The Next Installment

Yep, it's still winter, but that's no reason not to keep spring planting in mind. My last post was enough of the cold feet. Today is another planting day, maybe not as easy as last time, but still not bad.

Today start 16 broccoli, 4 cabbage, 20 cauliflower, and 80 brussle sprouts. That means you need to find room for 3 more six-packs of broccoli, another 1 of cabbage, 4 for the cauliflower, and a whopping 14 for the brussle sprouts.

Those trays will hold eight six-packs, so you'll need to find room for 3 of them. Not all that bad really.

During the summer, I try to collect a bucket of dry silty sand from the river bank. I get the dry sifty stuff because once it's sealed in a bucket, it's not going to do any more drying. I keep that bucket somewhere accessible so I can get to it now. The first of April is usually my goal but today is a good reminder. Dig out that bucket and don your snowshoes, it's time to go make the garden all dirty so the snow melts faster. One bucket is more than enough; you don't want black lumps if possible. A clump of dirt will insulate almost as much as a shadow will, whereas a dusting will help the snow melt almost twice as fast as normal.

Ash works too but you don't want to use a lot of that either. Scatter what you have by tossing it to the breeze. Walk back and forth until the snow on your garden is dusted, and if you have any left over, scatter it wherever you like.

See you next time