Spring has Sprung!

I have some advice, dear readers: if you live in a cold, damp, grey, godforsaken part of our lovely planet during the months of Dec-Feb, GO ON VACATION the last week in February and the first week in March!
That is exactly what I did- a week in LA (hi Dana! so wonderful to see your beautiful face again!), followed by a week in Costa Rica (pura vida!). When I left, there were FEET of snow on the ground (see previous posts) and when I returned...SPRING! temps in the 60s, crocuses blooming out front, and NO SNOW!

Spring has kicked our Gillefond gardening into high gear. Reg has been researching, drawing garden plans (on graph paper, no less) and prepping for the start of our first real, planned, true garden.
Today, I spent the day (this is a work break, writing this post) writing a paper on psychological disorders and their respiratory manifestations (a real page turner!) and my darling hub spent the day PREPARING for our crops!

First, he made a compost bin from a medium sized trash can which he drilled holes into the side of. We have been collecting compost in brown paper whole foods bags, so in those went! Added some more organic matter, water, rolled it around the yard a bit to mix, and voila! we are composters! As a kid, the compost pile was this scary place in our yard, waaaaaay in the back, behind the barn and the chicken coop (yes, you read correctly- go Sewickley, PA!) near the woods. It was dark, smelly, and there were frequently snakes, etc. in the grass. I hated having to take the compost out after dinner, HATED that my mom made us compost. I guess we do all become our parents!



Second, he cleared all the weeds and roots from our raised garden bed (adding them to the compost), and in general tidied up the yard.

Finally, he planted peat pots of seeds to start germinating indoors. We plan to have a few "waves" of crops. We should be harvesting great veggies (squash, spinach, tomatoes, all colors of peppers, cucumber, green beans, sunflowers, among others I cant remember right now), fruit (strawberries, maybe raspberries) and herbs (mint, cilantro, oregano, basil, and rosemary) constantly throughout the season without a break in production. The seeds will sit in the pots indoors til mid-may when they can be transplanted to the garden.



I should also mention that after a day outside, he came in and cooked us a fabulous feast of curry tofu with potatoes, spinach, rice, mint, yogurt, naan, and of course, riesling!



whattaguy!!

With the windows open, the heat turned to off, the daffodils in bloom on the table, spring is officially here in the Gillefond household!