This time of year I am full of optimism about the garden. It is full of life and energy, and I love walking around seeing all the plants waking up!
Already going strong: Plenty of lettuce Cilantro Cabbage Garlic Peas Onions Carrots and Radishes just starting to come up
I harvest herbs – green onions, parsley, thyme, oregano and mint all through the winter, but it is now time to start harvesting some lettuce. I have tried to keep track of my harvest in the past and have failed to do it consistently so that is really going to be a focus this year.
Sunday morning saw a few hours without rain, so I trudged back and forth through the muck to get this new bed underway. A pile of soil was delivered Friday and I hoped to have gotten it all moved over the weekend, but it was not to be. I’m just about halfway done. The forecast keeps changing, but this coming weekend is looking pretty good at the moment. It would be nice to get everything done, as the next several weekends after are booked with other commitments.
About halfway done.
There has been a lot of rain this year. So far, to date, we are 3.12″ above normal with a total of 8.52″. That is enough to leave my yard a soggy mess, and the low space between my house and the neighbor’s has been a pond for the last couple of weeks. This weekend really piled it on, too. Although I wanted to get out and get some things done around the garden, the cold (30’s) and steady rain kept me inside. I did find time to relax, which was nice. In a few more weeks when spring gets in full gear, there will be plenty to do, both in the garden and in life.
Slow growing in February.
The peas are making progress, but the mustard and pak choi don’t seem to have budged in the four weeks since they sprouted. In the attic, the tomatoes and cucumbers are sprouting. I have lettuce sprouts that need to find homes, and a bunch of brassicas, too. Soon enough there will be green everywhere.
Chillin’. Mourning dove, Zenaida macroura.
I know come August I will be hoping for a nice cool rain, but at the moment all I can say is ‘Enough already!’
Looking for spring. American robin, Turdus migratorius
I saw the first robins of the year over a week ago. Seems a bit early, but there are other signs of spring all around.
It was a busy weekend. The tree guys didn’t exactly leave a mess, but there was a bit to clean up. Their work was also a roadblock holding up some other things. When they moved out, I got busy. I laid out the new hugel bed, cut a couple of smaller trees myself to add to it, spread the leaf/compost pile around the poly-corner, moved about 1/2 the wood chips they left, putting some in the poly-corner and some in the strawberry/wine-cap bed around front and if that wasn’t enough, I planted some seeds, both outside, under the new bit of row cover, and some in trays in the attic. Hopefully, I will get the soil delivery during the coming week and finish this all up next weekend, although the weather continues to look a bit rainy.
Ready for some more green, but progress is being made.
Planted in about a six foot section of the hugel:
sugar snap peas
parsley
dill
radish
lettuces
Ice Queen
Yugoslavian Red
Black Seeded Simpson
Planted in trays in the attic:
Tomato, San Marzano
Cucumber, Pickle Bush
Jalapeno, saved seed
Bronze Fennel, saved seed
The hugel section planted about 4 weeks earlier is doing well but seems to be in a wait and see mode. The mustard and pak choi have not put out any true leaves and the peas, while standing tall, are not shooting up. Maybe they are just waiting for longer, warmer days. I can’t say I blame them.
Some of the plants that are overwintering, like these purple mustards, are starting to perk up a bit and enjoy the sunnier days. Spring is coming to the rescue soon!
