Strawberries!

So, it's been a few weekends. Everything has sprouted at long last, and some of the first tomatoes are putting on tiny little leaf buds which shall, in time, become their first true leaves. Even the pepper and the carrots are showing ontop of the soil. But really, there's not a great deal to report yet on those. Perhaps when the sprouts get their first true leaves, I'll stick some pictures up here.

Until that time, how about some pictures of other things in my garden?

The other half of my gardening efforts include... strawberries!

These strawberries are approximately one to two year old plants. The story is this: One year I think it's a good idea to buy two strawberry plants from the store and plant them on the side of the garden, to see what happens. They're guaranteed by the sticker to make strawberries in the same year. Time passes. No strawberries. Boo. But, the little suckers start spreading - EVERYWHERE.
Winter comes, garden is covered in leaves and dead grass. Spring arrives... and the first thing to show up outside are strawberry plants. I neglect them anyway. They didn't do anything for me the first time, why should I take care of them this time. And behold - strawberries begin to appear, bright red strawberries. Then rollie pollies. THen slugs. Then birds. Needless to say, they feasted and I starved. I threw up my hands again.
Winter comes.
And this year, I see strawberries, strawberry plants everywhere. So this year, I'm putting my foot down. I got the shovel, dug them up, and I now have four hanging pots of strawberries like the one pictured. We'll see who wins this year - me or the birds.
Today when I was out in the garden, I noticed a solitary strawberry plant growing in the middle of where I dug all these up. I must have left some roots behind, and it came up again! I'll be adding that sturdy little shoot to my collection this weekend, I hope.

More to come later.

One day of sun = two days of rain

And one day of warm = two days of cold.

This is February, and this is how February behaves. It isn't unusual or unexpected, but it certainly is pesky when my tomatoes are so tiny and are getting tall and spindly because they're not getting enough sun.

My garden has moved from the top of the fridge to the porch steps to the plant bench to the kitchen counters and finally back to the fridge. Last year I fretted and worried and railed against the inconstant weather. This year, I'm just dealing with it. My tomatoes turned into fine, strapping young plants despite February's best efforts, and I'm sure they will again this year.

Speaking of! Sprouts.

Livingston's Paragon, Yellow Pear, and Kimberly Cherry - 16th, 7 days after sowing.
Cherokee Purple and Roma - 17th, 8 days after sowing.
Beefsteak - 18th, 9 days sowing.

Final judgement - The green house last year resulted in sprouts in 5 days. So with this method I had an extra 2 to 4 days wait. In the long run? All gonna be okay.

My bell pepper hasnt sprouted. I've read they can take 5 days to 3 weeks. Lesson learned? Probably should have researched it a bit more before I tried it, but I haven't given up on it yet!

A note to add:

Seeds have sprouted! Livingston's Paragon, Kimberly Cherry, and Yellow Pear. Such a relief to see. That's all for now!

Here comes the sun...

Hello, hello.

It's rained for four day (7 inches at least), and it's barely been out of the 40's. Naturally this happens just as I plant my seeds. My "garden" is residing on top of the fridge. It's the only moderately warm place I have that is also out of reach of my cat, Jack, who loves dirt, plants, and flower pots.

The "Garden" - I had to take down mom's top-of-fridge decorations hehe.

I planted my little seeds on Saturday the 9th, and there is predictably no movement yet (4 days later). Last year's garden was planted in one of those spiffy green house trays with the dirt pellets. You know, those things really work. My seeds sprouted in 5 days. The only down side to using them is you must transplant your little seedlings twice; once from the greenhouse into bigger pots to harden them off and a second time from those pots to either the ground or the final container they'll be growing in.

I am a lazy gardener. I selected larger pots to start with. This has probably cost me germination time as I can't maintain the humid temperatures as easily as in the green house, but it has allowed me to perpetuate my lazy tendencies and to transplant only once.

 To facilitate the germination process, I will be moving my pots back outside and covering them with plastic (prolly shopping bags, since (again) I'm pretty lazy about this stuff) to help raise the heat and humidity in the soil. Provided the weather is sunny for the next two days as promised by the weather forecast, such is my battle plan.

Comparisons: 
2012 - Planted seeds on the third Saturday of February. Seeds popped 5 days later.
2013 - Planted seeds on the second Saturday of February. Still waiting. :)

An Introduction

This space is intended for my fourth-year gardening notes, and will probably include notations on the progress of my various gardening projects, future ideas, and general goings-on. I'll also be adding some notes from my first through third year gardens, just so I have some easily-referenced comparisons for when this season gets into full swing.

The blog is mostly intended for me and a few others, but I'm happy to hear from people who are curious, knowledgeable, or just wanna say hi.

I chose now to start a blog since the gardening season for my area has officially commenced. As of last weekending, Feb 9-10, it is 8 weeks prior to our last expected frost date for Zone 8, which coincides nicely with Good Friday. That means it's time to sow seeds for plants that need a good jump on the growing season. For me, this included tomatoes, bell peppers, and carrots.

For the record, I planted 6 tomato types and 1 bell pepper type. The carrots are a dwarf variety I picked up from the store on a whim.

My tomato varieties are:
Beefsteak
Cherokee Purple
Yellow Pear
Livingston's Paragon
Kimberly Cherry
Roma

About here I would definitely like to recommend Victory Seeds; I purchased my tomato seeds from them, and I'm very pleased with my results.

The bell peppers and carrots are just department store brands I grabbed.

I'll probably be updating this post with notes from previous year's timetables. I don't think I started last year's garden for another two weeks.

That's it for now.