Turning the soil

We turned over the soil this morning. There's some life in there already. Lots of worms, grass blades on bulbs and most importantly, chives. The chives are already on their way back. I thought swiss chard was the toughest garden plant, but these chives have just impressed me. I wonder when we will have enough to eat.

I am planning to put our onions out, as it sounds like it's not too early. They will be in a new spot between the rose bushes against the house, where they will get all day sun.

Research does suggest that I plant my seeds in a starter mix rather than soil. I guess I wonder why that's important if sowing them outside would be in soil? It will be Sunday most likely before I get out to grab starter mix, but that will still leave plenty of time for things to get started.

I'll get some pictures when I'm out later this afternoon.

Grow It Eat It

I'm on the Maryland State Cooperative Extension website this morning. They have a campaign called "Grow It Eat It" through which their vision is to support 1 million Marylanders in growing and eating their own food. You can join the network as well. I'll keep an eye out for a master gardener class in our area. http://extension.umd.edu/gardening/index.cfm

This weekend was beautiful. It feels like the ground is thawed and I'm hoping it stays warm and I can start turning things over.

I bought some seed starting pots--100 to be exact. I am planning to start my stuff next week. According to the Cooperative Extension, April 11 would be and early frost free goal--still a 10% chance of a frost. I think the local wisdom is Mothers Day--but that's May 9th. I will keep an eye out starting mid-April.

The extension said that we could work in compost and fertilizer now and that onions could be started outside as early as now.

My question is, what about all the stuff from last year? Till it in? I think if I do that this week it will provide some time for breaking down before I add the new stuff.

My other ah ha is that I shouldn't start seeds in soil? They should go into a mixture. I'll do some more looking into that. I had planned to plop some leftover potting soil into my little starter pots. I'll "dig around" and post back.

Other growers: tell me about salad tables.

Greens

So I started some chard, kale, spinach and lettuce about a month ago.

Last weekend I moved the little seed starter pods into some containers inside at a kitchen window that gets the most direct sunlight in the house. I turned off the radiator underneath so they wouldn't bake.

Our beloved 3 year old pulled one spinach seedling. He received an incomprehensible, angry lecture about food being precious and a lengthy time out.

The others are not thriving, really. I suppose I can really only hope that they live to produce more quickly outdoors in a month than newly planted seeds. I think the soil is not as loose and well draining as they want and the plants know they are not in the great outdoors.

Foolish daydreams of fresh windowsill greens.