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.

1st sowing attempt

I really want to plant the garden again this year, even though don't quite feel up for the task. Last time I tried, I couldn't even face the planning stage. The year before I had half a dozen pots of herbs on the deck, and only half of them survived. My concussion PT said I should just focus on growing one plant at first, and if that started to feel manageable, then do two next year, slowly build it up.

I had in mind to just try tomatoes and green beans, two that seem easy to do, very familiar plants. Sat down at the table with my folder of notes and past years' garden maps, containers of saved seed. I read through all my notes, sorted through the seed packets, made a list of plants. Got a bit ambitious, even though it is far less than I used to grow.

I sowed sixteen seedling trays with

• Lettuce romaine/ceasar cross (saved seed)
• Lettuce, leaf type (saved)
• Chives, garlic (from my sister's garden)
• Dill, Mammoth
• Dill saved from 2023
• Dill saved from 2017
• Green bunching onions, evergreen hardy (saved)
• Green onions, Nebuka
• Tokyo bekana (chinese cabbage) saved from 2021
• Tokyo bekana from Southern Exposure Seed exchange
• Tatsoi saved from 2021
• Tatsoi from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange
• Lettuce, crisp mint
• Lettuce, Webb's wonder
• Lettuce, Grand Rapids
• Lettuce, Paris island
• Tomato, Italian heirloom
• Tomato, Cherokee purple
• Tomato, sweetie 100 cherry
• Tomato, black cherry
• Tomato, beefsteak
• Tomato, brandywine 2011 (bought)
• Tomato, brandywine (yellow packet)
• Chard, leaf beet
• Chard, swiss
• Collards, blue, saved from 2020
• Collards, blue from 2019 (bought)
• Collards, yellow cabbage

It took four hours. Felt like a lot more time than I used to spend on this task. I tried to do the steps carefully and thought I had remembered it all, but I made several mistakes already. Forgot that it's better to sow the chard straight in the ground, and soak them first. Forgot to evenly moisten the seed starter mix first, and the moisture is not soaking down into the trays. 

So I will probably have to redo a lot of them. And I expect a high failure rate because my seed is two years older, and it wasn't stored in the fridge. I had pulled them out and put downstairs in the basement storage room. Which is cooler than the rest of the house, but not as temperature stable as my fridge was.

Also the reason I sowed so many varieties. I don't need seven kinds of tomatoes and six of lettuce- and probably don't have space for all that anyway. But I expect a lot of it won't grow, so I marked the seedling trays clearly then I'll know which packets are too old, to throw out.

I did make a list at the beginning, of what plants: we ate the most of, I miss the most and were easiest to grow. Happily everything on my list, I still had seed packets for! The rest include sugar snap peas, turnips, beets, carrots, green beans, amaranth, sage, hyssop, basil and summer savory.

Here's to a new start.