I'M DOIN' IT AGAIN!

Basement window garden Jan. 31

It's 62 degrees today and it was hard not to go out into the garden.  It actually SMELLS like spring!  So I watched the 5 day forecast and decided to take a chance and plant some mesclun in the hoophouse.  It was 70 degrees in there, so I unzipped the plastic and got my hands dirty.  I covered everything in the hoophouse with a row cover hoping that it will keep the soil a little warmer at night.  After I planted the mesclun, I took some time to turn the soil in the outside garden to get the fall leaves worked into the soil.  Hopefully it will be nice and composted by the time planting time gets here. 

Jan. 27 lettuce starts

It's hard to know just how this weather is going to go and we just might be in for a very cold blast before spring.  After reviewing my notes from the last few years though, I decided to sow some lettuce, spinach and even tomatoes inside.  I put in the lettuce on January 27 and it only took 3 days for it to sprout.  The spinach and tomatoes were seeded today (January 31) and are sitting on the heating mat.  They should be popping up within a week or so.  Last year's tomatoes were started on February 1 and in the end, I had a great harvest.   Way better than anyone else's garden.  These early tomato starts are just for me because they will be moved into the hoophouse in April.  My friends' tomatoes won't be started until the end of February otherwise I only have ungainly, redwood-sized plants to hand out.