fridge and help keep excess moisture out so that I can properly store the seeds once planting time is over.

Rubies in the forest

Today driving home I saw several cardinals flitting around at the edge of the woods. It made me so happy to see their bright little bodies against the white and grey of winter.

Beauty in Dormancy......

Little Bitty Gems

I will be starting Alpine Strawberries this year. I have grown them in the past and they are incredibly easy to start from seed! They are a little on the difficult side to find, but I found these little gems at John Scheepers Kitchen Garden Seeds. They even had a few different varieties - bonus! I can't wait to try the yellow ones, supposedly the birds don't spot them as easily. If you've never had Alpines before they are worth trying. They create a nice dense mat of foliage with little bitty berries that never seem to make it inside as they are far too tempting to pop into your mouth as you peruse the rest of the garden! I will be starting these little guys on Sunday along with some other items, more on that to come......