It's March, there's snow on the ground and it's COLD!  So you're probably not thinking about actually planting yet.  Or perhaps you're sitting with a pile of seed catalogs happily circling items and carefully tagging pages dreaming of spring.  But you probably already have a stash of seeds from last year languishing in a shoebox in the back of the closet.  Well get 'em out!  We're gonna get our gardening fix right now... I'm gonna tell you what you should be starting this month (in zone 7a).  Our last frost date is April 15 so adjust your schedule as necessary.

In January/February you should have started: Brussels Sprouts, Cardoons, Celeriac, Celery, Parsley Root, Stevia, Lemongrass, Eggplant, Artichokes, Cauliflower, and Leeks.  You can start another succession of many of these this month.

In February and March start these indoors:  Asparagus, Anise Hyssop (bee's love this), Fennel bulb, Savory, Peppers, Tomatillos, Tomatoes, Broccoli, Cabbage, and Kohlrabi. 

You can direct sow these hardy greens outside this month: Leaf lettuce, Kale, Green onions, Head lettuce, Spinach, Radishes, Cauliflower, Beets, Carrots, Turnips
 

 I somehow always lose the little seed-pot maps I make - arg!  I have to mark every single peat pot or by the time I transplant them I have no idea what I've got...  I simply print out the appropriate portion of my seed inventory spreadsheet to create these tags, then I dab each one with a little rubber cement and fold them over a toothpick.  It's tedious but put on a little music and it actually becomes a sort of relaxing task (I grooved to the bee gee's but whatever floats your goat).

Then I place the newly planted seeds in a warm spot to germinate.  There's a heater vent near this table and in the daytime there's a lot of sunshine coming in this window to help warm my tiny greenhouses.

Once I get those first little sprouts I'll move the trays down to the basement where I have the lights they'll need for good growth.  Keep the lights right on top of the starter tray until the plants start to touch the bulbs, then raise the lights bit by bit.   They'll need 12 - 16 hours of light, I have the timer turn them on over night when electricity is less expensive.  If you really want to get them off to a good start, continue to provide bottom heat also, this will make them into sturdy, stocky plants.

All the experts say cool (bluish-colored) light for sprouts and warm (yellow colored) light for full grown plants.  I split the difference this year but I see that some starts are leaning over into the cool lights so I may change out the warm bulbs in my shoplights. Don't worry about getting "grow lights" they're expensive and you'll do just fine with regular cool florescents.

Lot's of good starts looking ready to be hardened off in the cold frame!

Next up:  as soon as I can work the ground the seed potatoes will go in directly.  Then sometime near the end of this month I'll be starting the later varieties of tomatoes - but they can't go in the garden until it warms up a bit.  So many tomatoes, so little time!   :~)

“I wonder if the snow loves the trees and fields, that it kisses them so gently? And then it covers them up snug, you know, with a white quilt; and perhaps it says "Go to sleep, darlings, till the summer comes again.”  ― Lewis Carroll

The spring and summer is quite a hectic time.  But then comes the golden light and slower pace of autumn, and finally winter.  Settled into the muffled contemplation of snow,  you can't but help think back upon the year that was... and then, with a faithful heart, look forward to the approaching boisterous season.  Winter makes a quiet bridge between one year and another...

Hurricane Sandy has made landfall on the East Coast and it's colliding with a NorEaster to wreak havoc over 7 states.  Most of us are getting heavy gushers of rain, and if you're anywhere near the waterfront then you're experiencing amazing storm surge and crippling flooding.  Western Maryland, parts of Virginia and West Virginia are having white out blizzard conditions and at the time of this writing there was already 3 feet of snow in WV.

Last night and this morning in Southern Maryland we had buckets of rain and some high winds.  for the last couple of hours we've had a lull in the wind.  The worst is supposed to arrive at 2am tomorrow morning.  While the wind was down and I didn't have to worry about sideways rain, I went outside to take some video.  It's not the best quality since I have my phone shoved in a ziplock baggie and it's also getting speckled by raindrops.- plus I'm tromping around in my rubber boots making it a bit unsteady.  But so far, we've not sustained any damage.  There hasn't been (knock wood) any trees down in my yard or large branches.  We heard some loud cracking and crashing in the neighboring woods, but there isn't anything that will be crushed in those parts of the property.

I'm happy to say that these video's are very boring :)  Here's the front yard:

Then I went back to the barnyard to take some video of the animals.  The waterfowl are acting like it's just any other day (rain? what rain?).  They're staying inside the small duckyard and not venturing out into the rest of the barnyard, but otherwise they're acting like it's nothing to worry about.  The Muscovy are less thrilled and look a little miserable out there with their necks scrunched down just sitting like a bunch of dummies in the rain.  Some of my smarter Muscovy hens are hanging out inside their loft staying dry and, clearly, much warmer.

The chickens are pretty unhappy about the deluge.  They're mostly keeping inside the henhouse.  A few of the juvenile girls are making runs back in forth from one protected area to another, and a few brave souls are going on with business as normal and looking like a bunch of drowned rats.

Here's the barnyard:

This is why I like to visit the beach but I don't want to live at the beach.  This nasty mess is a combination of surf foam and wet sand flying around like cotton candy and coating everything in sight.  Gross.



I'll keep you posted as new pictures or video are taken.  Like I said, so far we're doing quite well, just a lot wet and without power but I think we're set to deal with that just fine... at least until we run out of beer.