Winter break checklist

I'm thrilled to say that this morning I girded my loins and did our taxes. It's always such a relief to get that over with, and more so this time because Gregg started collecting Social Security last year. We were both a little nervous that since he hasn't quite reached his full retirement age, his earnings from self-employment added to the SS payments might put him over a threshold to owe higher taxes than usual. To my relief, though, we pretty much broke even and the amount we owe the federal government was less than the refund the state owes us. In fact, we come out ahead by $350, so I'm counting that as a win!

I had a six-month checkup with my family doctor yesterday which I was also dreading. I'd hoped to have lost more weight by now, but that didn't happen. (On the positive side, I haven't gained any back either). The doctor didn't comment on it one way or the other. I'm hoping to get back on track and take off some more weight between now and August when I see her again. 

I also had a dental appointment early in the week. I just needed a cleaning and checkup, but I've come to dread my visits because the big, busy dental practice I use are ALWAYS trying to have me get expensive work done. This last time I protested that I wanted to hold off as long as possible on any extra work, because of the expense, and they STILL printed off a big estimate (over $7000!) and handed it to me with a warning that the prices go up every year. I hate the pressure to spend lots of money when I don't think it's really very urgent at all. I was super relieved when that bi-annual ordeal was over, too.

Another thing I accomplished this week was helping Gregg construct a new cage of bird netting around the crabapple tree. It grew so much last year that its branches were rubbing against the old net, so we had to make everything wider. If we don't take these steps, the neighborhood deer will eat every tender new leaf that opens this spring.

It's hard to tell from this photo, but the tree is over 7 feet tall now! I can't wait for it to bloom in a few weeks.

And speaking of growing things....my two seed orders arrived this week!

I'd already started tomato and pepper plants from seeds leftover from last year. As you can see, the tomato seedlings are starting to get big!

It feels like I've gotten a lot accomplished on this break, and I still have the weekend in front of me to do whatever I want. Then back to it on Monday!

Thursday morning this & that

Did I mention that I'm off work this week?

It's February intercession and the schools in our district are closed. It's nice to have these extra breaks in February and October, not connected to any holiday. This will be the last time I have a whole week off to myself, because after next week my husband will be retired.

He's looking forward to it and I'm really happy for him. The dogs and Marco are going to love it! Nothing makes them happier than to have one or both of us at home with them. Poppy has followed me everywhere this week, even to the bathroom. She sleeps curled up tight against me every night. George isn't nearly so clingy, but he likes it when we're around, too. 

Poppy has this thing she does when we get home from work: she takes a running leap across the threshold of the back door, and lands on the sofa six feet or so away. It's her way of expressing joy and excitement at seeing us again! Pretty soon she'll only be doing it for me!

Some of my tomato seeds have sprouted! Before Gregg left for work this morning, he pulled out an 3ft aquarium light fixture that I'll set up somewhere in the house for the tiny sprouts. The peppers still haven't made their debut, but they usually take longer anyway. And if all goes well, I plan to do some work in the garden this afternoon and also sow some lettuce seed. In addition to my standard lettuce Merveille des Quatre Saisons I got a free pack of lettuce seed with my Baker Creek order this year that looks really interesting: Yedikule. I'm really looking forward to fresh greens.

Here's a photo I wanted to share before I sign off. Miss Luella's tree next door is in full, magnificent bloom, and I got a close up of some of the flowers. They're so beautiful.

I spoke to one of Luella's daughters the other day, and the family is selling the house to one of her grandsons! His name is Evan and he's a lovely young man. We're so pleased that the house (and the glorious tree) will stay in the same great family! Evan and his girlfriend Stacy plan to move in next week. They're going to be wonderful neighbors!

Seedy

It was seed starting day here at Casa de Sparrow!

I'm off work next week (yay!) for February intercession, so I'll be planting lettuce (and maybe radishes) outside. Those can handle the cold weather we still have coming. Hopefully the tomato and pepper seeds I started today will be ready to plant out in mid April or shortly thereafter, which is our usual last frost date. 

Seed starting day is when I truly feel like spring is on the way. It's so exciting, waiting for the first tiny green sprouts to appear. The joy of planning and planting a garden never seems to get old for me.

“No occupation is so delightful to me as the culture of the earth, no culture comparable to that of the garden...But though an old man, I am but a young gardener.”

