Getting an Early Start on Gardening
I was planning on the beginning of March be the start of my gardening season—meaning, I would start some seeds indoors to be transplanted into my garden after a couple months. I did start some seeds: tomatoes and several types of peppers. I also put some lettuce seeds in a container, to hopefully get an early crop of baby greens. I was planning on doing the first actual sowing in my garden in the beginning of April, but with 70-80 degree temperatures over the past week or so, I got an early start--in fact, I started my garden a whole month earlier than last year! I planted some peas and carrots the other day – one small row of each in my little garden. I will do a follow up planting in another week or so to try to stagger the harvest a bit.
In order to make space for everything I want in my garden this year, and in order to make things easier to move around, I decided to move my strawberries. They were in the middle of my garden space (since I expanded it last year) and were really just in the way. I moved them to the very front of my perennial garden. I’m not sure if it’ll look weird or not, but so far, I think I kind of like them, there. I would LOVE to have a completely edible/ornamental perennial garden some day :)
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| Strawberries! I hope they survive the transplant okay.... |
Today, it was simply gorgeous out. I couldn’t help but get back into my garden and plant some more. I ended up planting several greens today: Swiss chard, spinach and lettuce. Looks like I’m going to be very healthy this spring! I also planted some marigolds (from seeds I collected from last year’s flowers) in a couple of planters. I’m planning on planting some of them in a row between the stone pathway and my vegetable garden, and also doing some in our front yard around our maple tree.
The other thing that weirded me out a little bit today was that I actually had to weed! It’s not even April yet, and I had lots of weeds springing up in my perennial garden. I started out by just cleaning up all of the old dead leaves and branches from last year, and ended up spending a fair amount of time pulling weeds, as well – including one huge one that I swear was part cactus. But now that all of that junk is removed, you can really see all of the things starting to come up in the garden! I had some bulbs poking through the ground several weeks ago, and was a little concerned; but if this weather trend continues I think we’ll just get some early flowers!
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| Tulips, irises, and daffodils are all coming up strong! Pretty much everything else is at least peeking through the ground, too. |
Compare this with my garden space at this time last year so you can see just how far ahead things are this year:
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| How ugly and barren it seems here! March 24, 2011. |
ABOUTME
Hi there! My name is Dana and I live in West Michigan with my husband, Tom and our dog Copernicus. I created this space as a place to share the things I learn along this journey I call life. I work in marketing and I'm a sort of Jane of All Trades, interested in all things nature, gardening, cooking, exploring and learning new things. This blog is a conglomeration of my interests, hobbies, life and life lessons. Thanks for stopping by!