Deal of the Day and A Look at the Garden

I had a busy day yesterday.

I found out that Ace Hardware was having a one-day only sale. Anything you can fit into a bag (that you bring) will be 20% off (minus a few things in small print). Anyways, I went over there and looked through the garden section. One of the things I have been wanting to get (cheaply) for over a year has been a strawberry pot. I was at the neighborhood Ace last summer and saw the strawberry pots there (a. not a lot of places have them, b. they are usually $40ish online, and c. if you buy online, you pay more for shipping) but I kept looking either online or at garage sales, but Ace had the best price because... they buy them semi-local from a guy who makes them in northern Georgia. They ranged in price from $25-$40 there depending on the size. Well, they had one today, originally $26, and so I got if for ~$21 with tax. I guess I should add that I really like the look of the garden when you add color with planters and pots placed in it.

Anyways, I found some strawberry plants when I picked up a new weather strip for our door - 20 plants for a little less than $10 at Home Depot. I'll plant the strawberries in about a month, after the risk of frost has left Georgia. I got ever-berrying plants so we should have strawberries for all of late spring through fall!

I spent a good chunk of the afternoon digging up grass and other junk growing in the garden expansion. I found out that Dekalb County gives free composted organic matter (and mulch) to its residents, from all of those yard waste bags that they pick up. The neighbor and I are planning on going and getting some for my garden and his later this week. They got some for their gardening work, it seems great and would provide an excellent base to grow most anything for this summer.

That dirt that looks more brown is actually hard Georgia clay... in drastic need of the compost and some tilling. Luckily, my wife is awesome and got me a hoe for Valentines Day.

I even took some of the old bricks (there are a lot of them) to make a small flower corner. There are already daffodils growing there, and I will plant some stargazer lilies in there too, once I get that compost.

The cat grass.

Ok, so a small container of cat grass (only sold at pet stores) runs about $5. It has a bunch of unknown chemicals used to grow it... so I never buy it. I did buy some cat grass seed at Home Depot or Lowe's this year. I planted two pots. The first was ready for the cats to enjoy, so here it is:

I have most of my seeds, except squash, planted now. I was out of town for a week on a family emergency, so they may have a little delay (I wasn't watering every day). We'll see how they go. The weekend's weather looks decent, so I might get some digging and initial planning done in the garden. We'll see - work has been crazy this week.

Ten minutes later update -

They ate ALL of the cat grass.

Seed Sowing

I have finished the first round of seed planting. Included were several kinds of heirloom tomatoes, peppers (4 kinds), herbs (parsley, catnip, cat grass, lavender, oregano, basil, and chives), onions (scallions and red ones), and probably something I am forgetting. The workbench in the basement looks like this now:

Yay, the cat grass (hey- not everything needs to be ate by me!) has sprouted! The cats seem excited, in the cat sort of way.

Finally, I just wanted to say that I have began working the bed for this year. It will be big. I didn't get any of that done last weekend, as we got 4 inches of snow, but we are just around the corner from spring. My poor cold weather onions, I think this might be the end of them.

Cheers!

Noel

First sprouting seeds!

Those are scallions coming out of the peat pellets!

I also planted tomato seeds tonight.

Planting time is quickly approaching!

So much to do, and so little time. I should be planting seeds in two short weeks! Tomatoes need about 2 months of time before going in the ground. So, I set up the bench in the basement with the paper pots and plastic pots leftover from last year. I filled them with potting soil, and the lights are in place.

My wife and I were driving home the other day and I found a wooden trellis that someone was throwing out. I have made a little fence of sorts out of it, where the peas can grow up and use it for support.

I officially started the first seeds: Onions, and parsley, in little Jiffy pots, and cayenne peppers. We'll see how they do. As you may have seen in a previous post, onions may not be my forte.

Anyways, last Sunday was BEAUTIFUL. A wondrous sunny afternoon with a temperature in the 50s. I was outside, expanding the garden and taking out two bushes so I have enough room for everything. Now for the tough question. Do I put several rows of seeds perpendicular to the entrance side, or one long path, with several shorter parallel rows? I have a lot more work to do, but with another 2 days that are good weather, I should be able to do it in the time left before seedlings go in the ground. I'll plant the rest of my pepper seeds as soon as they arrive. Heirloom Acre Seeds took longer than I anticipated to ship. Tomatoes get planted next week!

Sorry for the lack of posts, but I have been busy!