M E L T....

Pre-snow productivity

This past weekend, I made it a mission to get my north perennial garden tidied up. The majestic oak trees that grace this garden shed their leaves gradually over the winter, so spring means raking the wet and layered leaves off the garden, trimming back woody perennials and shrubs, shredding leaves and replacing them as mulch. I nearly finished this task in the front garden... and then the snow started to fall. So the tidying is on hold for now. 

We decided where to plant raspberry canes that I will dig at a friend's place as soon as the snow melts. Rich freed the bobcat from the mud, repaired a gate, and leveled an old hickory stump in the kitchen garden so that it can disappear under a raised bed.

The sundial at the center of the front garden was a family project. The dial came from my grandparents' house in Park Ridge, Illinois. I picked up the pedestal at a yard sale on my way home from work. It is plaster and so my dad sealed it with boat-building apoxy. My mom painted it grey/beige. I had just pulled it out of the shed when it snowed and I don't have the heart to move it back!

Ten more raised beds waiting for dry ground

We built ten more raised beds over the weekend out of untreated wood- five 4 by 8 footers and five 4 by 6 footers.

The materials needed for one 4 by 8 foot bed:

• Six 8-foot-long 2-by-6s
• 32 inches of 4-by-4
• 2.5 inch and 3 inch screws

 We pre-drilled the holes and set the screws to make assembly faster.We made the 4-by-4s into "stakes" so that they will be easier to drive into the ground.

The ground is too wet yet to carry the beds out back with the bobcat, so we will wait a couple weeks to finish the expansion of the kitchen garden.

Starting tiny seeds is easy with the right tools.

I love annuals, but I have become less enthused about budgeting for them every year. It's not only more economical to grow my own, but more gratifying. Yesterday I started coleus seeds, and they are tiny! But let that not be intimidating... bright daylight, a headlamp, some magnifying readers, a white plate, and a moist toothpick are all that is needed to get a couple seeds safely into each cell. I am careful to note which cells are seeded, as even a second's distraction can foil the process.

Seed starting timeline

Perhaps it is the Project Manager in me, but all those lists of what seeds to start at what date were just not specific enough for my planning of the kitchen garden. I created a spreadsheet that lists and shows timelines for various crops- customized to the frost free date for my zip code- and populated it with the varieties I plan to grow. The far left column is 'earliest date to do something' so that I can sort it in waterfall format and have a plan for each weekend.

Starting seeds!

Starting seeds this year has been a sheer luxury with the addition of two 'trugs' that my father made for me for Christmas. He is a master carpenter and boat builder and sometimes takes custom requests. These are just precious to me! He made them so that the handles fold down and can be tightened into either the upright or flat position. I can now carry two standard flats- one in each hand- without struggling to prevent them from twisting and spilling. I would love to use a random assortment of recycled yogurt containers, etc, but I have space constraints and a perfection habit... that is sometimes only offset by a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon, as you can see. I really like the 32-cell packs the best, as they seem to be a nice compromise between cells too small or too large. And the seedlings from them don't completely fall apart if they need to be "potted up," although I can generally get away with leaving them in the original cells until they go into the raised beds. This photo is from a couple nights ago, when I seeded broccoli, brussels sprouts, kale, collards, tat soi, and chard. For the first time this year, I sprinkled the growing medium with a mix of blood meal and cayenne pepper to discourage both mice and cats in the laundry room where I have my grow lights.

2015 Gardening Season resolution

I started this blog last year on a dare from a friend and then I completely let it go. Meanwhile, I took copious gardening notes in a private log. Why? Why would I not just post my notes here for all to see? Sometimes we do things that are so puzzling. So for 2015 I resolve to simply keep my log as a blog. I have no gardening secrets. Except, perhaps, the confession of the amount of time I spend planning and plotting my next moves...

Last spring I planted my cold frames early and we had the most delicious salad garden:
kale, romaine, arugula, and tat soi. Here is a photo that I never posted from 2014.