eight!

EIGHT!!!!




Words cannot really describe him. He is one of a kind, bigger than life, and we love him with all our hearts. I cannot imagine life without him.


Happy Birthday, sweet boy.



"Our birthdays are feathers in the broad wing of time. "
~Jean Paul Richter

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something borrowed.

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planting towards spring.

Oh March. I both love and dread seed starting. 10-12 weeks of hope and soil and light and care. I love the thought of what is to come, the life that springs up from tiny seeds, the smell of it all. I dread...I am not sure. The thought I might fail (no matter how many years I've been doing this). That they need care just as I want to run shrieking outside not to return until summer peaks with humidity and mosquitoes. But it isn't so much to ask when we get so much in return.


There is something about doing it yourself. There is that feeling you got when you were flipping pages in that pile of seed catalogs while a blizzard raged outside that makes you NEED to do it. To fulfill that dream and promise glimpsed when scribbling furiously into that notebook in January. And it is so much more satisfying on some primal level to pick a tomato from a plant grown from seed compared to something bought at the market in May. I don't know why, but it just is.


So, it starts. I have a hard time pacing myself. When I sit down in March with snow on the ground and I have a big stack of trays, a box of seeds and a huge bag of soil I want to PLANT IT ALL NOW! But seed starting requires continuous, um, control. I must start the right plants each week from now until June. It is wonderful to see it all grow. And it is so obvious in its progress - it is like a calendar of life building to spring and beyond. You may not see signs of spring outside, but you are banking on it coming, and soon.


I have my seed packets organized by start date in my little box. I have each packet marked with what week to start, and when to plant out. I have my lights hanging and I have my notebooks full of crazy ideas. I have two little boys who could care less about the yield or varieties but sure love to dig and water and poke the soil and help and watch it all grow.



When we started our first trays this week G said to me "Mom, it is like we are making spring come by planting inside when it is still winter!" I think he is right.

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that kind of busy.

Happy March! Yay! I've been waiting to say that for like 28 days!

I feel like I haven't been here in ages. I was feeling a bit overwhelmed by February, and to blog about ambulance rides and ear ruptures and then to come back to say it happened...again? That A has a tooth abscess? Oy. I don't like being negative every time. Yet to come blog about the gardening planning or seed starting only seemed to be running from our day to day. So I've been quiet.



I am happy to say, though, that February is over! G is doing much better, A is clearing up an infection before some oral surgery stuff this spring. And somehow there are only 6 days until A turns 8. EIGHT!


And the sun has been shining. And my boys have been slowly getting louder and spunkier and back to their old selves (A quiet house makes me antsy and they were so quiet for awhile there).



Even with all the February that has been going on here we have been busy. The at home puttering quiet boy spending time together kind of busy. The boys learning everything they can about how democracy is "supposed to" work and the Constitution kind of busy. The board games and baking and listening to music kind of busy.



The reading and writing and drawing and building and researching and singing kind of busy. The pile up and snuggle on the couch when their limited energy from not being 100% well again runs out and read tons of books and tell lots of jokes kind of busy.


As the sun comes out and the snow slowly melts and re-freezes, our temperatures fluctuate wildly and the weather changes on a dime I can feel that spring is coming soon. I can smell it. I can hear it. I can taste it. Spring is for renewal and fresh starts and energy and growth. I think I'm about ready. Are you?


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seeds!

Oh February, are you still here? What a week. I have a little boy who still has an ear infection that just won't go away (I know, it never ends! Poor guy). So I've been doing lots of snuggling, caretaking, and being quiet at home with my guys. In between elderberry lemonade, warm packs and mountains of library books, my seeds have arrived. I love posting my big list of what we are growing each year to the blog so I can go back (10, 09)and compare years and have a record of it, and also so I can hear what works for you, what new things you are trying, and get that whole garden energy spring is coming juju rolling!

**seeds 2011**

Some of these seeds are left in my 'stock' from previous years, some are new to the garden this year. The list is what we are growing for 2011, with all new seeds/varieties for '11 marked as **.

