A Year in Review: February & March 2017

I have no photos of the garden for February and March of 2017. We continued to settle into our new home, and life continued, as it does. My father passed away on March 22nd, and before that I had a cancer scare that paralyzed me with fear at times.


We were lucky enough to have the hand-drawn landscaping plans of the front yard,  which were generously left behind by the couple who owned the home before us. A set of color photographs depicting the front yard in all its spring-time glory were displayed on a kitchen counter when we arrived, another small act kindness that we will be forever be grateful for. At the property closing we met our home’s before tenants, and they asked if we had found the photos they left.  In honor of them, we decided to not change anything in this first year, which would be our “test year”. We joyously observed as the perennials in the front yard came back to life and became verdant in Spring.

My handwritten logs indicate my task lists:

February Garden To Dos:

  • Measure Front Yard
  • Measure backyard
  • Map front yard
  • Map back yard
  • Purchase Sunlight meter
  • Measure sinlight
  • Study plants that grow in Zone 5b
  • Plan beds
  • Build calendar of indoor seeds, bulbs, etc.
  • Learn about current plants in garden*
  • Organize garden supplies
  • Buy houseplants
  • Plant onions
  • What to plant in containers?
  • Purchase a sunlight bulb (I bought 2)
  • Purchase seeds
March Garden To Dos:
  • Research Dripworks.com
  • Purchase a mini greenhouse
  • Set up greenhouse with sun bulbs
  • Weed front yard
  • water front yard
  • Collect catalogs:
    • Seedsavers
    • High Country Gardens
Gardening in our new home began indoors. I soaked nasturtium and sweet peas seeds and placed the Bachelor’s Button packets in the fridge prior to planting. The Calendula seeds needed to be completely dark in order to germinate. I was amazed that tiny seeds had such special needs just in order to develop. I erred by starting everything indoors and later regretted that I did not sow many seeds directly into the ground outside.