The Lineup

A few of my seeds have already arrived and I'm doing my "OMG I NEED TO PLANT NOW!!" dance. It's like clock work. The first real warm day and people are out in droves to the garden centers hauling away wood chipped mulch by the tons and baskets of pansies. And I'm in the yard pulling up crabgrass and making nesting balls for the birds.

I need to get myself to a lumber yard to find a good batch of cedar for my new garden additions this year. I'm growing out my usual space and extending it sideways so I can add more goodness.
In the yard garden:
- sweet corn
- one heirloom tomato variety
- cherry tomato
- sweet peas
- normal peas
- potatoes
- garlic
- onions
- green beans (bush variety)

On the patio:
- maybe one hot pepper variety
- parsley
- cilantro
- radishes
- carrots

I don't typically start any of my seeds indoors, mostly because I don't have much room to do it and I don't think it's necessary as our growing season is perfectly adequate to plant directly into the soil. The only thing holding me back right now is getting the new raised beds prepped in time. I just discovered that my potato and onion sets shipped on Friday (EEK!)

FACT: most local towns and cities that collect leaves in the fall also mulch them for organic compost/mulching materials AND will often delivery it to you for free if you can't pick it up. Leaf compost/ mulch works even better than traditional wood mulch and can be tilled or raked into your soil for added nutrients at the end of the growing season. Trust me it doesn't look tacky, if it did I wouldn't use it. I like my gardens and flower beds to look neat and tidy too.