I have plants

My onions have sprouted, my lettuce has sprouted, my cabbages are beginning to sprout, and my little tomato plants are just beginning to peek out of the soil. The sun has been out (okay, lots of sun but FREEZING temperatures). I started shopping for the ingredients for Mel's mix. I found the peat moss, the vermiculite in bulk, but no one had compost. Not Lowes, not any of our local nurseries. So I put it on Facebook and right down the street from me was a tree service and they had compost and they delivered and it was cheap! I ordered two yards and he delivered it and dumped it this morning. I waited until it warmed up (41 degrees) then went out and began to fill my first bed. It took many wheelbarrow loads through my front yard, through my walk through garage, through my bad yard and then into the bed. Before I put the compost in, I laid down a layer of newspapers, then garden fabric. Then I emptied the bags of leaves into the bottom of the bed. I dumped compost on top of this, then the peat moss, then the vermiculite, Then a couple of bags of manure (sheep and cow). I mixed it all up. I need to put a little bit of compost on top of it and mix again. Then I need to do the other box. So far, I have 2 12x4 beds, a 3 x 6 bed left over from last year. It was my experiment. There is also a 3 x 4 bed up by my patio. I want to put a fifth box by my shed. I need to put something there because it looks such a mess. It gets some shade during the day and has always been like a cooler spot then the rest of the yard. Maybe because the eaves of the shed hang out over the area. If I leave a space between the bed and the side of the shed, then it might get enough sun to work as a cool veg garden. Like a place for greens. I have almost all of my seeds now. I am missing kidney beans. I started broccoli and hot peppers today oh, and Lime Basil. I need to start rosemary this week and I would really like to get more basil and start that. Maybe some lemon basil and regular basil. I am really wondering if I should plant my peas before I leave for Florida on Friday. It is so cold still and next week it is only going to be in the 40s. But everything I read says to plant. So probably I will plant. The bed up by my patio is crazy. Last year I threw lettuce, spinach and swiss chard seed randomly into it. It was full of vegies all summer. Well, when I raked the old stuff off of it yesterday, I found that the swiss chard was growing back! Several plants. I should be happy, but I don't want them there. That is going to be my kitchen herb garden. If I move them out, will I kill them, or should I just kill them and plant new ones. I hate to kill plants. Not weeds, I really don't' care about them. But this is swiss chard that survived a Michigan winter filled with ice and snow and horrible temperatures. Maybe I will just plant them in a bucket and see what happens. Since I stopped my hydroponics in the basement, I am going to move my garden plants downstairs under the grow lights until I get home. That should keep them happy. I need to get those watering bulbs though so they don't dry out. So much to do! I really hope the by the time I return from Florida that it will be warmer! My tulips and daffodils are growing and my lillies are starting to appear. Iris, also is sending up shoots. I have so much yard work to do, painting my pergola, mulching around my beds, painting the shed, getting my trees trimmed. I will be thinking about all of it as I lay on the beach all next week!

What a day! I am exhausted. Yesterday I went to Lowes and bought 4 16' 2X12s. Then I asked them to cut 4' off of each one. That way I could make 2 4 X 12 raised beds for my gardens this year. This morning, I met Carrie and her clan at the Bone and we had breakfast. Jamie asked to borrow my drill, so I made him a deal. He would screw all my beds together and he could take my drill. So he came over and he, Edward and I built my two raised bed garden boxes. They look great!

Then I had to run errands and finally ended up at Carrie's house. She had been raking leaves and dead grass and had several piles. I bagged up 5 garbage bags of leaves and brought them home. I figure that I can put them into my beds and not have to buy so much fill for my boxes. Plus I have leaves here that I need to rake up. Hopefully tomorrow.

For a split second I debated on whether or not I should put my beginning kitchen veg scraps compost into it as well, but with the critters around here, I don't want anything digging up my garden and I really don't want to upset my neighbors. I can just imagine what they would say if they found all my old banana peels laying in a path through their yard.

So I am looking out at my two new raised garden beds and I just bet my neighbors are looking out at them as well, wondering what I am going to do this time!

Planting

Oh, it got so warm a week ago. Up near 70 degrees. The frogs were croaking like crazy! According to my mother-in-law, they have to croak once, then the cold comes back, then once they croak again, spring is here and warm temperatures are here to stay.

So now we are in an ice storm. My car was totally covered with ice when I got out of work tonight. It is cold.

So today I planted. I planted some tomato seeds and some pepper seeds. I bought those little cube things and planted 12 Roma and 18 Big Boy. Then 6 hot peppers and 12 green peppers. And just to make life a little interesting, I planted some garlic and onions in a window style planter.

I have been watching a new person on Youtube. He is praxxus55712 and has fantastic gardening information. He plants everything in his house and in raised beds. So I have been watching all his videos and getting lots of info. He inspired me to plant my garlic and I thought I would put in those onion sets, too. So we will see what happens.

I am picking my greens from my hydroponics system and when they are done, I think I will store it until next fall. Really, Praxxus seems to grow everything just as easily and cheaper than using hydroponics. So I may or may not use it next year.