Cold Weather Crops

Monday of this week we had such beautiful weather that I busted out my gardening shoes and went to work in my overgrown patch of land. The last few years I've grown tomatoes, herbs, peppers and a few other things in this specific patch. This year it seems, it has become my cold weather crop patch.

In the fall of 2009, I planted two different types of garlic in this patch. Using the square foot method, I believe I currently have about 5 or 6 squares dedicated to Garlic. Given my husband eats tons of it and I use it to help cure colds, I feel like we should be growing more. I guess we'll see what happens.

As I mentioned before, monday was BEAUTIFUL! So I went out, pulled weeds and planted some bush beans and some spinach. I'd like to get some lettuce in the ground as well but need to take stock of what kind of seeds I have on hand. Since I am relatively new..... OK brand spankin' new with this whole "spring crop" thing, I need to do some research to see what grows here in the spring. I thought beets did, but saw the label for my beets that said "after the last frost"..... I am confused. As soon as I sort thru this, I'll post what can be grown in zone 5/6 in the spring. Till then.....

Happy Gardening!

SPRING BULBS!!!

I know it is not proper grammar to use more than one exclamation point. However, after the winter we've weathered (no pun intended), there aren't enough exclamation points in the universe to show my excitement for the spring bulbs popping up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Seeing these brave little soldiers, popping their heads above ground, while the snow is still lying around makes my world. It feels like Mother Nature is calling from below ground, saying, "Don't worry. I have not forgotten you." A bundle of love in the form of flowers. I heart Mother Nature!

Last fall I was in a funk..... a BIG funk and so I did not plant my usual 200+ bulbs. I did dig them out at the end of last spring and put them away for fall, but just didn't have the ambition to do it. And I kick myself every time I think of it. Seeing crocus, daffodils, hyacinth, tulips, etc helps me to realize that winter is almost over and that I can hang in there a few more weeks. So the only bulbs popping up this spring are the ones I missed last year. This is bad news for the deer who LOVED my red tulips last year. My neighbor would try to shoo them every morning as she pulled out of her driveway, to no avail. Sorry deer, maybe next year.

New to my spring line is garlic. In the fall, a trip to the garden center yielded a cool talk with a few of the garden gals. They talked me into planting two different types of garlic. So I have those in and I believe I need to cut them back twice in order to produce bulbs. I'll be googling that later. For now, I have pictures of the spring bulbs I missed last year (YEAH!) and soon I will be taking pictures of the garlic.