Starting over

Well, I pretty much forgot about the blog over last summer, so I didn't document my progress on my garden. I built two 4x8' veggie beds and grew tomatoes, peppers, zucchini & yellow squash, one cucumber, and several kinds of herbs - basil, chives, parsley, dill. I also tried to grow corn, carrots, and leeks, but didn't have much luck. Fortunately, I learned quite a bit and will do some things differently this summer.

I just started my seeds. Two 10-packs of coleus, two 10-packs of pansies, and one 10-pack of petunias, plus five small peat pots of tomatoes and five peat pots of peppers. I also bought another gro light but haven't put it up yet. I got several packs of annuals seeds so hopefully I can save some money this spring over buying them at the nursery. I also got some dahlia tubers - I've never grown those before so that'll be my new adventure this summer.

I'm very upset at myself - I got two bags of tulip bulbs last fall but didn't get them in the ground. Every weekend this fall was either rainy or I had plans of some kind and didn't get to it. I planned to do it in December - I often do - but then we had a freak snowstorm. We never get snow in December. So my two bags of tulip bulbs are for naught. I guess I can stick them in the fridge and then try to force them in a few months. Oh well.

We've gotten a ton of snow this winter - almost 5 feet total in 3 different storms - way more than normal for this area. I'm hoping that being buried under snow for weeks at a time will kill a good chunk of the ivy that covers my entire side yard. Since my house is perched on top of a hill, the side yard is very sloped and the previous owner planted ivy to keep the soil from eroding. My plan is to rip it all out and terrace the hill, maybe using it as a cutting garden for a variety of perennials and annuals, since it gets about a half-day of sun. But ivy is a total pain to rip out, which is why I haven't tackled that job yet.

Lots of planning to do while I wait for my seeds to germinate and the snow to melt. I'll try to do a better job of documenting it this summer so I have a record of what works and what doesn't.

Seedlings

Okay, it's finally March! Last Sunday I set up my new grow light and seed starting kit. The kit has 12 rows of six spaces for seeds, so I planted 3 rows each of marigolds, zinnias, cosmos, and shasta daisies. By Friday afternoon - 5 days!!! - I've got seedlings! Quite a few of them and already a couple inches high. Two of the seed types are already sprouting. Unfortunately, I forgot to label which rows are which seeds, so I'm not sure which these are. I guess I'll just have to wait till they get a little bigger to figure it out.

Crazy Tulip Bulb

So apparently a squirrel dug up one of my tulip bulbs, but for some reason left it in the garden. The bulb was under some leaves, so maybe the squirrel lost it. Anyway, it took root sitting on the surface and is now starting to bloom. Pretty cool!

Seed starting

Okay, I couldn't resist. I was at Home Depot and they had seed starting systems on sale. It has 72 little sections and a built-in watering system. I got a bunch of seeds - spinach, parsley, squash, plus some flowers too. They say you're supposed to start the seeds 6-8 weeks before you'll be transplanting them into the ground. In my area, that will be late April or so, which means I should start the seeds in the beginning of March. That gives me a month to clean out the storage room, set up a table, buy a grow light, and figure out which seeds to start. The problem with starting the veggies too early is that I don't have a veggie garden built yet. That's another project on the list for when the weather gets better. So much to do!

Catalogs, catalogs and more catalogs

I keep getting gardening catalogs in the mail and it's making me yearn for spring to be here. Each one offers a special deal - $20 off on an order of $40 or more, double the order for 1 penny, $25 off orders of $50 or more. I'm going back and forth, comparing deals, visualizing where in the garden I'd put things, imagining what it will look like when everything's planted and growing. Do I get enough sun for the mini lemon tree if I put it in a container on my deck? Should I go for the astilbe grab bag with random colors (7 for $20) or the one with all pink (9 for $20)? Of course, whatever I order now won't be here until April, but some of the offers expire in February. I anticipate many hours spent on the couch flipping through catalogs between now and April.

Learning How to Compost

I ordered a leaf bin to collect all the leaves in my yard and compost them. Over the last several weeks we've been adding kitchen scraps to the bin and mixing them in with the leaves. I'm not sure how long it will take to make it all into compost, but I'm excited. This weekend I'm going to Home Depot to buy a pitchfork to make it easier to turn and mix the stuff in the bin.