I Love the Smell of Dirt

I’ve got tomatoes, peppers, cauliflower, cabbage (red and white), broccoli, tomatillos, and a variety of flowers planted. It doesn’t look like a lot right now, but many of these are in six- and nine-packs and will get transplanted into 3-1/2" pots once they come up.

I want to grow more flowers this year, both in the herb garden and the big garden. I like having flowers everywhere, and the bees don’t complain, either.

Susan is getting ready to start her tomatoes, so I think I am right on schedule. (She has a master’s degree in botany and we regard her as the neighborhood expert in all things planting.) The squash and cucumbers can wait until about the middle of April, and the corn and beans will go in toward the end of April.

Susan gave me a package of cowpeas after church yesterday. I was lamenting to her that cowpeas are the one thing I haven’t been able to grow successfully. The variety she gave me is called Red Ripper and they did well in her garden, so I will try again.

I need to mix up a second batch of planting mix. Just underneath the bench at the front of this photo is a large galvanized tub. It was here on the property when we moved in 30 years ago and we have used it for all sorts of projects. It holds a 40-lb bag of potting soil. I got a huge bag of perlite from Susan’s daughter and son-in-law. The perlite was left over after they finished building their house, so I traded them eggs for it. I combine the potting soil with the perlite, a bit of well-aged chicken manure, and a couple of big coffee cans of sand and it makes a nice, well-draining mix for starting seeds.

The heater seems to be working well and hasn’t shut itself off. Yay.

The only hassle at the moment is getting water. There is a wellhead/spigot about 50 feet from the greenhouse, but the snow is still deep in that spot. I am hoping enough snow melts in the next few days that I can hook the hose to the spigot and run it into the greenhouse. Until then, I have to go back and forth with the watering can and fill it. I’ll still have to unhook the hose so it doesn’t freeze overnight, but running it into the greenhouse will save me some steps and let me use the watering wand.

Trenching a permanent water line to the greenhouse is on my wish list of infrastructure projects.

I am going to try to get the peas in earlier this year. Last year I waited too long, and it got too hot too fast. The potatoes will have to go in some time in the next few weeks, too. I’m going to sprinkle some lettuce seeds on the raised bed in the herb garden where I planted lettuce last summer and that should give us a jump start on greens. And I have to prune the fruit trees.

I have much to do in the next two months, but it feels good to get outside and work.