It’s a beautiful, warm, balmy 40 degrees today. Snow is melting and there’s a comforting drip, drip of water falling from the eaves. The clouds are high, and there’s even a hint of shadows creeping along the lawn as the grey clouds burn off. I made granola this morning, so the house smells of warm oatmeal, cinnamon and vanilla.
I’m in a gardening sort of mood. It’s been super-cold this week with temps below zero for several days, but I’m already envisioning my spring garden. I’ve created an Excel spreadsheet detailing the veggies that will go in, different varieties of tomatoes, cucumbers and pumpkins, and when I’ll need to get seedlings started indoors under the grow light.
Kirby and I just went outside to bury a load of kitchen compost in the garden. I have a 6’x50’ long bed on the south side of the house that I’ve been building for about three years now. Each year the harvest is slightly better than the year before, due to the soil amendments I add. This winter I’m trying something new; I filled or collected black trash bags full of leaves from my yard (or neighbors yards), added water to the bags, and laid them out in two even rows over the garden. I’m making leaf mold to add to the garden in spring, which will act as a soil conditioner when I till it into the soil. Leaf mold doesn’t add to the fertility of the soil, so I still need to add compost.
There’s one section of the garden that has petulantly decided to not support life of any kind, and I’m fighting back. The soil is clay and refuses to hold nutrients or water, so I’ve launched a calculated attack on the barren soil into a warm, nurturing vessel that supports life. Then, in a few months I’ll impregnate the garden with seeds of all kinds…. Does this mean I’m God, working in my own little Garden of Eden? Hehe…
I’m thinking about making a hoop house for my garden, so that I can get seeds in early without them freezing. YouTube has some great videos showing Do-It-Yourself, cheap and easy methods for making your own little garden nirvana. It looks like materials might run me about $20, so I’m seriously considering it as a weekend project tomorrow when the weather is even warmer. In a hoop house or cold frame, leafy greens can be grown even in these temps! Imagine, picking my own spinach, lettuce or kale in March… yummmmmm….
It’s so good to be outside again after the cold weather this week, I didn’t want to come back inside. It feels like the earth is giving one huge sigh of relief after the frozen temps brought everyone to a standstill. I even saw robins this morning, chirping their little song and preening in the early morning light. I know it’s not Spring yet, but this is a welcome reprieve.
It’s been three weeks since I last ran, and I finally have the “go-ahead” to try again tomorrow. I’m going to do an easy 6 miles Bobolink, then talk to my PT and see what he recommends from there based on how the leg feels. It’s funny; after the marathon in December I didn’t want to slow down; I couldn’t, because it was so counter-intuitive. I fought against a slower pace and probably hurt myself because of it. But now, with the brutal cold temps, it’s easy to be inside and quiet. There’s no urgency to get outside to move fast, because the entire world has entered the deep sleep of winter.
Lara,
Ah, so good to hear that I’m not the only one who thinks of gardening in the dead of winter. Actually, I know I’m not, but it’s good to read someone else’s musings on it. I’m into flowers mostly, though I have big pots of tomatoes and many herbs. But dirt resides in a gardener’s heart and another gardener can read it. Thanks for the post.
Melanie Mulhall