Tag Archives: spring gardening

Windy Days and Veggie Ways

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It’s barely been spring for a week here in Ohio, but it feels like the season is really in full swing. We’ve been having 70 degree days, followed by 40 degree days, and wild wind storms. I’ve lost track of the number of times I’ve chased down the grill cover and reattached it (which reminds me, where the heck are the bungee cords that I ordered?!) and it seems like every night, I’m awoken to the dulcet tones of something on the deck banging into the railing in an attempt to scoot away. The pots of tulips and strawberries are now permanently relegated to the corner behind the cold frame. It doesn’t make for good viewing, but at least I’m not wading out onto the deck each morning in my bathrobe to repot them. You’re welcome, neighbors.

Aside from our traditionally unpredictable spring weather, I’ve been doing a bit of weeding in the flower beds. I’m waiting to trim back all the perennials for another week or two, in case any flower stalks are housing wildlife like solitary bees. Once it’s consistently above about 55 degrees F during the daytime, they will have flown the coop and it will be safe to tackle the garden clean up.

I had the company drop the compost in the middle of the driveway, so I’d be forced to deal with it or I couldn’t leave the house.

This past weekend, we had two cubic yards of leaf compost delivered. Someone ordered about twice as much as she needed, so in addition to filling the raised beds, a few of the flower beds around the yard were topped off. I’m sure that will make the plants very happy. I know I’m certainly happy that I won’t have to mulch those beds, since the leaf compost will serve the same purpose as mulch would have. In fact, it will do a far better job and add plenty of good nutrients into the soil.

  • The raised beds are currently exploding with compost… hopefully the veggies will enjoy it!

I spent some time in the afternoon Saturday sowing some seeds in the freshly-made beds: carrots, leeks, and parsley. Not much else can get started outside quite yet, but these cool season crops will grow nicely even with the frosts we’ll have for another month or so. I’ve never grown carrots or leeks, so I’m excited to see how things turn out.

  • Jersey Giant Asparagus

Another crop that loves the cold, asparagus, is already popping up in our first raised bed. We planted a few rows of it three years ago. Asparagus is an exercise in patience, and requires a lot of space to grow. It doesn’t like being crowded, and pitches a fit if you try to move it around. Also, it takes about three years to be established, so it’s not a great crop for everyone’s garden. But, we are Asparagus People. Sprinkle a little olive oil and salt on those spears, and pop them on the charcoal grill for a good time. Anyway, our asparagus is starting to emerge and I cannot wait for the first harvest!

  • The lettuce is loving Cold Frame Life

The bibb and baby lettuces and the sorrel I started in the cold frame are also cruising along. We should be able to enjoy some fresh salads here in a few more weeks.

Indoors, the seedlings are coming along. The passion flowers seeds I started last week haven’t germinated quite yet, but the oregano and borage are sprouting, the basil had to be transplanted it grew so happily, and the italian sweet peppers and the druzba and san marzano tomatoes are coming along very nicely. The druzba’s sprouted a bit before the san marzano’s, and many of the plants are already over 6″ tall. It’s entirely possible that I’ll have waist-high tomatoes by the time I can plop them into the garden after the last frost date.

  • The basil already smells incredible!

I’m excited to see all the changes in the garden over the next few weeks. It seems like things look so different from day to day at this time of year. It always feels like stumbling onto treasure when you spot something new sprouting.

Wishing you a fantastic week, with lots of sunshine. Happy gardening!

A Hodgepodge of Springtime Jobs

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It’s officially springtime now, which means I spent the weekend bouncing around outside looking for gardening projects and giving any newly-awakened perennials Bambi Eyes.

  • The first of the daffodils

There’s quite a lot popping up now, from my beloved peonies to the columbines and daisies. Our daffodils are beginning to bloom, and a few of the trees, like the cottonwoods, are beginning to bud. The grass is starting to grow again, too, getting its green color back.

I tackled quite a few projects over the weekend. The rogue strawberries that somehow charged through winter unscathed were transplanted into a pot on the deck. I cleaned up the garlic pots. The rock garden bed out front was weeded. I planted some bibb lettuce and sorrel in the cold frame, joining the baby lettuce blend that just sprouted there last week. And, I started some passion flower seeds indoors.

  • The row of raised beds

The husband built two more raised beds for the back yard, and we moved them into place. I’ll set some sheets down inside them this week to kill the grass off, then I need to order a bunch of dirt. We have a compost pile that I’ll empty into the beds, too, so the veggies will have lots of great food in the soil.

Finally, I transplanted the tomatoes and peppers into some larger containers. When you’re growing seedlings, and you start seeing roots peeking out of the bottom of your containers, it’s time to move your plants into larger homes.

It’s a pretty self-explanatory process to transplant your growing seedlings. Just be gentle, taking care not to touch the stems too much. They are very brittle when the plants are tiny, and you can easily damage them. Pot the seedlings up in a larger container, water, and set them back under your grow lights.

  • The peppers outgrew their first houses just a few weeks after germinating.

Once your plants hit this stage, it’s a great time to start fertilizing them. I use a 10-10-10 fertilizer for all of my seedlings. In fertilizers, you’ll see three numbers listed, which lets you know the percentages of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium in the mix. These are the three nutrients that plants need to survive. Things can get complicated pretty quickly in the fertilizer world, and there’s an overwhelming amount of information out there, but choosing a fertilizer with these three nutrients in balance is a safe bet for most of your vegetables as they first start growing.

