Friday 28 February 2014

Never Doubt

No seeds have thrust above the potting soil yet, but spring is definitely on the way.
Concrete he may be, but rabbit is ready to break free of the snow.
Self-seeded Bright Lights Swiss Chard makes it through the snow unscathed and ready for picking.  This vegetable has been brightening up our meals right through the winter.
Aconites and snowdrops have been blooming for some time.  Narcissus has strong buds now just waiting for warmth to make them open.
Our coral bark maple is becoming more handsome with each year that passes and really comes into its own in the early spring when the young branches live up to its name.
Several piers japonica shrubs are sporting cascades of blossoms at this time of the year.
King Edward Flowering Currant blossoms emerge to warn us that Rufous Hummingbirds will soon be here to join the stalwart Anna's Hummingbirds which have been with us all winter.   Spring is truly peeking around the corner!

Wednesday 26 February 2014

It must be spring!

The aftermath of our snow storm which knocked out power twice.
I don't care what the weather is outside or the fact that the ground is covered with snow from our recent snow storms.  It simply has to be spring because today I started seeding! I have a small amount of seeding mix left but not enough for all the seeding I had to do.  I filled the bottoms of the pots with potting mixture and the tops with the fine seeding soil mixture.  Make do!
Leeks, onions, kale and lettuce will all germinate in the potting shed
Today I started the following:

Kale - Improved Siberian and Redbor
Lettuce - Black Seeded Simpson, Red Sails and Drunken Woman
Onions - Copra
Leeks - Bandit

These pots will stay in the potting shed as they don't need the heat to germinate.  They will be protected, however, with a plastic dome.
Seeding done
Tomatoes - lots of these!
Cherry - Gold Nugget, Sweet Million, Sweet Baby Girl and Principe Borghese
Plum - Health Kick and Classica

These pots are now under lights in the house.  Tomatoes need the heat to germinate but can take cool once they're up.  I've seeded 11 of the Health Kick as I've promised plants to friends and family but I plan on keeping at least 4 for myself.  Classica is a new hybrid variety that I thought I'd try.  Both are from T&T Seeds.  Not sure how many Classica I'll have as the pot tipped over and I lost some of the soil!  If I just have a couple, I'll be happy.  I'll look for a plant or two for slicers.
Tomatoes under light in the living room
It'll be at least another month before anything else gets planted, but in the meantime, I need to go through all my seed packages, note on the front what gets planted when and sort them in the seed box my husband made for me.  As far as I'm concerned - it's spring!