Its February 21 and boy did we get a taste of spring today! We had warm sunny weather, the greenhouse was a rocking 80+ degrees, and we got our first seeds started. Of course, spring around the corner also means mud season is around the corner and the boys made sure to remind me what that would look like. They spent the day outside digging and slopping through the mud. A muddy canal was created and Benjy had a good two inches of mud on his boots. He fell once and needed new clothes, they had a picnic, and we went for a walk and collected a wagon of kindling. Boys and mud seem to go together like peanut butter and jelly. Baby absolutely loves the greenhouse and squealed when he realized he got to play in the wood chips. I learned my lesson and this time he did NOT wear his bear coat. He was much cleaner coming out than last time and no one really needs much of a coat when its 88 degrees. This little boy spent his first months of life sleeping in the shade of the garden, smacking sunflowers and watching the songbirds flit in and out. It must feel like home for him to be back outside, sharing my attention with some plants. No longer is he a passive observer. Now, he's stealing my seed trays, flicking his fingers through the dirt, throwing wood chips, and waving old corn husks like little flags. By summer he will be sampling what is growing out there and chasing butterflies with his brothers. It kind of blows my mind. Gardening is a skill your are always learning in and never mastering and I quite love it. Last year I learned that the soil and container size greatly affect my seedlings health. I also learned those little plants are more resilient than we give them credit. I learned I could keep more alive than I gave myself credit for. Despite having a baby right at planting time, none of my seedlings died. I hardened them off perfectly fine and I kept them alive all season in the garden. I honestly expected to come home from the hospital with everything dead or the garden going to the weeds and never producing much. I learned about intercropping. I learned the benefit of using the greenhouse. I learned the value of compost and that birds in the garden are better at reducing the bug population than I am. I learned slugs are turds who can destroy baby plants and squash bugs can wipe out whole healthy vines. I learned my kids are great helpers but also harvest a lot when I'm not ready. I learned I feel better in the garden and that I don't need nearly all of the tomato plants I grew. More potatoes, less tomatoes. More carrots, no brussels sprouts. There's something about always learning that I just love. Today we planted cilantro, blush onions and red carpet onions from Johnny's. There are still shallots, lettuce, and thyme to plant, but we only had so much soil. I love MIGardeners method of planting onions. Basically you sew them extremely densely, throwing out all the spacing rules, and then transplant it in the garden and just separate out all the little plants. This saves so much space for starting seeds and is something special you can do with the alliums. I did this last year and it worked wonderfully. I spaced them out in clumps of three, following Charles Dowding's method and a few of the little babies are still in the pantry, showing spring is very close. Rain, snow, mud, repeat. That will be life for the next few months. I've ordered some rain overalls for the boys to hopefully make mud season more tolerable for my home and washing machine. I keep checking the mail because these things can't come soon enough! Spring is coming, the first redwing blackbirds are back, lambs will be here soon, and garden season is right around the corner.
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