Ides of March / April Showers

Slowly the tide is turning. Temperatures in the 40s this week, rain in the forecast.

I’ve begun work in the new garden. On the first warmish day in February I ordered a set of box planters. What seemed like a great location when I first planted 2 years ago has turned out to be a bust. Once the trees leafed out the seedlings were sun-starved. The tomatoes and everything else planted there became stunted and kale leaves lacey with blight.

The plan this year is to create a whole new space back behind the shed where there is a strip of grass that receives abundant sun. I removed the top layer of grass and dug up the old garden and transferred some of the soil to the denuded path. Then I can rake some leaves over it and let it mulch for the next 6 weeks until planting (sometime after the first of May). The new path is approx. 8 x 4

I’ll continue to use containers for the tomatoes, peppers, and thyme. There will also be porch mint and basil.

The seedlings wait-on their little heat mat, resting in the sun. They are so fragile, I check on them a couple of times a day.

Right now it’s all in my head—not in the ground.