Spring Fever

I have to admit I've got it bad! The sun is shining today and I just want to be outside in my greenhouse. The trouble is that the back of it is wide open. Lst fall we started adding onto it and before we got it closed in winter came upon us and the whole back of the greenhouse is open to the elements. With love and persausion,I think my husband will get it closed in for me this weekend. Then a few days to let it warm up the ground and test the furnace and I'll be ready to move it!! I am busy organizing down there already, moving pots around, getting my irrigation system lined out, generally puttering. But today, my house is calling me. I will water my seedlings and reluctantly do my housework but next week no matter house bad my house looks, I will be in the greenhouse!

The Jungle is Taking Over!

Only eight more days until I get to move out of the house! I can't wait! April 1st is the day I set for moving into the greenhouse. That means that the sixty some flats of seedlings in the grow shelves and spread on tables in front of the windows and I get to move into the sunshine! Of course, I will still sleep in the house, and take my meal here and unless I get a maid and cook I will have to spend some time on those mundane chores, but every other waking moment will be spent in the greenhouse and yard! I can't wait and what's more, my plants can't wait!

Every year I promise I will not have too many plants started before I get to the greenhouse and this year once again I have not been able to keep that promise. My petunias need more room, my tomatoes are stretching for the light and the snap dragons want their own space. But it's all good. Soon we will move to the greenhouse and we will have our space, at least until the middle of May when the greenhouses will be bursting at the seams and we will wait for Memorial Day to burst into the garden and flower beds.

The Smell of Tomatoes

Yesterday I transplanted tomatoes. It was so great! The little seedlings acutally smelled like tomato plants! I also had to plant a few basil seedlings. I can hardly wait until I can have fresh basil on my sandwiches again. I know that this snow makes it look like spring will never come, but actually I reminded my mother that in just three short weeks we will be moving into the greenhouse and planting flower baskets. I guess I need to be reminding my husband about that too as he needs to put the end back on the greenhouse and hook up the gas line for heat. We expanded the greenhouse by 12 feet last fall, but winter set in before we were able to complete the job. Time to start nagging. Life is good, the days are longer, I dream every night of my new plans for the garden.

Mom's in the news again!

Mom called to tell me about this cute little video in the Alaska Dispatch:


Isn't she the greatest?  This clip makes me miss my mom. :)

It Begins

Welcome back. It is gardening time again and time to get back in to reporting on our gardens.

Today I woke up excited to check and see if any new seeds had sprouted. Actually, I've been doing that for two weeks now. On February 9th I planted the very first seeds, and I have been almost springing out of bed in the morning ever since just as if it were summer already. No kidding, when I start waking u the first thought I have is, "I wonder if anything came up over night." Wonderfully, for the past two weeks, something new is pushing up through the soil every morning! What am I planting when it is still snowy outside and spring is a good month away? Flowers! Lots of flowers! I also have some tomatoes, peppers, celery, onions and, as of today, artichokes planted, but for the most part I begin with flowers.

I do love planting flower seed. I love transplanting flower seedlings. I love planning flower beds. I love flower gardens, pots, hanging baskets, patio planters, you name it, if it has flowers in it I love it. I love weeding and watering them and dreaming about them. So, even though my flowers right now are mostly seeds and a few little seedlings, they are much more than that to me. They are a promise of summer to come, and as I plant them and watch them grow my mind fills with the potential they hold to beautify my world. So, even though it is still dark when I get up in the morning, it is already summer in my head as I check on my seedlings and see my summer's flower gardens growing there.