Category: Seasons

Not quite ready for spring gardening…

Me in the garden the other day, staring down at my “raised” bed:

It’s not clear, I know…I know…let me try to explain…

I pushed half of the soil aside with a rake, then placed small fir branches, then I stepped on them to break them up a bit and pack them in. I then shoveled some duff from under the fir trees into a wheelbarrow and dumped that in. Duff is this stuff under a couple trees, not sure what it is, maybe some sawdust from long ago logging, also what’s sluffed off of a rotten old stump, fir needles, and ?

On top of that went some half finished and finished compost along with some worms, then I pushed the soil back over the top. Then I looked at the other half and realized I was exhausted.

Yes, I’m that old and out of shape. Baby steps all over again. I decided to skip the hügelkultur on the second half of the bed, my bad.

The next day I pushed a small trellis into the middle of the bed and planted peas on one side and sweet peas on the other, without bending over. I made a shallow trench with a piece of bamboo, kinda tossed in the seeds, and pushed the soil with the back of a rake to cover.

I scattered chives seeds around the edge and onion and milkweed seeds over the rest of the bed. And called it done. Putting off watering until later…but about half an hour after I came inside, it started raining. And rained off and on for the rest of the day.

Many thanks from a weary ol’ gardener. But now I water with a watering can every day.

I don’t have a yard, I have a mossery

Next in my exploration of historic/historical/hysterical garden words is mossery. Quite simply, it is a plantation of mosses. I think that describes my yard quite well. During the winter, when the weather is wet and cold, the mosses flourish. Once it warms up and dries out, the mosses die back and grass and small flowers take over. Most of my neighbors have mainly grass that isn’t green 10 months of the year.

I love the moss, so soft and green. We’re at about 50/50 now.

And in other news…other colors have arrived…

From the top: daffodils, hellebore, red flowering currants, primroses.

Ah spring…gardening is getting closer…don’t panic, it’s still early

“In the spring, I have counted 136 different kinds of weather inside of 24 hours.” — Mark Twain

Oh so true. Here in the Pacific Northwest (PNW to my homies), February isn’t waiting for March to do some roaring. We just had an “atmospheric river” pass overhead. The Weather Channel, as always, was good for some entertainment. “They” said that this river passing by held the watery equivalent of 10 Mississippi Rivers, so I passed day after dark, dreary day of rain counting the rivers…10 Mississippi, 9 Mississippi, 8 Mississippi, then I lost count.

I was indeed a sissi (sic). Letting rain – at some times barely more than a mist, at other times a solid, steady rainfall – get me down.

“People ask me what I do in winter when there’s no baseball. I’ll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring.” — Roger Hornsby

Spring training has started! I get to listen to announcers gloat over the cloudless skies and temperatures in the 80s at baseball camp in Arizona. Thanks for punctuating our gloom back here at home.

“I glanced out the window at the signs of spring. The sky was almost blue, the trees were almost budding, the sun was almost bright.” — Millard Kaufman

Yeah…thanks again for sharing, Arizonians.

“When spring came, even the false spring, there were no problems except where to be happiest. The only thing that could spoil a day was people and if you could keep from making engagements, each day had no limits. People were always the limiters of happiness except for the very few that were as good as spring itself.” ― Ernest Hemingway

Good ol’ Hemingway, you can always count on him to bring you down if you’re getting too happy. But wait! This reminds me of why spring is such a welcome relief from winter! After the assault of people over the holidays, once again we can find solitude in our gardens!

Happy spring, whenever it arrives! Happy gardening, garden planning, end of winter!

Don’t underestimate the power of a colorful garden

This time of year, I look for color in my refrigerator. Every meal, I choose what I eat according to the colors, trying to include green and as many bright colors as possible. As winter wears on in its weary way, the colors come from farther away…boo! Local foods from local farms and gardens are so much more flavorful. But I’ll settle for broccoli and brussel sprouts, cauliflower and potatoes, carrots, radishes, turnips…trying my best to brighten my plate.

I’m also test germinating seeds from my dubious seed stash, so many seeds that aren’t labeled as to when they were harvested. Seed packets with dates on them that (no pun intended) push the envelope of whether they are still viable. One scarlet runner bean sprouting, nudging memories of that year (about 20 years ago) when I dedicated a thirty-foot garden bed to just them. What a riot of color that row was, so worth it just for the joy.

In sharp contrast, five borage seeds are sprouting, along with the memories of small star-shaped blue flowers on fuzzy plants. Blue is not always an easy color to add to your garden. It’s also why a patch of blue sky today is so welcome…

The December Gardener

Today I’m sorting through old seeds. (Spoiler: I don’t throw any seeds away, however old they may be). I have a seed viability chart handy and sort the seeds into two piles.

One is much larger than the other because I’m eternally optimistic. This is the “worth trying” pile. The other is the “probably hopeless but I’ll scatter them somewhere in the spring” pile. As in, the chart says they’re viable for one or two years and these are 8 years old…some may say I’m throwing them away, but I’m giving them to a good home, may they rest in peace if they don’t sprout.

A few at a time (because I have limited space to work with), I’ll wrap a few of the worth trying seeds in damp paper towels, and place the towels into carefully labeled plastic ziplock bags, and set them in a warm place. This is how I decide what to grow next spring. I may supplement with a nursery plant or two (or so I tell myself), but that is planned with seed catalog viewing…after the viability tests are over.

Seed catalog browsing will be my January “gardening”. I buy all my seeds from a local farm, just a few miles from my home. My favorite nursery just a few miles further away.

Seed Viability Chart: https://homesteadandchill.com/old-seeds-viability-chart/