Monday, February 29, 2016

Spring Garden Planning

I'm gearing up for spring here.  Yesterday it was so warm and wonderful outside that I actually did some weeding in the garden and even planted some Tom Thumb peas.  Yes, it's early; they are supposed to be planted about 4 weeks before our last frost date, and our last frost date is about 6 weeks away, but I wanted to try it.  Peas are supposed to be pretty hardy to cold, but they don't tolerate heat well, and you never know how fast it will heat up here.  The Tom Thumb peas I have in a pot in the playroom are doing quite well:

Peas are really such pretty plants, too.  

My seedlings in the playroom look great.  We have sprouts for cauliflower, red cabbage, broccoli (2 types), brussel sprouts, and a couple of onions.  In pots, radishes, arugula, peas, swiss chard, carrots (3 types), and strawberries have all sprouted.  The herbs in pots (rosemary & mint) are doing very well, and we have used them in cooking as needed.  Actually, my two thyme plants out front are still growing despite being buried under snow a few times.  I use them as needed, too.  I need to get a few more big pots, for more carrots and such.  We've had great luck with carrots in pots but not so much in our clay-packed ground.  I've been trying to figure out where all of these seedlings and all of the ones I haven't started yet will go.  I'm expanding the newest garden, and I plan on building a simple bean trellis soon.  I also want to weed out most if not all of the lemon balm and use that area for plants, but I'm avoiding it right now because it had some poison ivy in it last year, and until the leaves are on, I can't tell if there is any trying to come back or not.  Nathaniel pulled most if not all of it out last fall, but I can't be sure if there is any still there yet.  I certainly don't want to touch any dormant poison ivy; that's the kind I've had the most horrible reactions to in the past. 

No comments:

Post a Comment