March is roaring like a lion!

Last week the wind and rain we were expecting turned out to be a snow storm. The wind knocked down a section of fence in our yard, snapping the post at the ground level! By the next afternoon, it was as if it had never snowed! March roared in like the proverbial lion!

Then yesterday, another nor'easter blew in. They said rain for our area and we ended up with 4 inches of wet snow!

I went out to snap a photo of the garden in the snow and the dogs followed me. They are not allowed in the garden during growing season, but they really enjoyed their chance to run around. Teagan flew through the paths and Chase - well, chased.

In that bed to the left you can see my garlic poking through the snow. It was planted in the fall. There's also turnips coming up in another snow covered bed. Nothing the romping dogs could destroy with the snow cover.

Today the sun is shining and the weather is warming up. I had brushed the snow off the cold frame last night, but it had to be vented today, so that was my only outdoor garden chore.

 I use scraps of leftover lumber for venting.  I lay them flat for temperatures in the thirties and stand them up for the forties and if the temperature goes into the fifties the glass comes all the way up. Heat builds up in this little cold frame!

This is a peek in one side of the cold frame. There's some kale and spinach (which we've been eating) and all those baby seedlings are Arugula.

It's 8 weeks until the last frost! (Hear that, snow??) It's time to sow a few things in the grow room. Today I planted 12 Aster Opus, 6 Pink Catmint and 4 Cayenne Peppers, all from Pinetree Seeds.

I only need 2 Cayenne Peppers, but I have someone to take the extras if they all succeed.

The Catmint will form a nice mounded plant with pink flowers. It's a perennial. It will be outside the garden in our flower beds. I think it will attract pollinators and while it's a mint, it will not get out of control. The cats will enjoy it too!

Pink Catmint - Photo from Pinetree Seeds

Aster Opus - Photo from Pinetree Seeds

The  Aster Opus is also for our flower bed. I think it is so pretty!   It is an annual Aster. I am going to plant it in front of the Purple Millet I am hoping to grow. The Aster Opus is supposed to form bushy 2 1/2 foot plants with lots of stems of white flowers with a faint pint tip.  I am envisioning a hedge of them. I think it will be stunning!

While I was working in the grow room, I noticed that all the onions in the front of the tray were shorter than those in the back.

Then I noticed that there were onions out of the tray and realized that the cats were chewing on the onions!

I have to keep the door to the grow room open, because at the moment there is no heat in that room (we are remodeling our bathroom and all the heaters in the front of the house were on the same breaker! ) I over planted onions anyway, so I will be fine. I just didn't expect that!

Also in the grow room, I am chitting my potatoes. These are Red Norland and Russet that I bought locally. I have more potatoes coming from a seed company soon.

Lastly, I thought I'd give you a peek at the free package of Mesclun I received from Botanical Interests. I planted them in a tray, hoping to harvest a early salad or two from inside the house. If this works, I may plant salads all through the winter! 💚

That's all that is happening this week. Next week I will be planting my peppers! (Indoors, of course. )
Let me know what you are doing in your gardens!

¹⁰ “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven
    and do not return there but water the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
    giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
¹¹ so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
    it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
    and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

Isaiah 55:10-11 (ESV)

Spring Teaser

This isn't a Friday Favorite, but it could be. This week we had snow on Saturday night and then a few days later we had two days of weather in the 70's.  A Spring teaser of  70+ degree weather in February is always a favorite!!

This week is 10 weeks before our last frost in our area.

I took advantage of the lovely weather to plant Celery and Summer Savory seeds in seed trays on my potting bench. No mess in the house to clean up!

 I planted Utah Celery from Pinetree Seeds  and Summer Savory from Botanical Interests .

I'm new to Botanical Interests and I am very impressed with their service, their seeds and their packaging.  You can see on the Pinetree Seed package all the information they give you. (I love Pinetree Seeds and mean no disrespect to them - they are a great seed company!) The Botanical Interests seed package has so much more information including detailed instructions on when and how to start seeds, special germination instructions, a description of the variety, what it is used for, a plant tag and that's just on the outside! Inside the pack they have the history of the plant, botanical facts, recipes, how to avoid diseases and pests - it's impressive!  All their seeds are GMO free and untreated. They were offering free shipping during February - bonus! My order arrived quickly and included a free pack of Mesclun seeds!  I'm going to plant them in a flat under my lights and see if I can grow a salad or two indoors!

 I have never grown celery before. From what I've read, they can be difficult. I have memories of riding through Lancaster County years ago and seeing the Amish gardens with white paper wrapped around the celery to blanch it. Utah is supposed to be self blanching, but I have also read the taste is more celery like if the plants don't blanch. It's an experiment. We'll see how it goes.

I planted twelve celery plants and twelve summer savory. They need light to germinate so they went into my grow room under the lights.

Of course I got out in the garden. I have heard it is damaging to the soil to prepare it too early, but I still pulled out weeds, cleaned up my Asparagus bed and added compost and bone meal, moved some dirt and had very dirty hands for two days - I loved it! 

February came back with rainy cool temperatures so I took care of my leek seedlings in the grow room.

These leeks were planted January 22 and were about 6 inches tall and floppy. Leeks and onions have a hard time getting rid of their seeds; those are the black dots on the tops of the leeks in the photo above. I took scissors and gave them a haircut, cutting them all to 3 inches tall and cutting off any seeds in those smaller than 3". This will help them put more growth into the base so they thicken up and get strong. They, and the onions I planted, will get regular haircuts to keep them strong.

As a bonus, the leek clippings can be used as a garnish in eggs, potatoes or other dishes. It's like my first harvest of 2018 😉!