Garden activity is starting to ramp up. I got the dahlias out in the pots on my lunch break on Thursday. I did have to get rid of one (cactus Tamboro), which had molded. Only some had sprouted, and all of them had when I planted last year, so we’ll see if that bodes ill. […]

First seedling haul of the season: the yellow dahlia we like for the front bed, bidens (also for the front bed), basil, oregano and alyssum. I also got some zucchini seeds. They’re outside for now, but I will be keeping an eye out to make sure it doesn’t get too cold at night.

The front bed is clear of its winter leaf bed, and holy god are there a lot of maple seedlings! I always expect to see some, but I swear, it’s a regular carpet right now. I don’t remember a bumper crop of helicopters last year, but there apparently was one.

Things are coming together. It’s warming up (like we left the heat off overnight a few nights this week.) I’ve got the hose out, and today, I set up the dahlia greenhouse. I need to check on the dahlias and see if they’re waking up yet. I don’t want them out until sometime in May,

I planted up two of the three peppers today, and the zinnias. I’m trying to get things planted up as soon as they get true leaves – one of the peppers hasn’t reached that yet, and the talinum and gem marigolds are still very small. I gave up on the sweet peas and nigella. The

Winter sowing worked! These are broccoli sprouts. I should note that they’re currently getting buried under more snow, because it’s still March, so of course! But considering I had to pull ice off the tops of the containers to check them when I found these, I think a little snow will be fine. The chives

Indoor seeds are started. It’s a smaller amount this year, due to the winter sowing. (I accepted the risk of having to buy plants if the winter sowing fails.) The snowpack is gone, but it’s not terribly warm yet. The winter sown seeds have not done anything yet, but the online group I’m in has

They have emerged from the snowbank! (The weather decided to markedly warm up last week. We got rain. The snow pack has dramatically shrunk.) Granted, they’re now encased in solid ice right under the covers, which isn’t great. It should be above freezing today, so I’m going to check them later to see if any

Remember those seeds I winter sowed and left out on the back deck before it started snowing? I have no idea how they’re doing – they’re buried under the above. I have to assume nothing has sprouted, because it’s been cold. Like, we had a frozen pipe (that fortunately didn’t burst) one morning cold. We

Hey, look! It’s January, and I’m doing a garden post! I’m giving winter sowing a try this year. Got the seeds in just in time to finally get some snow on the ground again. This method is not meant to have the seeds sprout immediately, it’s to make them hardier when they do sprout. I’m