To The Surbiton Manor Born

The plantings have begun. This may be a bit hasty, but we haven't got much to lose.  We planted the early things first. The arugula (pictured above), kale (hiding in the lobster trap row cover behind), and the snow peas (below). The soil temperature in the raised beds was about 50 last week. We had one day that reached 70 degrees.  There has been almost no rain or snow all winter, and when you pick up the bone-dry soil, you can tell. This cannot be a good thing.  Not as bad, presently, as Mexico City , where 22 million people are close to running out of water. But still, we are in a drought, and hopefully it won't last into the spring. We need water.  "Lobster trap" row covers being prepared for early planting This is the hopeful time of year. The garden plan is in place. We have plans to level off and terrace another section of the yard. White clover and red fescue seeds are ready to roll. And tomorrow: tomato and pepper and marigold seeds will be started in the gree

A Crocus - Way Too Early A crocus blossomed last weekend. Another nail in winter's coffin this year as it heads to an early grave.  With a forecast like this: it is difficult not to start thinking about planting. We have most of the seeds we need.  I'm going to try planting some very, very early snow peas, arugula, & kale and see what happens. Could be totally crazy, but the cost of seeds is not high - especially the snow pea seeds that I harvested last year and saved. Worth a shot. Today's afternoon agenda involves preparing the "lobster trap" row cover devices with some fresh row cover fabric.  And then there is the debate: Start the greenhouse this weekend in hopes of putting out tomato, pepper & marigold seedlings in early May? Or is that too optimistic? We don't want them to get leggy. Starting them up too early could be a problem (as we learned two years ago). And yet, if we can get them going, and the weather holds... So we now have Kiki's 2