snowfall

Yesterday it was 80°. Today it is snowing.

I moved my three pots of herbs on the deck into the greenhouse (which is still holding at 38°) and brought all the seedling trays inside. Some of them- the tatsoi and tokyo bekana- could probably be fine out there, but I prefer not to take chances. Not now, when I'm still getting back into managing the plants and taking care of all the tasks.

I put the seedling trays into shallow boxes and affixed wire mesh over, to keep my cats from messing with it. The wire is in narrow strips that used to cover my planter boxes on the deck railings (which I removed last year, they were cracking and sun faded and split apart) but it seems to be enough- kitties have stood up to sniff at it but not tried to jump on top or stick their paws in.

A few in the wire cage are under the bench too.

They are all safe from the cold and getting enough light (to survive), and in a few days I can move them back out again.

sticks and seeds

Italian heirloom tomatoes sprouted, and a few of the garlic chives- and now there's seedlings in every single tray I sowed. Not all varieties grew, but something of each. My expectations were too low, this year! Outside I planted carrots, turnips and sugar snap peas today. I trimmed the viburnum and that gave me a lot of sticks with little twigs going every which way for pea supports.

Put a makeshift shield of wire shelving and old fencing mesh over the carrot bed, and scattered hot pepper flakes and coffee grounds on the other two, to deter the squirrel from digging. (That's turnips sown in bed 10 left corner background of the photo).

Squirrels have obviously been all over burying stash in the mulch. I found a lot of empty and half-rotted peanut shells, some halved walnuts, a few acorns, and one sprouted almond!

That's a first.

new project

My dill has come up! 

And I have been painting bricks (cinder blocks) to replace old rotted edges on beds 7 and 8. I thought I was all set with five or six days of dry weather to work in, plenty of time to take it at a casual pace and have the hours of drying time between layers needed.

Then the forecast changed and now it's going to rain on wed so I have to haul all the bricks inside and move them back out on friday when it dries up again, bah.

It was hot today- 85 degrees. I've been taking the seedlings out of the greenhouse each day now to sit on the table in the sun- but I had to move them into shade this afternoon.

leggy

Seedlings have sprouted in most of my trays now. Lettuces came up yesterday, and tomatoes today. There's blank spots, but at least something for each. The tokyo bekana is awfully leggy- not enough light- I put them all out on the deck this morning (tomatoes got sunlight their first day!) and will either sprinkle more soil around the stems in the tray, or just plant them deeper when potting up.

Bah, the camera didn't quite focus on them.

early plants

I haven't done my usual walk all around the property to see what's growing, but here's a few pictures from the last couple days minor work outside. In the garden, one plant I moved to shade spot on the inner ends of beds 3 and 4 the year before, survived: a catmint.

I made no extra effort to protect plants from the severe cold we had this winter, so pleased and surprirsed to find that both lemon balm

and sorrel survived (though tarragon, winter savory and bunching onions did not. And sage is gone. Remains to be seen if my sculpit will regrow).

My lavender looks okay, if reduced. Both rosemary plants are browned and bronzed in the upper foliage

but some green remains on the lower parts of the plants, so I hope with a trim they'll be okay.

Similar with my potted thyme, which I really thought would die in the greenhouse this winter! (camera refused to focus on the green leaf)

Chives

and parsley are also still alive.

Also my happy thing- a new tree! Pictured from my bedroom window.

In the fall, I planted a young redbud out front (don't remember if I posted about it here). I've long wanted a redbud out front. I don't know how old this one was when I bought it from the local nursery, but it's about the same size as the one I've had for years on the sideyard, and a better shape. I am hoping it blooms this year. I put it where a tree died not long after I moved into this house, and the stump was left there (on purpose) for years- I think more than five years- with those yellow-flowering sedums planted around/over it. 

When I put this tree in, that stump had rotted out enough that I literally just pulled hunks out of the ground. Very little effort. It was super easy to spade up the soft humus and soil- easiest hole for a tree planting I've ever done. And I hope the rotted wood will feed this young tree well.

caged

Two days later and my first seedlings have sprouted! Some tokyo bekana and a few tatsoi. Both of saved seed from my own garden- plus a few tokyo bekana seed from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange (none of the SESE tatsoi sprouted yet). I'm guessing my saved seed sprouted first because it's not as old, and thus more viable. But glad to know that putting the seed containers in my basement room worked just as well as the fridge- at least for some.

One of my biggest hurdles with gardening this year is how to do the seedling stage- because my method for years and years has been to use warmth of the fridge top for germination, and natural sunlight from windows for growth. (I just never had any desire to buy heated mats or grow lights when I already have sources of heat and light) That's why I built all those long benches to stack them up by our one large window that gets good light. But now my cats think they own that bench, it's their sunning spot. And they are very destructive to plants, and like to mess with everything (it's why I only have two house plants now, kept very high up. Sadness).

So I put my seedlings in a cage. 

An old, too-small hamster cage. It's only big enough for a few trays, if I make a shelf in there. The germinating trays are on top of the fridge in large boxes- so the cat can't jump there (one of her favorite high places). I have some wire shelving removed from a closet years ago, I'm thinking of having the boxes open top with the wire shelves across it and something to weigh or lash it down, when they need light.

Of course the best place will be out in my little greenhouse, so I'm trying to conscientiously start things later than I used to, so they can withstand the night temperatures and stay out there 24-7 sooner. But am expecting that some will have to come indoors on colder nights at times, trying to plan ahead for that. Also growing far less than in previous years- I'm planning on filling only five of the nine garden beds (tenth has the permanent rue). It still feels like a lot! However I'm feeling energized for it and seeing these first green sprouts lifting their seed coat heads cheers me immensely.

working the dirt

I sowed beet seed today. Remembered to soak it. I don't recognize this packet, must have got it at a plant swap during one of those years I wasn't planting the garden. It's not from any of the seed companies I used to order from. Detroit dark red.

I pulled off the straw mulch from half of bed 3 (the other half will have leaf beet chard and green beans on the trellis is my plan). There were just a few wheat sprouts, easy to pull. I turned the soil over with a trowel, picked out some of the heavier lumps, made shallow furrows and dropped the seeds in, spacing them by hand. Swept the soil back over top with my fingers, patted it all down firm and watered. The work so dearly familiar and soothing. I should have gone back inside at that point but then set down to pull weeds from behind bed 1 against the house wall- where I've been dumping pistachio and peanut shells as mulch.

While none are coming up yet in the front yard around the mailbox, there's one borage plant come up in bed 1,

and another in the mulched path behind it. Debating if I will try to dig them up and transplant elsewhere, though I think they're too far grown for that.

And then I sat with the fire pit, letting pieces of downed tree branches turn to ash (which I will feed to the lawn later) reading a book I have been dragging my feet to finish, while doing another pleasant thing I have avoided for too long (fire). I felt like I had forgotten how to start a fire- after going through five matches and the flames smoldered and died twice, I went inside and hunted up the very last of those lint/egg carton/dipped wax starter lumps once made for camping. One left. I used it to get this fire going, and then even with my wood slightly damp it went merrily for another hour or two. And I finished my book.