Before you think I sound crazy with this big list as I write often about how small our yard is, I don't plant a ton of anything. Most of these plants we plant only a FEW, spread out throughout the shaped beds. We also plant in quick growing things near the slow growers, so that we get multiple harvests from the same space. I also use a lot of containers on deck & porch and grow almost all culinary herbs in pots. I also grow UP as much as possible! This is all very do-able in a small space. Some items are specifically to repel pests, and some are to attract beneficials as companion plants. Some things are literally strewn as I go, wherever I find an empty spot or have just picked an opening - like greens and radishes. It all works together in the end, and it looks nice too!


beans:
bush beans: bush blue lake
pole beans: purple podded pole, blue lake
drying beans: good mother stallard
**Dragon Tongue
**Envy Edamame

beets: (for garden planting as well as microgreens)
detroit dark red
jewel toned (red, gold, candy stripe)
**albino beet

cabbage:
ruby perfection

carrots:
**Chantenay Red Core
**Tonda di Parigi

cucumbers:
crystal apple
**Parisian Pickling

fruit (from seed):
ground cherry
wonderberry

kohlrabi:
azur star

melons:
minnesota midget
Pride of Wisconsin
**Sweet Siberian Melon

onions (to eat & as repellent):
evergreen long white bunching
yellow of parma (late)
yellow borettana chipollini (early)
**red baron bunching
**Red Welsh

peas: (for garden planting as well as microgreens)
oregon sugar pod II
de grace snow & snap
tom thumb dwarf
**Blue Podded Blauwschokkers

peppers:
beaver dam (hot)
healthy pepper (sweet)
**albino bullnose pepper

potatoes: to come (grow bags)

radish:
long scarlet
purple plum
red meat
helios
Cincinnati market


greens: (for garden planting as well as microgreens)
giant japanese red mustard
bloomsdale long standing spinach
mizuna
swiss chard - lucullus
swiss chard - bright lights
swiss chard - flamingo pink
lacinato italian kale
wrinkled crinkled cress
garden cress
siamese dragon stir fry mix
pepper cress
**Ornamental Fringed Mix Kale
**belle isle cress

lettuce: (for garden planting as well as microgreens)
mesclun
red wing lettuce mix
rocky top lettuce mix
heritage lettuce mix
green oak leaf
farmers market lettuce blend

summer squash:
lemon squash
summer scallop trio (patty pan)

tomatoes:
lime green salad
window box roma
tommy toe
**Bison
**Red House Freestanding
**Isis Candy Cherry

winter squash:
early butternut
fordhook acorn
(winter squash didn't do so hot last 2 years in our tiny space, planting only a few this year)

general veg:
white egg turnip
purple of sicily cauliflower
early purple sprouting broccoli
**tendercrisp celery


culinary & 'other' herbs:
cilantro
oregano
common thyme
florence fennel
giant italian parsley
sweet marjoram
lettuce leaf basil
red reuben basil
genovese basil
**lime basil
kerala red amaranth
feverfew
tooth ache plant
yarrow
fenugreek
greek mullein
**Anise Hyssop
**German Chamomile
**Dill Bouquet
**Bergamot

flowers:
**frosted salmon poppies
mammoth sunflower
**italian white sunflower
**butterfly weed
**resina calendula

in ground::
golden raspberries
red raspberries
strawberries
white currants
chives
lemon balm
borage
lovage
rhubarb
mix prairie flowers for rain garden
chocolate mint
lilacs


Also New This Year::
fruit/veg (on list this year to plant, bare root or young tree )
**2 columnar apple (golden sentinel, northpole)
**1 dwarf cherry tree (blackgold)
**1 dwarf peach tree (reliance)
**1 cultivated elderberry
**pink thornless gooseberry
**sweet purple asparagus (might do this next year)
and, thinking of grapes or hardy kiwi for arbor

So my big change is more medicinal herbs and fruit bushes/trees...things that stay year to year and don't require as much day to day care. All of the trees will be dwarf or columnar so they will fit in our small space and not cast too much shade. I'll be doing more things in pots again - to get more sun and heat on my peppers, tomatoes, culinary herbs, etc. And we will be designing a few more ways to grow things UP so I don't have to bend over, and so they don't take as much room. More on all that later, as we plot and plan. We hopefully will have some big changes in the shape and bed spaces, the deck, and other infrastructure details too. Can't wait!

What are you trying this year that is new (for you)? What are you most excited about planting?


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