It tried to snow today...

I have been trying to take advantage of our brief hint of spring to get a little work done outside.  The first snow last fall was not our usual pattern of a couple of teasers that drop a little layer of snow that lasts for a day and then is gone allowing for more time to put the garden to bed before the real thing (winter) happens.  Last fall the snow kind of caught me unawares.  They predicted it, we knew it was coming but not in time to get all the fall garden chores done.  I got caught with potatoes that never got dug and cornstalks and weeds and all manner of garden trash still in the garden.  I have been kind of hoping for an opportunity to get some preparation work done while it was still too early to plant so that I am not trying to do prep and planting at the same time.  The soil is still to wet to turn it over but I am working on raking the dead weeds and other plant material off the top.  This is the big garden.  There are lots of weeds still on the ground, but you can kind of see the weeds that have been raked off in piles here and there.  There is a pile of shredded leaves on the end of the garden that were supposed to be  spread between the rows.  The trash bags contain more leaves that have been hanging out all winter since they didn't get spread before the snow came either. 

Here are a few pictures of garden seedlings that are under lights in the house.  Not everything has been started yet,  as it is still too early for our zone 4 garden for much of the tender crops.  We are starting a bunch of herbs.  The plan is to use them in the summer of 2016 for a special event and we are hoping to get them started this year and overwinter them in the greenhouse.  Some are perennials a zone or two south of us and we are hoping that our greenhouse will be similar to those zones.   

thyme

sage

lavender

impatiens

 Kim, these are shallots but this is what the onions and leeks looked like before their haircuts.

shallots. 

three kinds of peppers

I have also been rearranging in the greenhouse hoping to make room for the seedlings that are in the house under the lights.  Last winter with the record colds that we had, we ended up moving all the tables to the center of the room away from the glazing since the plants nearest the windows were not growing.  They did better once moved so this year we started with the tables in the center of the room which kept them a bit farther from the windows but left a space along the whole front edge that was unusable.  Now that we are hopefully past below zero temps I am trying to use that space.  The two feet in front of the windows now holds plants.  I made little walkways in the row of tables to be able to get to all of the areas with the watering can.  These pictures show both winter salad greens and summer garden transplants.  The transplants will eventually find their way to the gardens at the farm and the gardens of friends and family.  Some will be offered for sale in the farmstand. 

we tried radishes this year

lemon basil from the house

these sage plants are older than the ones in the house

Amara, a new green for us this year.

onions and lettuces

Kale

more onions, after their haircuts

greens.

Our forecast is for a bit cooler and some clouds which will be nice for the plants in the greenhouse.  There is still lots to do in the big garden but I am pleased to have gotten a start.