Sunday, February 15, 2015

First day of GARDENING SEASON!!!

It's the middle of February, and I planted seeds.  Lettuce and Snow Peas.

I must have had my act together in the Fall, because I have 2 beds that are completely ready for planting, and one where I need to fill it with compost and dirt, and I'm done with that one.

The beds I use for flowers and vegetables are pretty much ready too.  I'm not going to till this year.

Since I cannot rotate my night shade crops, I need to do some research and see what I need to do in order to recharge the soil. I really don't want to pull up all of my supports in order to plant a Spring cover crop and till it in.

Things I want to plant this year:
Lemon Grass
Roma
Early Girl or other early variety 
ONLY two sungold plants  (last year was the year of the cherry tomato)

Of course, I saw a bunch of things in the gardening catalogs that I would like, but don't remember them now.

We've had a LOT of birds in the backyard already this year.  Finches, Woodpeckers, Juncos, Grosbeaks, and some Tanagers (I least I think they were).

I saw one this morning that I need to ID again.  I've looked it up before, but I don't see them often enough to remember.

Today was "Clean Up Day" in the yard.  Sifted dirt, put dirt out, turned the compost.  There were soooo many worms.  A few really large ones.  Trimmed some bushes, raked up Fall debri, cut back the roses.

One piece of advice I got from Marc McGrath of gardening fame was "Leave the tomatoes up on the supports if you live in the North.  When Spring comes, it will be easier to clean up."  It definitely is.  They're all dried up and just snap right off the supports.

Raked the bed that were ready to plant, put out eggshells.  Last year, I think a lot of seeds got eaten.  This year, I put welded wire with netting over it up to keep the birds and our new dog out of the bed where I put the lettuce.

Here's to Spring!