― Thomas Jefferson

Getting my hands dirty

We haven't had much of a winter in the Pee Dee area of South Carolina this year. Except for a cold snap in late October (I think), and one bitterly cold week over Christmas, it's been very mild and wet. Everything seems to be blooming extra early. 

I couldn't resist sharing another picture of Luella's tree with you. I took this yesterday while out walking the dogs.

I'm itching to get to work in the garden, and in fact I started yesterday. First, I picked the small baby collard greens I'd planted back in October. They never got very big, and most of the seed I sowed didn't come up. So this bundle was my first and only harvest of collards this year:

I trimmed and washed them and put them in the refrigerator. I'm planning to cook them tonight; we'll see how they taste. After pulling up the collards, I got to work with my hoe and tackled the weeds that had sprung up in the bed. After they were uprooted and tossed aside, I turned over the top layer of soil, breaking up any dense areas. Last of all I smoothed everything out with a rake. Now the bed is clean and ready to go for the new year!

I went to Lowe's midafternoon yesterday and purchased several large bags of compost.  I spread a layer of it a couple of inches deep over the top of the bed to hopefully enrich the soil. 

Speaking of compost! I have a compost bin! With Gregg's help I built it yesterday. It was the simplest design ever: three pallets at right angles to each other, secured with heavy duty zip ties. I had a roll of chicken wire that we stapled all around the inside to help hold everything in, and except for a top, it's done.

As you can see, it's not beautiful by any stretch of the imagination, but I think it will be functional. That's the important thing, right? And if, for some reason, it doesn't work out, it will be very easy to take apart. The best part is that it cost me less than $20 to build. I only had to buy zip ties to hold it together and a strong staple gun for the wire. 

The tomato and pepper seeds I started a week ago are slow in germinating. So far, I have only three tomato sprouts and zero peppers. I've added a heating pad underneath the tray they're in to hopefully help things along, but I think today I'm going to start some extra seeds just in case. I'm not used to such slow germination and I don't want to be planting out late. 

Seed order

Oh, how I love a seed catalog in the depths of winter! This year I got two paper catalogs in the mail to pore over and plan my 2023 garden with: Seed Savers Exchange Heirloom Seeds and Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds.

Today I finalized my plans and placed orders with both companies. It's hard to believe, but in a couple of weeks it will be time to start tomato and pepper seeds. I want them to reach a good size for planting out around mid-April. Things that can be started earlier will be sown directly in the soil (like lettuce, spinach, and radishes) and cucumbers can be started later in the spring. This year I'm planning to start cucumber seeds twice, ripping out the first plants when they're done producing and then replacing them with new seedlings. I want a large crop of cucumbers so I can try my hand at making pickles--I love pickles, both dill and sweet. And of course I'm dreaming of salsas and sauces with my peppers and tomatoes!

Here are the tomatoes I've decided on for this year:

Nebraska Wedding

Eva Purple Ball

Rosso Sicilian

Berkeley Tie Dye

Hillbilly Potato Leaf

Ingleheart Yellow Cherry

Mexico Midget Cherry

As for peppers, I ordered three kinds:

Zapotec Jalapeno

Datil Hot Pepper

Sheepnose Pimento

I also reordered the wonderful "Marvel of the Four Seasons" lettuce that I enjoyed so much last year, and for cucumbers I decided to get the "Boston Pickling" variety which have always grown well for me. 

Here's hoping for a great 2023 growing season!

Early March update

It's been the longest week ever. After a lovely end-of-February break, the days started to drag as soon as I went back to work on Monday. It was hard to leave George and Marco and my garden projects and my peaceful home, not to mention my warm and comfortable bed. On Monday when the alarm went off at 6am I couldn't help but groan. Back to the salt mines!

Speaking of garden projects, there's been quite a bit of progress. Last Sunday afternoon I started most (not quite all) of my seeds for the year. I like to use the convenient little Jiffy peat pellets that come with a tray for seed starting. It's super easy to grow out little seedlings in them for potting up later. I took a photo to show you the process.

Here's the tray this morning, less than one week after starting the seeds.

The tomatoes, basil, zinnias, and rose campion have all started to sprout. I'm still waiting on the peppers. 

