We have reached the part of Winter where we start dreaming of Spring. More specifically: dreaming about spring garden work. It has been a long few months of dormancy, although, surprisingly, we were able to harvest and savor 4 tiny cabbages before the epic cold snap came through and demolished everything green. Now we find ourselves getting things ready.
After making our seed inventory, we discovered we only needed to order seeds for the Italian heirloom tomatoes we want to try. All the other seeds we need we’ve either been able to save from previous crops, or we had extra from last year. We did order trellis clips as well, since we plan to try and manage our tomato {and cucumber!} vines a little differently this year.
The little greenhouse has been set-up inside, taking advantage of that southern exposure sun, soon to be home to the most adorable cabbage starts once we get them up-potted. In a few weeks, they’ll be joined by peppers. Peas will be direct-sowed in the garden, and broccoli will take the place of cabbages in my windowsill.
Another few weeks after that, the tomatoes will be started. We are going to try starting them a few weeks later than usual {Valentine’s is typically the target start date for all the things}, since the soil blocks allowed them to grow much faster last year.
Our onions have managed the Winter surprisingly well, considering the weather. I donated an old fitted sheet to the cause, and would scurry out and cover them every night. Ahead of the coldest stretch, we moved them up to the front porch, with the house providing more protection, and they seem very happy.
Another area that was covered nightly, before getting a makeshift greenhouse tunnel, were my experimental violas. They’ve been overwintering great, and I’m feeling optimistic about getting cuttable blooms soon. I let the first buds go to flower, because I couldn’t help myself {ha}, and they’re such darling little things – I can’t wait to see them in full force.
There’s still a good bit of Winter to go, but garden season is getting closer by the day! It feels good to have the cabbages and onions going, and know there will be so much more soon.
Have you started planning for Spring?
Ahhh, sweet spring dreaming! I like your indoor greenhouse setup. Will be interesting to see how everything does.
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The indoor greenhouse was a game-changer last year! Previously, our little baby plants lived spread all over my living room 😂
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Those flowers are beautiful!! I love all this, the new seedlings in the midst of winter. I am looking forward to watching your garden unfold through the seasons!
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I am so in love with the way those first blooms looked! I planted a mix, so there should be some other shades/colors coming up too, and I can’t wait! 😍
We’ve got big plans and even bigger hopes for the garden this year and I’m so excited to share with everyone 😁
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Thank you for sharing photos of your garden! Looks lovely. This past fall I had a tree taken down in my front yard, which is giving one area a lot more sun, and I’m thinking of using it as my garden spot.
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Sun exposure is definitely helpful with the garden 🙂 I hope it works out for you to pop in a garden there!
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I look forward to seeing how your garden continues to grow as the weather improves. It looks like those onions and violas have done wonderfully though and it sounds as I’d you have your future gardening plans very well mapped out.
Tbh I need to start looking into when is the best time to plant things more. I don’t really have the room for vegetables but I love flowers and would love to grow more this year. There seems to be a lot of bulbs outside but I’m not entirely sure what each of them are (most are probably bluebells as they seem to run riot each spring 😂)
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Hopefully all goes to plan 🤞 There’s never a guarantee when it comes to growing things 🙃 haha
Oooh. Flowers 😍 I’ve got a lot of plans for those as well 😉 You could always start with some container gardens, and see what’s available for sale – in theory it should all be “in season”. I love bulb plants, but until we’re more permanently settled I don’t want to sink a lot of money in those… one day!
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Here’s hoping 🤞 that’s very true though, particularly due to factors outside of your control.
Yay I look forward to seeing them. Yes true that’s a good point. Maybe then I’d have better luck as my bulbs tend to get dug up -_- it happened again last week although that time I didn’t particularly mind as the squirrel only dug up something that had died for some unknown reason anyway.
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