Finally! We have a nice warm day today and it's time to go out to the garden and play in the dirt. The snow's all melted off, and the ground is soft enough to be worked in the raised beds. I lifted the black plastic off of one of the beds, and checked it with the soil thermometer. To my surprise, it registered 65 degrees. It's good black dirt, lots of compost piled in there last year and it should have lots of soil nutrition for this year's crops too.
I peeled back the black plastic to find wonderfully warm, moist soil, just waiting for early season things. I planted Sugar Snap peas along the fence, so they could climb, then added a close-by row of half Purple Plum radishes, and half a row of Claytonia, Miner's lettuce. On the other side of that bed I added Spinach and onion sets. They should all do well, even through the cold spells to come.
It was 63 degrees and blowing out there, so I just couldn't quit and go back inside so I washed the sheets from the bed and hung them out on the line along with the blankets and pillows, to blow the musty winter smell out of all of them. By the clothesline, I saw the snowdrops, coming up through last year's leaves.
Then I turned the dirt up in four more raised beds and planted turnips, beets, more peas and lettuces and onions. It felt great to get out there and work in that beautiful black soil. In the greenhouse we've got a couple more lettuces growing for salads before the garden ones come along, and Jim has seedlings coming up for transplanting. This time of year, we've just got to get out there and get something growing, and we treasure each little bit of greenery we find.
Happy Leap Day everyone, it's good to see winter loosening it's cold grip.
I peeled back the black plastic to find wonderfully warm, moist soil, just waiting for early season things. I planted Sugar Snap peas along the fence, so they could climb, then added a close-by row of half Purple Plum radishes, and half a row of Claytonia, Miner's lettuce. On the other side of that bed I added Spinach and onion sets. They should all do well, even through the cold spells to come.
It was 63 degrees and blowing out there, so I just couldn't quit and go back inside so I washed the sheets from the bed and hung them out on the line along with the blankets and pillows, to blow the musty winter smell out of all of them. By the clothesline, I saw the snowdrops, coming up through last year's leaves. 
Then I turned the dirt up in four more raised beds and planted turnips, beets, more peas and lettuces and onions. It felt great to get out there and work in that beautiful black soil. In the greenhouse we've got a couple more lettuces growing for salads before the garden ones come along, and Jim has seedlings coming up for transplanting. This time of year, we've just got to get out there and get something growing, and we treasure each little bit of greenery we find.
Happy Leap Day everyone, it's good to see winter loosening it's cold grip.
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