​

As I write this, it is  grey out and kind of chilly, after a couple of “teaser” days of warmth and sunshine, but we can all feel that spring is truly on its way!

In preparation I have been doing some of my ‘traditional’ projects, checking up on recent ones from the last year or two, and planning for a few new experiments.

My main ‘tradition’ is starting seeds under lights, although at a greatly reduced amount. Day was when I had about 200 seedling growing under two long grow-lights. Not now! I limit myself to a few essential varieties and do so mainly for the pleasure of watching them germinate, sprout, and grow. So far I have started two varieties of Viola because they are essential for flower-pressing, not to mention that they are unbearably cute! Those have just germinated. I will soon start the seeds for Rudbeckia “Indian Summer”, which as you know I am always talking about because I love them for their large, bright yellow daisies all summer. A little later I will start seeds of a few mini-veggies for containers, but will follow instructions and wait to plant others directly in the pots as the weather warms up. The ones to start indoors are “Little Bites” Cherry Tomatoes and “Little Prince” Eggplant. The ones for direct sowing in containers are “French Mascotte” Bush Beans, “Pot of Gold” Swiss Chard, and “Bush Slicer” Cucumber. All are from Renee’s Garden. And of course I will be starting some Milkweed Seeds for our Monarch Butterfly Garden as soon as I get them!

For seed starting, I have been following Patty’s Tutorial advice and using the black bottom/clear lid takeout containers with a few holes punched in the bottom. Those black parts are supposed to be bad for us, but I hope are fine for seedlings! 

My other project is to create a special raised garden exclusively for my Forget-Me-Nots, which are also a flower-pressing must-have! Last fall I purchased a kit to create a raised bed planter on legs and wheels, so I can experiment with placing it in various spots in the garden to best meet the part-shade plant requirements. And when I say “Kit” I mean it! Many many parts needing assembly! That’s when having an engineer son comes in handy, so it is fully assembled and ready for spring planting!

The follow-up to last year’s plantings have me a little nervous, although optimistic. The first is the “Native Perennial Garden” which I planted along my driveway. It looked pretty good for its first summer, but we’ll see how many brave souls actually come back!

The second experiment was to plant six miniature flowering shrubs along the fence in my yard. I tried to get them off to a good start last fall, but I am worried about whether they made it through this especially cold winter. We’ll see!

And the third experiment was an act of desperation! I never got all my daffodil, tulip and allium bulbs planted in the fall, so in mid-winter I planted them is some large pots (that I had thawed out indoors so I could did in the soil), covered them with some leaves, and put them back outdoors. 
I’ll be pleasantly surprised if that works!

Two new projects which have me excited involve adding to my potted plant collection, and were inspired by a speaker and a day trip!

I loved out speaker on “Figs” and decided to try a couple of new varieties to grow in pots. I have had one for the past number of years which I winter over on my unheated porch and bring outside in spring. Time to try a couple more!

After touring the PFA Camellia House recently thanks to Courtney Quinn’s “Meet-Up” and talk there, I decided I just have to try a hardy camellia in a large pot, so that’s my other spring experiment.

Of course this all gets completed with numerous trips to the local garden centers for all the annuals that I will be putting in window boxes, hanging planters, and many, many pots!

I’ll keep you posted on what works - and what doesn’t!