i'm going to be dedicating my monday posts to my herbal roots subscribers (but everyone can enjoy and learn from them!)
today marks the halfway point between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. most of us in the united states and canada know it as groundhog day, a silly tradition of watching a furry creature come out of his hole in the ground and looking for his shadow. we all know that regardless if he sees his shadow or not, we are in for 6 more weeks of winter before spring arrives.
we prefer to celebrate this day by planting some seeds to remind us that soon, the robins will be arriving, the peepers will be peeping and tulips will be popping up from the ground. starting some seeds indoors can be a great way to mark this halfway point and watch the daylight grow longer as the seedlings grow stronger!
for those who live too far north to dream of starting seeds right now, growing sprouts to eat on sandwiches and salads can be a great way to celebrate the halfway mark into spring too. and, if you haven't already, now's the time to break out those seed catalogs and start ordering this year's supply of gardening goodness. be sure to order some herbs to try growing too! many herbs grow well in containers so if you don't have a lot of garden space, they are the perfect patio plant to grow.
here's a list of places i like to purchase my herb seeds from:
thyme garden
horizon herbs
richters
today, we'll be starting some onion seeds and possibly a few exotic herb seeds such as eucalyptus, maca and spilanthes.
what are you going to plant or what have you planted today?
Hurray! Time to grow! Finally!
ReplyDeleteOne big flat of onions, a round plastic salad bowl full of another variety, eggplant (I'll pot up), cauliflower, 3 different varieties of lettuce + a salad mix in a cake pan. All gently warmed on a wire rack laying on the back of kitchen chairs a few feet in front of the woodstove. Reading non-stop about gardening now. Checking every 1/2 hour to see if anything green is popping up yet. Ahhh, bad case of spring fever here. :)
Good luck on your seedlings, Tansy!
Ron
ron???? is that really you???? how have you been?! i've missed reading about your adventures terribly!
ReplyDeletesounds like your garden is going to be amazing again this year.
i'm trying out growing some onions this year because of your posts about growing them last year!
Hi, Tansy... we've been doing fine. Did a bunch of work on the house this winter, started acquiring materials for spring projects, watching all the snow melt. Things have been good. I hope the garden is good this year! I've got two new books with lots of insect descriptions in them, so I've been reading up on that. Went to Baker's Creek last Sunday and got some interesting seeds.
ReplyDeleteI've read so many mixed things about the onions too. It seems that some people have luck planting short-day or day-neutral onions 8 weeks or so before planting out in this zone. Others say you need much more time. I was pretty happy with how ours did last year though, so I'm just doing the same thing. I'll probably freeze them this year. I also plan to set them out into a cold frame as soon as they are an inch tall or so, and just bring them in if the temps are real cold. Growing everything in pure well-finished compost this year for the first time, too.
Lettuce is sprouting!!
I wish you the best for your garden this year. Especially big glorious onions. :)
Ron