March 2018

The crocus began to bloom about a week ago, along with many of the bulb greens pushing upward through their winter hay blankets. We watched in awe as a rather rotund bee cavorted across the crocus this week. Spring is tentatively setting down roots again even as frosty mornings continue.

The tomatoes, chilies and eggplants sprouted right on time, many with last year’s seeds, and were up-potted successfully.  This year I am determined to harden off the plants properly, and not be impatient. We lost nearly a month to plant shock last year because I was so eager to get everything into the ground. My partner constructed a cold frame that cost $25 (created with an old table we had on hand, and rented tools, an old window and surplus hardware from Eco-Cycle in Boulder).

We completed so much this month. We built raised beds in the front and back yards*  and constructed pea trellises. We cleared the back and front yards of debris to ensure all the perennials would not suffer under the weight of dead foliage. This morning I planted our onion starts and seeds (for consecutive harvests) and seeded the radishes directly in the ground this time. I placed our new Meadowsweet and three Astrantia bare root stocks in the ground in the front yard.

We are planning on adopting roses from a friend’s yard very soon, and I need to research about successful transplanting methods and location.

* We now have two 16×4 feet beds in the back yard (128 square feet of gardening space) and two 4×4 feet beds in the front yard (32 square feet). We filled these with 24 cubic feet of peat moss, 18 square feet of organic compost and 30 square feet of organic soil.