First Work Day, First Flower, and First Fruit!

Yesterday was my first outdoor work day of the season. Yes, it was cold (maybe a high around the 40s?), but it was warm enough to spend 15-20 mins cleaning up some leaves. And guess what I found under them!


Lots of green stuff! Including some bulbs that were looking a little pale from hiding muffled under the pile. And you may not have believed the title of this post, but it's true. One little crocus bloom has appeared (which may or may not be devoured by lagomorphs before it blooms):


as well as one, little green strawberry! (which will probably be chewed on by the chipimunk that lives under the house once the berry turns pink, but that's how it goes):


Don't let the abundance of dark brown ground get you down... Spring is under all those matted oak leaves, and according to Mike, those leaves keep the ground cool, so I'm all about cleaning them up and letting the green show through! And beside one little lady bug and some earthworms, I haven't seen any bugs out, so it's an especially great time to garden!

If you're trying to figure out when is a good time to start seeds indoors, we're guessing that it's safe to plant all those super-frost-phobic plants (tomatoes, zinnias, peppers, squash, anything that says to be planted after all danger of frost has passed) around May 1-15 in our area. So that's 6-8 weeks away. For now, we're keeping to a few early folks that can be put in the garden when it's still cold, like

beets (gold on the left, red on the right)

radishes

lettuce

and spinach, peas, broccoli, cabbage, kale, etc. These can all be sown directly in the ground a little later, but Mike just wanted to get a head start and do a little experimental farming now! Here's our pot collection, lest you were afraid we'd run out of containers to transplant all our little friends into:


And I also documented a little evidence of why we need all this vegetation... to support Mike's cooking habit! The little spice jars won't fill themselves, and the super-veggie-pizza is even more affordable when it is topped from the garden!

the spice drawer
note that this is all extra stuff that is not in our spice rack :)


Mike making more Italian seasoning
after we used it all up at last house church

our pepper, spinach, artichoke, mushroom, onion, olive, and chicken pizza
I checked this one off as a serving of veggies for the day!

I guess I'd better go figure out just what I'm going to plant in containers this year. Anything I can start from seed now is at least $5 saved at the gardening store a couple months from now. I'm such a flower-gardening-aholic! I'm just trying to remember that any failed planting schemes just go into the category of what will make me an experienced gardener someday. You've got to kill a lot of green stuff before you can really know what you're doing!

Happy Spring Planning!