End of February Snow Scene

February as a whole was... fairly mild as winter months go, the temperatures for the first three weeks were stabilized at just below freezing and never really going below 20 much as lows go. The last week of the month began to show us above freezing highs and March was in sight!

But as February came to a close... it wasn't about to let us go all that easily. With only days left it dumped 18" of snow on the landscape. Considering that there was still snow on the ground from the start, this led to some fairly deep snow in the back yard. Then some more snow... and a little more.

When I woke up this morning this is the wonderland which greeted the eyes.

Such winter beauty comes once in awhile so of course I jumped into my boots and tromped through the back yards' nearly two feet of snow to get these pictures.

What are those white lumps all standing in a row inside this cage? ... those would be our blueberry bushes planted last year (which the deer kindly pruned for us) (leading to a newly improved welded wire fence that my boyfriend put up).

Note to self: Looks like repairing the garden fence has been added to the to-do list for this spring.

See ya next year Feb!

Seed Germination Update

One week after the first signs of life- Here are the leek seedlings. Two weeks after sowing these seeds and 29 out of 36 cells have life! I would like to note that the germination of these seems a bit sporadic. There are fully emerged seedlings nearing two inches tall while some are JUST starting out as a tiny green spot in the soil. I wonder if this goes back to using seeds from 2009- older seeds. The older the seed the less viable it is, (I also didn't take any care to the storage of the seeds) so maybe this is why it has taken some a little longer than others to pop up. There are a handful of cells with no life yet... but every day there is a new leek it seems so I think we have some success on our hands so far. To think I didn't have faith that they would germinate at all!

And that's not all. Here there be lettuce. Referring to my garden log, I planted these seeds (also older seeds from 2009) on 2/9 and had life on 2/11- in two days! That's fast! These seedlings are now five days old... and along with the leeks above... they all need to be thinned!

Winter Snake Surprise

Aw! What a cutie. And guess where I found it... in the kitchen.

This is what happens when you have a mighty hunter of a cat... you get to encounter more wildlife than you would ever imagine inside the comfort of your own home!

Walking in the door from a long day at work I was greeted in the kitchen by the cat who seemed to be communicating that she wanted to be fed. As I bent down to inspect to level of food I found this poor little garter snake coiled up right next to the bowl (which was full mind you). At least she understands we all eat in the kitchen.

We are fairly sure that there must be some snakes in the basement. Now and then you will find them down there... mostly just little tiny babies and sometimes shed skins. Knowing the cat, she probably played with it for a while before bringing it inside... to play with it more of course. Seeing that it was bleeding a little, I felt pretty bad for it and gently picked him up- shooed the cat away and returned it to a safe (cat-free) zone in the basement. A while later I returned to check on its progress- it was alert and aware of me, but rather lethargic (which is understandable), but had slithered back into the danger zone of the prowler. Dutifully I hid it again. Which I repeated again the next day after the cat brought it back into the kitchen. Ugh. At that point I placed it in a safe (I think) place in the garage where (though colder) it should find better hiding places.

If you are squeamish about snakes, I apologize, I happen to deeply appreciate reptiles (legged and non-legged alike)... don't be a hater! Garter snakes are as harmless as a toad and as helpful as one. When I went to check the garage today the snake was gone. Do I really know what happened to it... no, but I hope that we will meet again in the garden.

Peek of a Leek

Well it has been over a week now, and here is the leek growing update.

Everyday I stare down at the soil of my leek trays with anticipation of a glimpse of green- as sign of life, anything!

Watering the tray the other day... I might have over watered it just a little. Typically I spritz the top of the soil with a spray bottle... it seems gentle enough not to displace too much water and disturb the seeds. My boyfriend on the other hand felt this was not adequate and poured water over the tray with the watering can I have for the houseplants. Ugh! I cringed thinking that the soil would become a willy nilly swirl of soil and seeds... but thankfully not. The soil was still damp enough to hold its place. So when things started to look lightly dry, I tried the watering can... then later on I realized that all the water just soaks through to the bottom of the tray... and sits there. Realization of this was when I picked up the tray to look at it more closely in the kitchen light (for signs of life) one night and was surprised by its weight. Pouring out the almost 1/2 inch of standing water into some of the houseplant pots, I vowed to go back to the spritzing. Then I became concerned... could this cause the seeds to rot? Plants need moist soil, but also need air or else they 'drown'.

So today again I visited the leek tray and gave it a spritz. Peering down I saw nothing... and noting the date... was feeling a little skeptical about the vitality of my 2009 seeds. Feeling a little defeated I began flipping through my books and surfing online to see what I could do better. One site mentioned that germination can take two weeks... so I didn't feel so bad. Then I looked again, obsessed with hope... and I saw it!

Its not time to give up just yet!

Planting Planning

With March only three weeks away I thought it would be a good time to start thinking about planning seed plantings. Planting plannings! I sorted through my pile of seeds for this years garden and began dividing them up. The seed packets almost always give you a good idea when you can sow the seeds outdoors or indoors as well (if its recommended and for some seeds its not).

