Spring Surprise!

Snow is not what I really what I want to see in the garden by the end of March. I guess when the weather man said Chicago is 90% done with snow by the first day of spring I should have keyed into the 10% chance of snow part. At least it's mostly melted in the sunny spots by the end of the day. I wondered if there are lots of minerals in snow because I swear when I went out to check the garden the plants actually looked greener and larger. I was curious about this and thanks to the internet I see that my observation is right about the plants looking greener. Apparently snow has nitrogen in it and is considered the poor man's fertilizer. I guess I should pay mother nature for my first spring dose of organic fertilizer.

Wordless Wednesday

Seedlings in Progress

My growing space is just about filled to capacity with seedlings. I really need some warmer weather so I can move some out to the unheated green house.

I planted my Tomato seeds on March 19 and I have my first few seedling sprouting on March 24. The tomatoes that I planted are Manyel, Pineapple, Coustrelle, Tigerella,Yellow Currant, Wayahead and Ultimate.

Here are some new photos of a few of my seedlings.

Broccoli, Cabage and Pak Choi


Artichokes
Strawberries

The Rose Queen

Last spring I visited my Aunt Doris in Marin County California. She is a very inspiring gardener to say the least. The roses were not in bloom when I visited but I wanted to show you a little before and after.
I think I can admit that I have rose envy. I can expect a small spring bloom on my roses before they are devoured by the evil doing Japanese Beetles in early July.

The lesson that I take from my lovely aunt is perseverance. This garden did not become this beautiful overnight but took many long years of effort and lots of pain. I try and remember that when I'm doing my spring cleaning in the garden. Thank you Aunt Doris for giving me a gardening dream to aspire to.

First Signs of Spring

Pussy Willows are beginning to bud out.

Helleborus is starting to grow.

Daffodils are up an inch.

Strawberries are starting to grow.

How the vegetable garden looks on March 9, 2009

Flowers in San Juan Puerto Rico

Make a Smilebox postcard

Seedling Surprise

I must confess that I've been holding out on you and I have started many of my early spring veggies. I just didn't want you looking at plain old soil for weeks so I waited until I had a few seedlings to show you.

Artichoke -Imperial Star-Started 2/10 and 1st true leaves on 2/26
Strawberry- Ruegen and Yellow Wonder -Started 2/12 and sprouted 2/26



Broccoli-Early Dividend, Small Miracle and Di Cicco-Started 2/21 -Sprouted 2/26

Cabbage- Gonzales, Sombrero, Pak Choi- Started 2/21-sprouted 2/26
Eggplant-Lavender Touch, Dusky, Pingtung Long-Started 2/21-not yet sprouted
Pepper-Jalepeno M, Dulce, Red Marconi, Chile Anaheim- Started 2/21- not yet sprouted
Pansy- Swiss Giant- started 2/10-on 2/26 only a few have sprouted
Begonia-white-started 2/21- not yet sprouted
Cardoon-started 2/10-1st true leaves 2/19
Angelica- started 2/12- not yet sprouted

So the planting season has begun and I'm always surprised at how quickly the broccoli and cabbage sprout and how long it takes others like Pansies to sprout. There is always a learning curve to my gardening. This year I want to plant less seeds but plant them more often to have a continual harvest. It seems I end up with too much of a good thing all at once and too much of it goes to waste or in my case the compost pile. This year I really want to just put out a few plants like cabbage and broccoli in the spring since they tend to bolt quickly in the Midwest heat and humidity. However, I want to plant out a mid and late crop of each to extend my harvest into the fall. Gardening is after all hoping in the future so this year I want to plan a little better and eat a little longer.