Preparing for Spring

Spring is here but it sure doesn't feel like it with the weather in the 40's recently.  According to the forecast, warmer weather is coming!  There is always so much clean up and preparations to get the garden and flower beds ready for planting and mulching.


We are trying something new this year....our own mini-greenhouse!

In the past, we have started seeds in the greenhouse where my husband teaches but right now it is easiest to have the seeds at home where we can manage them when it suits us.  I was a little skeptical at first, but I actually am excited now and think it might do it's job!  The past few days it has been in the 40's or low 50's but the greenhouse has kept in moisture and warmth.  Hopefully we will start to see some seedlings sprout in the next few weeks.

Items we planted (on 4/3/13):
*Roma tomatoes
*Peppers
*Cucumbers
*Basil
*Columbine flowers
*Lots of annual flower seeds (not sure what these will do)

The garden has been rototilled and cleaned up and I am hoping to get lettuce and spinach in this week.

A good part of my time is also spent raking the leaves out of the flower beds.  Yes, that sounds like a fall thing but if you know our house, you know all the mature trees we have in our yard and it makes for endless raking in the fall and then more raking in the spring.  I leave some leaves on the flower beds in the fall to help protect the plants through the winter.

Our place is always a work in progress but I guess if we had everything perfectly the way we wanted it we would be looking for a new place to fix up!