Spring Has Nearly Sprung

Although not officially until March 20 (the day after my birthday), it certainly feels as if it is Spring. According to my handy map (below), today is the last possible day for a frost in this area. The weather report predicted that it will reach nearly 70 degrees today (hallelujah!) I think it is safe to begin the summer garden preparations.

Yesterday I received my much-anticipated order of eight (that's right) varieties of heirloom tomatoes from the Seed Savers Exchange. I realize that no one really needs to have eight different kinds of tomatoes in their garden, especially if for a two person household, but no one should have to live with only red tomatoes, either. So I decided to buy at least one of each color, although I forgot to get an orange tomato. Maybe next year...


To commemorate my fur-children I bought a "Ruby" tomato and a "Potato Leaf" tomato. If you look carefully at the Hillbilly Potato tomato package, it actually says "Potato Loaf". I'm sure that's a mistake but it sure is funny, considering my boy-dog's personality.

For the last three weeks, Dave has been out of town on a business trip (but home on the weekends). Since I get bored at home all alone in the evenings I've been finding ways to keep myself entertained. One night I made myself a mini greenhouse out of plastic fabric, like your grandmother used to cover her floral couch, and two stackable shelving units, and huge zippers. I saw something like this at the local garden center and thought it was very cool. Except for the price! That one sells for $80 and it isn't as tall as mine is. In total, I think I spent like $40 on mine and spent about 4 hours making it. I love cheap and productive entertainment!

So I've sown some herbs (oregano, enough basil for all of Italy, thyme, dill, spearmint, and parsley), various lettuces (sweet, spicy, salad bowl), onions, leeks, and scallions. I planted onions back in the fall but very few made an effort at germinating. I thought I'd try one more time before it gets too hot for them. My lettuces have already sprouted!

As soon as I figure out how to use the soil blocker my dad loaned me I'll get my tomatoes sown, too. I'm also seriously considering splurging on an order of seed potatoes from Seed Savers. You can apparently plant them in a tire and just keep piling the soil/compost around them along with additional tires all season, until you eventually have a potato tower full of potatoes. I really need to try that.