The Endless Winter!

                                   A Week in the Early Spring Garden

It wasn't exactly a pretty week (March 24 - 30) out in the garden, but in spite of the gray skies and low temperatures it was productive. On Sunday we scooped out a nice batch of compost from the heap and spread it in various spots that will be planted in spring crops. We then brought out the first batch of spinach seedlings and planted them under the kitchen window. There's plenty of compost left, however, for the summer growing season. Last summer's zucchini crop came to 35 pounds, much of which we froze. On Sunday evening, we took out the last package of 2012 frozen zucchini from the freezer and had it with our meal. That stretched out pretty well!

Monday was pretty much a loss in terms of the garden as we received a four inch coating of snow and then light rain. The chives, however, didn't seem to mind the snow even a little bit.
    
                              


On Tuesday the snow melted quickly and we transferred a batch of  broccoli starts from indoors to the garden. The  picture shows garden center broccoli plants. Our homegrown broccoli starts are much smaller and to  the left, but under cover cover for the night.

On Wednesday, the herbs we started a month ago finally sprouted. Although only cilantro and thyme are shown, we moved all four plants into the garden just a few steps from the kitchen door. The others are parsley and marjoram.

Our garden soil has an overall pH rating of 7.0. On Thursday, we mixed 12 gallons of fertilizer for "acid soil" loving plants and sprinkled garden lime around the "sweet soil"
 lovers.

Friday was a "cleanup" day. Raking leaves and other "winter" debris added material to the compost heap. We have a second floor kitchen in addition to the normal first floor kitchen. We use it as a "greenhouse" for all the plant starts. Late in the day, we brought down the first of the of indoor garden lettuce. The lettuce met its fate bravely and provided a delicious salad bowl for the evening meal.

 

 

 The weather moderated on Saturday and allowed the  planting of 2 nine foot rows ofsnow peas. Romaine seedlings were taken out to garden and planted. And finally, ending another garden week,  the ever hungry asparagus beds were treated to a special feeding.

Thanks for taking a look. I hope to see you again next week. If you want to leave a comment & can't get through the message system at the bottom of this page, send me a message at chuckscards42@hotmail.com