Monday, March 1, 2010

Gardening Update - March is Here!

A few small packages have been arriving at our house containing tiny promises of Spring. My seed packets are here! Sidenote: "Things I Love in February" blog posts are so last month, but I do so enjoy how Brookie refers to our home as "our new house". She'll say things like: "When is Omma coming to our new house?" and "I'll take a nap in our new house!" and "Does God live at our new house or only at church?" Since we moved here in November, I feel we are settling in quite nicely, but I wonder how long she'll keep up her name.

My pots for my herb garden are set out, but I need a little more dirt before I can plant the seeds. During the move, a couple of my pots were broken. I've saved the shards to place in the bottom of my other pots; this really helps with drainage.

I have a few vegetable seeds to use in our small garden this year, and I think I'll purchase tomato plants and pepper plants locally. Big Fish and I are discussing what kinds of fruit bearing bushes we would love - red rasberries are at the top of my list; and he loves blueberries. I have two of those strawberry growing pots (the tall pots with several side pocket holes), so we might be able to have those growing on the deck.

I'll leave you with a tip: recycle your newspapers into plant pots! Start your seeds in little newspaper containers, and you can set them directly in the soil. Here's a mold I found to help make them.

How are your garden preparations coming along? Happy March to you!

3 comments:

  1. I was thinking of using the cardboard egg cartons for starting seeds. Do you think that would have the same effect as the newspaper?

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  2. I do think the cardboard egg cartons would work....I would wet them thoroughly before planting and tear off a bit of the bottom of the cup. That will help the roots work their way out.

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  3. John and I started a rasied bed garden a couple of weeks ago. He built it for me after I left strong hints for a rasied garden, along with "I won't have to fight the weeds and grass growing in so much."

    Did you have a garden when you lived in Florida? Any good gardening tips you want to pass on would be greatly appreciated.

    We have some tomato plants that have been producing tomatoes for about a month and have started some newer ones that will probably be producing in about a month or so.

    This was our first year that we are using compost made from last year.I'm using it as a compost "tea" to water the vegetables because the soil here is quite lacking in the minerals of other states. The last garden we had was a disaster except for okra and tomoates. I think we planted too late for Florida climate and the bugs, particularly snails, were relentless. Now you know why I'm seeking any ideas you have!
    (Last note, the year before that an iguana ate my beauitiful yellow squash plants and left nothing but a vine. I think the iguana has passed on after the cold winter here that has killed off many iguanas and snakes.

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