Spring oh spring, where art thou?

The weekend has arrived! Finally! Seems like one of the longest weeks of the year. We have had a few days of tease- beautiful 60 and 70 degrees, lots of sunshine and breeze, windows-open kind of days. And............crash back to reality and snow on Sunday.  It's still early in the season, and it WON'T last very long.

Our first ever ghost chili.

I'm looking forward to getting into the dirt this year. My goal is to embrace the Little Lake House and do some major sprucing up in the yard and establish some new gardens that hopefully will be the absolute last re-do I have to go through in this house. I have plans......... but I won't rehash that. I've already told you guys.

Tiger lilies wait for the mail man

I spent quite a while last evening sorting and inventorying seeds. Holy Rubbermaid do I have seeds. It looks like I was planning ahead in the event green beans and shelling peas were to become extinct. I'd have the seeds to save the world !! I'm still looking for a farmer to help me out with the pea project but the beans I plan on planting myself. Sometimes it's not until you really sit down and LOOK at what you have that you realize just how MUCH you actually do have. 

No Italian chef has a garden without banana peppers!

I am a little lacking in the herb seed department. I have plenty of basil and parsley and probably enough regular sage to get a good supply started. It's the fun things I am missing. No red ruffles basil. No flavored thyme- just a couple packets of plain English thyme. Not a single chive seed in the bunch either. How the heck did THAT happen? I seem to have way more cilantro seed than a person should have on hand. I don't really even like the stuff- I'm TRYING to force myself to accept it and move on. 

Purple ruffles basil- so pretty in salads.

I have two, yes, count 'em, two varieties of tomato and that is it my friends. Seems kind of silly but I feel compelled to pick up more varieties!! But over the years I found I have had just as much success with transplants and I don't need to worry about nursing all these baby plants. I will start a couple for us for fresh eating but we like to go to the pick your own farm and LOAD UP on tomatoes for canning day. And peppers- that's another one...... I have so many pepper seeds- hot and sweet and everything in between! That is another plant I don't have great success with seedlings, especially the super hots. I need a greenhouse to be truly successful and that's just not in the budget.

We love cherry tomatoes!

Flower seeds? Who needs those? Except for a few, I rarely grow flowers. Sure there are some perennial lilies and a flowering shrub in my yard but in most cases, if it's not edible, I don't grow it. And certainly later in the season when it gets really hot, and doesn't rain, watering the edibles is much more important and the flowers are the first to go. Now, I do like to plant a few flowers in and among the vegetables, they help deter nibblers and look pretty and they aren't hurting anybody taking up a little space in a corner of the bed. Marigolds fit the bill perfectly. Or sunflowers- now THAT is a flower I can get behind! Literally. I'm 5'2". Some of them are 7 feet tall. Tasty seeds for the humans and the birds are a big bonus when growing sunflowers.

Zinnias add some color to the deck.

I have planned some new things for the garden this year and I think I might sneak a grapevine in there. I have the perfect crappy spot. Yes, I said crappy. Grapes thrive in crappy soil and growing conditions because they are forced to root deeply in search of water and nutrients. Some of the world's best wine grapes grow in the absolute worst conditions. I will be happy with a humble Concord or other such grape- maybe make a little jelly or jam or juice.