The Speedwell is blooming.  This is just a tiny portion of the patch.  You can see how small the blossoms are:  they are growing in the grass, next to the clover.  

 

I love their sky-blue color.  Look around, you may see some.  This is their time of year to shine.

 

HAPPY SPRING!!!

 

I know I’ve shown you Bloodroot before, but it was just so pretty the other day.  The flowers are bright white and the leaves stand upright next to the flowers.  AND…it grows in colonies.  I love that.

 

HAPPY SPRING!!!

 

You know that Spring has sprung when the ferns start to grow new fiddleheads.  This is Christmas fern, and it grows everywhere around here:  on the Creekside Trail, in Meeks Park, on Blood Mountain.  

 

Look for it on your walks.  

 

HAPPY SPRING!!!

 

 

We went for our walk in the park yesterday, and the Crabapples are starting to bloom.  This one is on the entrance road, along with about 8 others.  They are just starting to bloom.  Should be gorgeous in about a week.

 

Plan a trip to Meeks Park in Blairsville.  It is lovely.

 

HAPPY SPRING!!!

 

More seedlings:  the whole flat on the left is beets, then cilantro, salad burnet, and different kinds of kale.  The bigger leaves in the center are pak choy.  Those are seeds that I collected last year from my pak choy.  

 

We love our greens.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

Here are some of the seedlings that we transplanted last week.  They look great!!!

 

From front to back, left to right, you can see:  cabbages, kales, spinach, Swiss chard, red mustard, and arugula. I am so excited to see them growing so well.  

 

The other flats look great too.  

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

 

The Oregano is coming back too.  It died all the way back this winter.  It doesn’t always, but it did this year.  

 

All these little patches of green just make me so happy.  I am looking forward to warmer weather, and a happy spring.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

I showed you our stand of Bee Balm last summer, looking so pretty.  Well, this is what it looks like when it is just emerging in spring.  It is only about 4 inches high, and it will get to be about 2 feet tall by summer.

 

I love watching this process.  I love seeing all the new sprouts.

 

HAPPY SPRING!!!

 

One flat of seedlings transplanted into three flats of cell packs.  And each flat now holds 36 baby plants.  Wait, you say!!!  That’s 108 tomato plants!!!  Of course we won’t plant them all into OUR garden.  In fact, we only plant about 30.  So why do I plant so many seeds?

 

The answer is this:  

 

1)  It’s really hard to plant just 5 seeds of each variety.  What if they don’t germinate?

2)  It’s really easy to plant 15 seeds of each variety.

3)  Not all of the seeds are viable, especially older ones.  This way I can hedge my bets.  If I plant 15 seeds I should get at                least 6 good, strong seedlings (enough for one cell pack). As you can see on the bottom left, I only got 11 good seedlings.  

4)  Seeds have a life span, and packs of seeds usually have more than we can use in one season.  
5)  AND…we have lots of neighbors and friends who plant tomatoes.  So whatever we don’t use, somebody else will.

 

This way we can get them started and everybody gets to grow their own.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!! 

 

Here is my flat of tomato seedlings.  I sowed about 15 seeds each of 9 different varieties.  

 

These seedlings are about three weeks old.  I transplanted them into cell packs on Thursday.  We ended up with about 12 strong seedlings of each variety.  And when it’s time to put them into the garden, we will choose the strongest ones.  We still have two months to go til then, so they will live under the grow lights in the basement.  And when the weather is warm enough they can go outside each day for sun and fresh mountain air.  

 

I am reluctant to plant tomatoes into the garden until after the frost date, May 15th.  It would be so sad to work this hard, and then lose the whole crop to an early spring freeze.  So we just wait patiently.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!