We are going to be busy for the next few days:  planting our vegetable seeds.  Tomorrow is the new moon, the best time to sow seeds.  We will be planting beet, cabbage, eggplant, leek, lettuce, kale, mustard, pepper, Swiss chard, spinach, and tomato seeds.  Cucumber and squash seeds will get planted next month.  They want really warm soil, so we leave them til later.  Just a note, Linda, I sow arugula directly into the ground, no transplanting involved.  Everything else gets a head start. 

 

I sow the seeds into flats, then put them in the basement on heat mats designed to maintain 70 degrees.  They will stay in the flats until the seedlings have two true leaves.  Then they get transplanted into their own little cell pack of soil.  That is when they move off the heat mats, and get placed under the grow lights.  

 

We do all our planting outside at the potting bench, so we pray for warmish weather.  Once the baby plants are planted they come back into the basement, where we can regulate light and temperature.

 

They will stay there until they are big enough to go out into the garden.  The tomatoes, eggplant, and peppers will stay in the basement until after the last frost date, which is May 15th here.  

 

Such an exciting time!!!

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

Our daffodils are starting to bloom.  They are beautiful outside, like splashes of sunshine everywhere.  But I have to have some inside too.  They just make me happy.

 

I hope you are seeing daffodils in your travels, or better yet, I hope you have some in your own garden.  

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

It is still February, I know, but it has been quite warm the last few weeks, and the Forsythia is blooming.  

 

I’ve seen some around the neighborhood, and around town, mostly blooming.  

 

We are fortunate enough to have some blooms, because the tops of the bushes are out of reach of the deer.  The bottoms of the bushes are bare, but the tops are really pretty.  And they look like sunshine when we look out there.  

 

Next, we will be looking for the daffodils to begin blooming.  More sunshine.

 

HAPPY FEBRUARY!!!

 

 

 

No, really.  Isn’t this magnificent!!!  I couldn’t help myself.  You needed to see her in FULL bloom.

 

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!!

 

They are opening, a little more each day.  SO GORGEOUS, but tough to get all eight blooms in the same picture.  

 

I love this one.

 

HAPPY FEBRUARY!!!

 

Remember the beautiful Amaryllis that Priscilla gave me for Christmas?  Well, it is getting ready to bloom again!!!

 

Two stalks with 4 flower buds each!!!  I’ll show you again when they open.

 

What a sweet treat in the middle of winter.

 

HAPPY FEBRUARY!!!

 

I got my Brent and Becky’s catalog the other day.  Yay!!!  

 

So many pretty pictures, and great information about all the plants in the catalog.  Information includes sun requirements, drought tolerance, critter resistance, and pollinator friendliness.  

 

You can get one too;  just go to https://brentandbeckysbulbs.com/?v=7516fd43adaa

and request a catalog on the home page.  

 

I lost a few plants during that Christmas freeze;  maybe I will replace them with bulbs.  

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

 

 

Have you heard this Old Wives Tale?  Ten days after a thunderstorm in the winter, it will snow.  

 

Well, on January third we had a thunderstorm, and on Friday, January thirteenth it snowed.  My sisters had thunder storms on the third, but no snow on the thirteenth.  They live in Virginia and Mississippi.  It snowed here in the mountains, so maybe it is a mountain old wives tale.

 

There wasn't enough snow to make a snowman, or go sledding down the road, but it was pretty enough to take pictures.  Thought you'd like to see the garden in the snow.  Can't wait for more.

 

HAPPY JANUARY!!!

 

Just thought you'd like to know, when I went out to the compost bin yesterday, I noticed my daffodils starting to come up.

 

It is early, I know, but I think it is time for them to start emerging. And the best part is:  the deer don't eat them.

 

This makes me so happy.  I love knowing that we will have daffodils soon.  OK, maybe not real soon, but soon enough.  

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

This is what's left in the garden:  10 ft. tall stakes for the sunflowers.  Jon had to use the 8 ft. ladder this past summer to install the stakes.  So instead of going through that process every year, we will just plant the seeds next to the stakes, and be happy with that.  We love our sunflowers.

 

Oh, yeah, there is also garlic out there, but there's nothing to see yet.  The cloves are 2 inches under the ground and mulched with another 3 inches of leaves.

 

So everybody here is taking a little rest from gardening.  

 

HAPPY JANUARY!!!