I love this vibrant color!

I’ve been wanting a new mailbox post since the first day we looked at this property in 2007. The task finally reached the priority list today, and we picked up a pre-made post (saving us lots of time, not to mention it was on sale) and made it happen.

Thankfully, the old mailbox milk jug thing was not anchored in cement, so this made removal easier. Using a measuring tape, the hole was dug deeper, deeper, deeper, until the mailbox height was in compliance with USPS mailbox guidelines.

In standard fashion, I removed a layer of grass and brought in compost in preparation for a flower bed to cheer things up. I have morning glories sprouting, which will soon be ready to climb that new pole.

Today we placed the bean and pea fencing in the garden in a fresh position for a new year. We chose the northeast corner.

I planted one row of peas, as part of a staggered planting schedule. I also managed to plant 200 onions – half yellow, half red. Very good progress!

As a final preparation for tilling, Ryan finished loading the garden with compost over the weekend while I was away.

Today we rented a small tiller and tilled the entire garden. You’ll see in the photo that we also picked up another truckload of compost and added it to the new garden section/addition. (Along with picking up a few bonfire logs, which Ryan can’t resist.)

We are now tracking almost three weeks ahead of last year! It’s fun to watch the robins swarm the freshly turned garden dirt for bugs and worms.

Today I planted the herb seeds indoors: Basil, Cilantro, Dill, Lavender, and Parsley. I also planted Moonflower seeds and started the Morning Glory seeds soaking.

Turned over enough garden space today to plant the lettuce, spinach, and radishes for the early season. Can’t wait to see the first green sprouts!

Here are a few links I’d like to share that I found today.

The first one is about saving your own vegetable seeds from year to year, for so many good reasons: http://planetgreen.discovery.com/home-garden/save-seeds-garden.html

And this one, how to make your own seed pots, which I learned can be made from old phone books (which we never use anyway). I’m going to give this a try and return the seed-starting tray I just bought while it’s still in the wrapper! http://herbgardens.about.com/od/herbalcraftsandgifts/ht/MYOSeedpot.htm

Just a quick update to document that one Roma tomato and one hot pepper have sprouted! I’m sure they’ll come quickly now.

Hoping to plant my lettuce, spinach, radishes, and onions outside this coming weekend!

Today I cleared the asparagus patch of last year’s stalks and dead grass. The sun can now reach the ground to warm it up faster. I’m looking forward to those first tasty spears. Yum!

We will need to quickly build an arbor above the asparagus patch for the older grape vines growing there. The vines always get tangled up in the asparagus as they wind around the new plants each year. They’ve been wild for many years and we need to get them pruned and trained.

I hauled five wheelbarrow loads of compost to the garden before tiring. Ryan continued the job until our oldest compost bin was empty. He moved the least decomposed materials to the 3rd bin leaving us one more bin to bring to the garden. Almost ready for tilling already!

Per the advice of a family friend, I started our tomato and pepper seeds tonight. She says the first day of spring is a good guideline for starting those slow-growing vegetables like tomatoes, peppers, celery, parsley, and eggplant, and similarly slow flowers like marigolds. I planted the following seeds:

• Burpee Big Boy (2010)
• Jung Celebrity (old seed, we’ll see if they germinate)
• Burpee roma (2010)
• Jung “Rainbow” – various cherry tomatoes (old)
• Jung yellow pear tomatoes (old)
• Burpee jalapeno (2010)
• Burpee sweet pepper (2010)
• Burpee “Hot Mix” peppers (2009)

Continued observations:

• The strawberries are up! I marked the plants with sticks.
• The oregano and chives are sprouted and moving right along.

I had to laugh that I’m a little behind last year, but I did get some time to make my vegetable planting list and take a seed inventory. Here’s what we’ll be growing this year:

• Asparagus (perennial)
• Beans – yellow pole, green pole
• Beets
• Carrots
• Cucumbers
• Lettuce
• Onions – yellow, red
• Peas
• Peppers – sweet, chili, hot varieties
• Radishes – early, main-season
• Spinach
• Squash – acorn, butternut
• Swiss Chard
• Tomatoes – traditional, roma, cherry, yellow pear
• Turnips?

Sunny edge of woods, to save garden space:

• Cantaloupe
• Gourds
• Pumpkin
• Watermelon

Fruit, perennial:

• Apples
• Blueberries
• Grapes (3 varieties)
• Pears
• Plums (if the tree decides to produce)
• Raspberries
• Strawberries

Herbs:

• Basil
• Chives (perennial)
• Cilantro
• Dill
• Garlic
• Garlic Chives (perennial)
• Lavender
• Oregano (perennial)
• Parsley
• Thyme (perennial)

Did you notice NO zucchini!? I made an executive decision that for the small amount we actually eat, it’s not worth the valuable garden space.

I may give cauliflower a try. I have some old seeds. If they don’t germinate, so be it.