One of the joys of getting a bit older is having the time to putter around in the garden. Below is my garden blog. This site also contains sections of recipes, feature stories, and how-tos about specific, and sometimes obscure, gardening lore.

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Thursday, February 2, 2023

I got our rosemary and thyme started yesterday. I used three and a half inch round communal pots filled with sterile potting mix for the planting. Since seed for both herbs need light for good germination, I covered the potting mix with vermiculite before spreading seed in each pot, followed with a light spray of water. The pots went over a soil heating mat set to 74°F.

If you're new to growing transplants for your garden and flowerbeds, our how-to, Growing Your Own Transplants, might prove helpful. There's an herb table on page three of the how-to of light and temperature requirements for some of the herbs we grow. For folks needing more extensive information on seed starting, I recommend The New Seed Starter's Handbook by the late Nancy Bubel.

Our plant rack is pretty well filled right now. But the bottom shelf is filled mostly with gloxinias headed for dormancy. As the plants go dormant, they get moved to a shelf in a darker part of our plant room.

Later when things get really crowded on the plant rack, transplants such as sage, geraniums, and brassicas can be moved to a bookshelf with south facing windows in our sunroom. The cooler conditions of the sunroom actually help make the plants a bit sturdier.

Wednesday, February 1, 2023

We're beginning February with a sunny, but cold day. While our high temperature won't get above freezing, I'm thankful for the sunshine. Also thankful I don't live in Minnesota where our youngest son and my sister live. They're regularly experiencing sub-zero weather.

I started a communal pot of Ventura celery yesterday. I plan to seed some rosemary and thyme later today.

I'll be starting cauliflower and broccoli this month. The cauliflower will get seeded in a few days and the broccoli towards the end of the month. Even though the varieties have similar days-to-maturity figures, our cauliflower always takes two to three weeks more than the broccoli to put on good heads.

I'll also start some snapdragons and a bit of early lettuce. And one more planting is important. Our first planting of geraniums mostly failed. So I'll be seeding the Maverick and Pinto geranium seed I ordered from True Leaf Market on Monday as soon as the seed arrives.

Super Bowl LVII comes around on Sunday, February 12, televised at 6:30 PM ET. I'll be laying in supplies for our annual Texas Nachos Super Bowl feast.

I picked up some factory second Carhartt T-shirts this week from Dungarees. I don't see anything wrong with them. For $13 each, it was a good deal, and they're still available.

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