No Time To Blog!

Now I know that starting seeds AND a new blog at the same time is not a good idea! I've been so busy in the yard since the weather broke a month ago that I haven't had time to blog about it all. This past week I've enjoyed several evenings of gardening until after 10 pm - gotta love summer in North Dakota.

Left and below is a picture of our front yard with the tulips and daffodils in full bloom from a few weeks ago; our neighbor told me it was the "talk of the neighborhood," which is high praise coming from her! I will try to get a picture up soon of all the seedlings now lined up on our deck that needed to be transplanted WEEKS ago - where has this month gone!?!

Grumble and Fret

I haven't posted anything for the past few weeks because I'm feeling resentful about our cold and windy Spring. Lots of wind, some snow, and chilly temperatures have kept me from feeling like winter is really over. Can it really be May 2nd? The grass is green and a few daffodils are up, but the trees are still bare and we have yet to experience a truly warm day. Can you tell that I'm impatient?!

I did start a few more flats of seeds - rudbeckia, nasturtiums, violas, sunflowers, lavender, cilantro, and 3 kinds of tomatoes (grape, cherry, and yellow heirloom). Everything except the lavender has done well and the tomatoes and nasturtiums are a few inches high. Today it was so windy that one of my flats of sweet peas got blown off a shelf - twice. I hope they survive...

Because we never rigged up a heating system for the greenhouse, I schlepp most of the seedlings out to the greenhouse every morning, and then back inside late in the evening when I realize the temperature has dropped into the 30's. Spring weather, where are you?

Greenhouse!

We finally bit the bullet and bought a small greenhouse to put out back. It's not a permanent structure, but should do well enough to extend our growing season a bit. I'm so excited! I've always wanted a greenhouse but didn't feel worthy of one. Now I have tray after tray of seedlings and it's wonderful to have the space for them. It looks a little funny in our back yard because we positioned it close to power and water - oh, the things we'll do for seedlings!

SPRING IS (FINALLY) HERE

Spring here in North Dakota always feels miraculous to me. It's amazing that any living thing - plant or animal - could survive the cold that we experience. And yet here it is the middle of April and the piles of snow are almost all melted and the first crocuses are in bloom. The excitement of budding new life is almost tangible, and all day my thoughts are filled with what to plant in the garden this year, and how soon we can get the seeds into the ground (not for another month at least).





You'd think that with such a long winter I'd have all my seeds started already, and the garden planned out to the last inch...well, maybe next year. I'm a little behind, mostly because I've run out of space to put the flats. Maybe we'll be lucky and have a warm spring so I can set the seedlings out early, but for now the dining room is getting full!