Out in the raised bed, the radishes and lettuce are up! They're too close together and will have to be thinned eventually--sowing such tiny seeds is really difficult. I'm sure once the carrots sprout (no sign of those yet) they'll be the most crowded of all. 

Remember the daffodil bulbs I bought on a clearance rack over Christmas and planted on New Year's Day? The ones I thought might have been planted too late to bloom this year? This is what they look like today.

We planted the bulbs in clusters around the crepe myrtle trees. There were a dozen clusters all together, and all twelve spots look like this, with short flowers getting ready to open. This fall I'll probably add some more varieties of daffs (these are King Alfreds) as well as some hyacinths. 

I'm glad March is finally here. Besides being my birthday month (yay!), it's the real start of spring (my favorite season). Last night when we took George out for a walk, we saw the first rabbit of the year. It was on our neighbor's lawn close to the circle of light cast by their porch light. After seeming to disappear in the fall and winter months, the return of these little guys is a sure sign of spring.

                                        

Playing in the dirt

It's a little warmer here this weekend than it's been in a while. Spring is right around the corner no matter what the calendar says, and by the first of March it will be time to start seeds indoors for planting out six weeks or so later. Early tomorrow morning Gregg and I will be picking up three or four truckloads of dirt to finish filling the raised garden bed. It's almost halfway full from the first two loads, and I'm eager to have it done. Next week I'll place my seed order for the tomatoes, peppers, herbs and flowers I'm planning to grow this year.

Speaking of placing orders, today I placed an order for my Valentine's Day gift from Gregg: a crabapple tree! I ended up choosing a variety called Centurion. I told him last week that while I love cut flowers, this year I'd rather we spent that money on things I could plant in my yard and garden!

Once it arrives (supposedly by February 21...I ordered from Home Depot) and is in the ground, we'll chop down the dying dogwood tree that's currently in our front yard. 

I got a text last week from our friend Carol (the retired artist and avid gardener who gave me the start of my fig tree) asking if I might be interested in some camellias. Of course I said YES! She has them growing in huge wild tangles along one side of her property and she was digging up some to share with friends. I went over there today and picked up a big bundle of them. The area where she dug them up has several colors, so I'm not sure what we'll end up with. My favorites have white flowers with pale pink stripes in them, but they're all nice. The seedlings she gave me are three or four feet high and have green flower buds on them, so we should soon know! I hope they'll grow and thrive. Before I left Carol said, "My mother always said that flowers shared with friendship and good wishes will always bloom!" 

Here's one more small bit of gardening news. I bought a big bag of deeply discounted daffodil bulbs over Christmas and planted them on New Year's Day. I've been hoping they didn't get planted too late to bloom this year. Well, earlier today I went out to check, and the first quarter inch of green spears are starting to poke up from the ground! Looks like we'll have daffodils next month, after all! 

I'm so glad my favorite season is almost here. 

That springtime itch!

Cro's mention of taking cuttings and growing soft fruits in his last blog post got me thinking about how much I want to have a garden of my own. His "Haddocks" is a joy to read about. I love the idea of growing most of the fruits and vegetables that the family eats.

Something most people reading here probably don't know about me is that I used to do a fair bit of gardening.  I spent a large chunk of my twenties slightly obsessed with growing heirloom tomatoes and trading seeds with other similarly obsessed people from all over the world. I grew dozens of plants in my small rental backyard and in large containers each year, and also kept fairly good notes on all the varieties that I tried. Most years I'd also grow a few pepper plants with the odd cucumber thrown in along with the tomatoes. The soil was a challenge and I spent years improving it, even going so far as having a small compost bin that I worked on faithfully. Just when the garden  soil was finally getting nice and fertile, we moved. Since then I've been reluctant to put so much effort into doing that again in a rental house. We're finally starting to make plans to find a realtor and to buy a home of our own, and it will have to have a good yard for making a garden!

Even though I'm not in a place right now to do any seed starting, this time of year always reawakens the urge in me to do just that. I find myself browsing the seed catalogs and daydreaming about what I'd pick if I could. Something about the lengthening days at the end of January calls to my soul, and I want to see tiny delicate green sprouts popping up. Normally when germinating vegetable seeds I'd start about 6 weeks before our average last frost date, which around here ends up being early to mid February. It's almost time!