So I figured out that there are waves of planting to consider. Which might sound overwhelming but really its not since this means that not everything needs to be planted at the same exact time. Its staying on top of the timing- that's the hard part. As I read the back of my packets I divided the seeds into these categories of waves of planting... so I had more of a visual of what I was getting myself into this year.

As can be seen above I have seeds that can be started indoors in two waves: 1. 8-6 weeks before the last frost (ex: eggplant, tomatoes, tomatillos- they are all related plant species too interestingly). 2. 6-4 weeks before the last frost (ex: brussel sprouts, radicchio). These guys will be given a head start. Its recommended to start cabbage family indoors (I have my cabbage with the 8-6 week group for some reason I'm sure I read why) so that the plants have enough of a head start before they hit the ground in spring. This helps them survive attacks from flea beetles, which are active at that time of the year... if all you have are itsy bitsy seedlings from direct sowing... the impact of a little munching on a little plant is greater than a little munching on a bigger plant. Makes sense.

Later on I will concentrate on the direct sowing waves of planting. This starts in April with things like the cabbage family: kale, collards, kohlrabi. Spinach should be started then too- one year we planted spinach towards the end of April and got some. The next year we planted them a week or two earlier and got a LOT more spinach. Love those cold crops.

Even later... *sighs* when the soil and the air warms and the frosts are gone... you can plant just about everything else there is to go into the ground. This can be the most overwhelming wave of planting... because by now its May and you are already busy keeping the weeds at bay and thinning the seedlings that are taking hold from April. AHHHH.

Its all good though. That's why its good to have a plan. My attempt at being more organized and capable of planning my seed planting this year is to take all these waves of planting into consideration... and attack my calender! Write it all down on the calendar so that when... this or that date is approaching I'll be mindful to have those things ready to go in the ground.

Of course this all sounds easier said than done. I might have myself convinced now that this is the solution to staying on top of the garden mayhem of spring, but when the time comes... you never know what will happen! But so far this will be my plan of attack!

The Ancient Apple and Beauty of Winter

Here peacefully sleeping on this winter day is an ancient apple tree. Of an unknown variety we inherited it with the land when we moved here. It was explained to us by the son of the previous owner that this land was once part of an orchard... and this would be that last of the orchard.

This tree has a special place in my heart. As you may notice it has a pronounced hole in its belly. This makes the tree literally hollow from the ground up! You can stick your head inside and look straight up to the sky. How on earth a tree in this condition can stay alive is amazing. It has housed the nests of birds and in the two autumn seasons we have celebrated here... it has produced good sized eating apples (as you may see in the picture below taken in September of 2009).

While some folks abhor the winter season (and I can't say I am a great fan of the cold), it serves some practical and meaningful purposes. All the verdant beauty has gone, nature is nearly silent, all seems dead, gray and lost. Our warmth is sapped from our souls as even the very sun seems to shy away. But it can never last. As dead and decaying as the ancient apple may seem... it is still full of life. This rest is what helps give it life year after year. In the cold of winter life we can reflect on life which is still abound and will come again as will the sun- just the same as it always has. You cannot truly appreciate something until its not around, and this is the season that helps us remember that. That is the beauty of winter.

Starting Leek Seeds

And so it begins. It is February and I have planted seeds. This might sound crazy and obsessive but indeed there are somethings you may start planting now... namely leeks.

My love affair with leeks began a few years ago when I decided to comb through a vegetarian cookbook for interesting new things to make for dinner. Our diet tends to have a vegetarian spin on it in order to pursue healthier eating habits. Anyway, exploring these new recipes exposed me to vegetables I was not accustomed to eating or cooking with. Wandering through the produce section to find these edibles was a learning experience to be sure. (So that's what a such-and-such looks like. I always wondered what people did with those things.) Some may find it disturbing that it was not until a few years ago that I ate a leek... and I agree. Therefore, after discovering the joy of this wonderful vegetable I decided that I should grown them in my garden... and have ever since.

The first year of leek growing I direct seeded in the ground. They grew well, but were kind of small. The following year I tried starting them off indoors- which was what one of my gardening books suggested... in February. The seeds that I started indoors I planted out as seedlings in spring and direct sowed some more seeds as well. The seedlings that I started in side... ended up maturing into larger leeks than the ones I direct sowed outdoors. This all makes sense because the leek has a particularly long growing season. Even though you could technically munch on it as soon as it pokes out of the soil, the longer it grows the bigger it gets! Direct sowing outdoors just didn't give it enough time. Now every year I start at least one seed tray of leeks indoors to get a good harvest of leeks in the fall. Last year I waited until March, but this year I am going for the February planting date. According to my records it should take them about a week to start emerging from the soil.

Something worth mentioning- About a month ago now, when I began dreaming of this years' garden, my boyfriend insisted that I take stock of our old leftover seeds from last year instead of automatically purchasing all new ones. Where did I store this collection of seeds... in a small cardboard box... in our garage... unattached and frozen. Supposedly you can store your seeds by freezing them, so theoretically the seeds should... still be fine? Since I had so many leek seeds leftover from 2009, I decided to try them out and that is what is in the seed tray pictured above. It will be interesting to find out what happens... will these guys have what it takes to germinate? We'll find out in about a week!