We just went through What I believe to be the last frost of the year. I was smart enough to cover up my seedlings. They are just about ready to be moved to the bigger containers.

A Couple of weeks ago I planded some sunflowers where I am planning to place the growing containers. The idea is to use the sunflowers to hide the containers from the rest of the world. They were smart enough to wait till the frost was over to peek their heads out of the ground.

I am about half way satisfied with the tulips this year. Seven out of the eight I planted two years ago came up this year. Last year only 5 of them came up. This year I only had one flower. I am not sure why. Maybe I will do better next year. I think that this year I am going to find some more bulbs to plant around the tree. This way I can have flowers growing all season long. The tulips are early season flowers which mean they are dead by the middle of the summer.

I know. It’s been a while. I have been kind of waiting for this crazy weather to stop so I can really start growing my garden. My ideas have changed a bit. We are hoping to have some work done to the back side of our property this year and we are looking to put in a swing set. This means that some of my original ideas are not going to wor this year. I think I am going to do a lot of my growing in containers and a few things like the sunflowers and maybe the spinach around the containers to hide the uglyness of the containers. I will post a photo soon.

It’s Valentine’s Day and I finally had a little time to break ground in the backyard. I dug up a spot 4′x8′ or so. It is mostly clay, so I mixed in some grass clippings from last summer. I think I am also going to add a couple bags of top soil to give the soild a little substance.

I finally decided that it was time to start planting. I dropped a few seeds into these little started pots. I planted Cucumbers, Bell Peppers, Roma Tomatoes and Big Boy Tomatoes. It is still going to be freezing tonight. I am not sure what I am going to do about that just yet.

In the clay pots are the lilies that I planted last fall before the first frost. They are coming up again. This is exciting. It is my first experience with Lilies.

Had some interesting ideas today. I was in the back yard clearing out the brush behind our hill. I was thinking about what I might be able to plant back there while trying to figure out where I was going to put the veggie bed this coming season. Because of the hill, I will need some kind of wall that will keep all the soil from washing away. Here is my solution.

Now’s the time to start making those plans for the new growing season. My resolution is to start early, to be consistant with my watering, and not to over-crowd my pots.

The one thing that I have been keeping alive is my Avocado Tree. When the first frost came, I didn’t pull it inside. All the leaves froze and the plant started to wither. I pulled it inside (actually took it to work. It is sitting on my desk infront of the window) and cut it back to the dirt. It took about 3 weeks, but it came back and has 3-4 new sprouts on the root. I am excited.

I had a friend tell me today of an ingenious way to compost your kitchen scraps. All it takes is 2 plastic containers and several earthworms. The idea is to drill a few holes in the bottom of one container and insert it into the other container. Dump in soil and the earthworms, then place the top, sealing the container. When you have food scraps left over from a meal, just dig back some soil and drop in the scraps. The worms will do the rest. This is supposed to create some really nice compost. I think I am going to try it. Will post when I have pictures.