Middle of March, ten days ago…

End of March…

This is not a pretty post.  This is a muddy, sloshy, dirty kind of post where everything emerging is tired and beaten.  Beneath the several piles of blankets that Mother Nature tucked the world under this past winter, bare ground is finally visible.  Though, we finally succumbed and decided to help shovel away a few of those blankets…up to 18″ on top of where my lettuce and spinach are ready to go!

Indoors, we have been nursing seedlings since the end of February.  All our onions and leeks went in first, followed closely by brassicas (broccoli, cauliflower, cabbages and brussel sprouts).  My large seed table that my husband built a few years ago is dragged into the house from the shed and resides by the front entryway for nearly four months.  I ought to beautify it a little somehow, but I’m not inspired yet.  For the first time in years of growing my own starts, the scales have tipped to favour more flowers than ever.  Old favourites have been started, including calendula, nasturtiums, zinnias, nicotania, echinacea and a few new starts like larkspur, cornflowers and snapdragons.  I usually buy these from our local greenhouse, but decided to try myself this year.  Already our start table is crammed full and I had to move the cornflowers in new pots to the windowsill by the kitchen sink.  Tomorrow I will start some basil, tickseed and strawflowers.  Any way that I may bring some greenery into our lives is welcome!

The kitchen garden was transformed last summer and will now be devoted to only flowers!  Ohhh, I can hardly wait.  What an art form it is to plan for full colour and continual blooms…..I certainly appreciate those who do it so effortlessly.  (Which reminds me, I am saving a few pennies to purchase that new book I spied over on Taproot’s website, Floret Farm’s Cut Flower Garden.  I rarely ever buy myself anything new, but this I must find a way to get my dirty thumbs onto.)

The kitchen garden looks like a big muddy mess right now….but in a week or so there ought to be freckles of colour poking through.

On the south side of our house, our tulips are eager to say hello.  It really is happening!  And Sunshine spied the first perky crocus patch to emerge….so cheerful.  Little Huckley then went and happily picked me my first bouquet of the year.  Such tiny little flowers that brought such joy to my heart.

And with that, the snow recedes and the season begins….slowly and steadily.  We are expecting cool, rainy weather the next few weeks, but you can find me in the greenhouse…it’s a mess in there, too.