It is the time of the year that I am completely over the rain. Fed up with the dampness. Tired of the mud. It is raining buckets out and I’m heading out-of-town. I am off to Iowa with the Babylady to visit my folks. It is no Hawaii. Or Mexico. Or St. Kitts. But still- give me Iowa winter over Seattle’s any day. The sun shines in Iowa. A lot. The air is crisp and invigorating. I’ll take it.
(In case you were curious, my dad is still waiting for a new liver and remains at the top of the list, but nothing yet.)
Before I head out, let’s take a peek around.
Late winter crocuses make me smile
The parsley overwintered without any protection! It hasn't done this so robustly before. Cool!
The rainbow chard is still going strong in the hoop house
The return of the chives
Indian plum budding
I'm finishing of the last of the bottle edging
The Babylady started a few peas inside and transplanted them. Growing up the new trellis. Details on that coming soon!
Garlic and leeks
The arugula is rocking my world!
Some mint overwintered too!
Annie is broody. She has hung out on the prized nest box for 2 weeks.
I’ve got seeds started! I will be having a spring plant start sale as part of my new business, Brown Dirt. If you are local, stay tuned! So far I’ve planted 22 varieties of tomatoes, 8 kinds of peppers, 5 types of eggplant, celery, artichokes, shallots, yellow/red/sweet onions, scallions, and more!
I’ll write about my seed starting set up soon, but this is a work in progress. The seedlings trays are all over the basement while I gather up more lights.
Part of the seed starting set up. I need to get more lights to fully light the trays.
Itsy bitsy tomatoes
Crocus love!
We have some rhubarb starting to poke through and all the fruit trees and berries are in some stage of budding. While it doesn’t feel like spring will ever come, the garden shows me it will.
That is all the meandering for this month. I looked back and it is good to know the garden is consistent. This is last year. Even the same chicken is up to tricky business. I took a peek at 2 years ago and I am amazed at the changes in such a short time.
What is popping up in your garden?
What is popping up in my garden? NOTHING AT ALL. Actually, maybe that’s more like, “what garden?” But, I put in an order with Seed Savers, and I’m excited to get started! We’re going to build some raised beds this weekend.
We have a similar seed starting setup in our back room, it works great! I need to get that set up for some Spring seeds, too.
But you have such pretty topsoil and an awesome blank slate to dream about…and more sunlight! =) What kind of raised beds are you doing?
Not entirely sure yet, but probably just some rectangles, at least for now. We’re going to price some lumber tomorrow. I’d like taller and sturdier, we’ll see what we can afford. Wooden rectangular beds are a little boring, but they are easy to build and relatively cheap to fill with top soil. I’ll keep the plantings around them more free-flowing and I think it will look good! I’m starting to recover from all of the trauma of losing our whole back yard this way and get excited.
Haha! Your garden looks exactly like mine —– in April! I’m jealous of your climate, but it’s giving me something to look forward to.
My roses in Madrona did well. I pruned them with vigor, then fed them in January. Ladies Mantle and love in the mist never die. Today I will pant gadiolas and dahlias.
yeah, you are way ahead of me – even with a hoop house our stuff is way behind. we just started planting a couple of weeks ago the spinaches and radishes in the hoop house and have started the tomatoes for the hoop house this week. we haven’t even thought about planting peas outside or planting collards. that’s still another month away.