We’re most of the way through February, and I am ready for springtime to begin. Unfortunately, here in Ohio, we have another two/two-and-a-half months before temperatures are warm enough for much spring gardening. The weather this month has been weird. We’ve had everything from flooding rains and thunderstorms, to the sleet and snow one would actually expect at this time of year. A few days ago, the temps shot up to 60 degrees, and then, a front blew through and things dropped 40 degrees in 4 hours. So, the weather has been a little unpredictable.

Usually, February is one of our driest months, but that has not been the case this year. I have to wonder how all the plants will handle the wet winter, especially our lavender. I guess we’ll find out in a few months when the garden wakes back up.

In the mean time, Master Gardener classes continue. We’re more than halfway through the class portion of the program, and I have really been enjoying it all. Every week, I find something new to be excited about in the garden, and I can’t wait to get outside and planting.

Because I can’t help myself, I’ve also spent the last few weeks acquiring more indoor plants. In my defense, the husband has been 3-D printing lots of new pots. I have to buy plants to stuff into them, right? I’ve also started the first of the indoor seeds, the leeks. Leek seeds take awhile to germinate, and then even after they finally sprout, they seem to take awhile to grow up. So, I’m starting them inside, early, and hopefully, once it’s warm enough, I can transplant them as larger plants for some beefy leeks come harvest time.

Next on the planting list are the peppers and tomatoes, but that’s probably a few weeks out. I’ve been steadily adding recyclables to the deck, stuffed with wildflowers and other native plants that need the cold weather to break their dormancy (winter sowing is my favorite seed-starting method!). So far, there’s Prairie Blazing Star (Liatris pycnostachya), Purple Prairie Clover (Dalea purpurea), Yellow Coneflower (Ratibida pinnata), Ironweed (Veronia gigantea), Common Blue Violet (Viola soroia), Spring Beauty (Claytonia virginia), Swamp Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata), and Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca). I have most of these species growing out in the garden already, but the goal is to pepper in more of each to really bulk up the prairie look in the borders this year.

Well, as winter carries on, I don’t have much else to report. Hope the season is treating you well and that, even if things aren’t flowering yet in your own garden, you have the chance to enjoy color in a greenhouse or botanical garden someplace. The bulbs will soon be popping around here, and hopefully your garden is also showing some of those early signs that spring is on the way. Happy gardening!