The weather this weekend was ridiculously nice. We usually start springtime with cold days, and snow is certainly not unheard of in March. It’s been really sunny and warm here lately. The spring wildflowers should be here for us soon, and I’m very excited to see the Virginia Bluebells, Dutchman’s Breeches, Jack-in-the-Pulpits, and Great White Trillium that I planted last year. I’m trying to be patient and not start the rest of my seeds too early, but I am itching to start digging around outside again. Soon!

Hope you have a great week. Happy gardening!

Au Revoir, Old Man Winter

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At this time of year, it kind of amazes me how much can change in a week. Our crocuses are now blooming. The leaves from the tulips, narcissus, and day lilies are beginning to appear. Even the birds are changing. I’m starting to see lots of red-winged blackbirds and mourning doves around the yard, and being able to hear more songbirds really helps affirm that spring will officially be here by the end of next week.

While our last frost date isn’t usually until the second week of May here in Central Ohio, the weather is definitely getting warmer. We’re expecting highs in the 60s all week, and while it will probably snow again by then end of the month, it really feels like the garden is starting to blink awake again.

  • Crocuses, Hellebores, Allium, and Tulips

I do a lap in the yard most days. In addition to the bulbs I mentioned above, our giant allium bulbs are starting to sprout. We have two different species of hellebores, and they are very close to blooming. The sedums, like our Autumn Joy (my favorite variety) are popping back up underneath the shoots from last year.

  • This is the first year I’ve managed to get peppers to start growing from seed.

And inside, the Druzba and San Marzano Tomatoes, and Italian Sweet Pepper seedlings I started last month are coming along nicely. The peppers just sprouted in the past week, but many of the tomato seedlings are already growing their first true leaves. When seedlings sprout, the first leaves you see are called cotyledons, or “seed leaves.” The seed leaves won’t look like the leaves the plant will end up having once it starts to grow. They serve a really important purpose, though, using the nutrients from the seed to feed the plant until the true leaves develop, which is when photosynthesis begins. Like Bill Nye taught us, science rules.

  • Druzba Tomatoes, with their first true leaves

Now that we’re cruising towards warmer weather, it’s time to begin planting my next round of seeds. This week, I plan to start my basil, oregano, and wild bergamot. In a few more weeks, I’ll start the rest of the seeds that will begin life indoors. And a few, like the leeks, lettuce, carrots, parsley, little blue stem, and prairie drop seed, will be directly sewn outdoors around the end of the month. That means I need to get my ass in gear and build the next two raised beds and get them topped off with compost and dirt here in the next few weeks. Oh darn. More dirt will require a trip to the garden center… wonder what else I can find while I’m there…

Hope these last few days of winter find you well. Happy gardening!

Is Wildflower Wanderlust a Thing?

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We made it to March! We’re having our first snap of warmer weather, which has me slogging through the melting snow and mud to check out the garden every day. It’s not yet spring, but we’re in that weird time of year, when the weather drops to single digits one day, and then heats up into the 60s shortly afterwards. I’m sure we’ll have more snow yet this season, but the string of nice days we’ve been having makes it feel like spring really is going to be here soon.

This time of year is fascinating to me. I mostly plant perennials in the yard, and watching them return each year is so exciting. Right now, the crocuses, daffodils, and tulips are all starting to break up through the ground, and our hellebores have beautiful plump blooms, just waiting to open up.

  • Hellebores (Lenten Roses)

I’m excited to see these cheery flowers, but I’m really anticipating the first of our native flowers. A few years ago, I started to really pay attention to all the spring wildflowers that I saw in our local metro parks. Virginia bluebells, dutchman’s breeches, jack-in-the-pulpits, trilliums, spring beauties, wild geraniums, wild phlox, trout lilies, bloodroot, hepatica… these gorgeous flowers put on such a beautiful show each year, and I absolutely love going for hikes and spotting them all.

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources website has some great guides for when each of these flowers are starting to bloom in Ohio, as well as an awesome Spring Wildflower Field Guide so you can figure out which flowers are which.

It didn’t take me long to go from enjoying my wildflower-spotting treasure hunts in the park to deciding I needed to bulk up my own native plant collection with some of these springtime gems. While many of these flowers aren’t available at your local big box stores, a lot of garden centers are starting to carry more and more native plants. And, I’ve had great success finding wildflowers at local plant sales and online, from native plant growers and even on Etsy.

  • Trillium, Ohio’s state wildflower and one of my absolute favorites of springtime

For those of us with cold winters, the nectar in these early spring wildflowers is a really important food source for the bees, moths, butterflies, and other pollinators just waking up from their winter hibernation. There are wildflower species available for every type of space in your garden- from deep shade, to full sun, and after a long winter, it’s always such a joy to see the first flowers of the season start to bloom.

As you’re looking ahead to your gardening for the year, maybe try finding out what wildflowers are native to your region, and planting one. Or ten. (The more you plant, the less availability there will be for me, which is probably for the better, at least, according to my wallet).

There’s just 19 more days until spring officially begins! Happy gardening.