I am really looking forward to tomorrow, Monday, to get back home and begin the annual seed sowing rituals of Spring! The moon sign says it's time to start.

I go by the meteorological seasons, so Spring began on March 1st for me. America is alone in the world of 4 season countries in going by astronomical seasons beginning in mid-month. March April and May are all Spring months.

I need  to plant about 4 seeds of each variety of tomato, or 160 seeds. I want 4 seedlings to choose the best 2 from, and have some to share, and have some to sell. I have never tried to sell tomato plants before and it's not a big deal if I don't.

I'll take photos as I go.

Leap Day

Hello! Today is the 29th, Leap Day. To celebrate the day we are having horrible weather, really windy and cold, rainy and snowy combined. Some celebration...

I have been getting both blue jays and cardinals at my feeder, filled with finch food, sunflower seeds and shelled whole corn. Of course I get gold finches, sparrows of several kinds, and slate colored juncos. Occasionally I get a dove beneath the feeder, on the ground eating the scattered millet. I love birds, and so does Felix, my boycat. He likes to eat them, tho, not watch them.

I am going to visit my daughter and son a few hours from home on the 7th, and will get some plants potted up before I go, plus fill some of my seedling trays before I go, so they are ready to go the day I get home.

I am planting by moon sign and phase, and March 12th is the day I start planting seeds.

Last night I chose my tomato varieties for this year, 40 of them, a few are experimental, but most are dependable producers so I can get a huge harvest and make and can all the tomato soup I need for a few years. I need at least 100 pounds of tomatoes. I like an Amish recipe for the soup, even tho it has flour and butter in it, which is supposed to be a modern day canning no-no. I don't care, it tastes really good, and it kept just fine for us.

My kitchen garden for herbs

Here is my herb garden, on the South side of the kitchen/house. The rosemary bush in the pot is really very large, that is a 5 gallon pot it's in. My garlic and herbs grow beautifully here.

My hydroponic units in Summer 2011

Here are pics of my hydroponics units on the west /back side of the house. Loren built me the platform with wood chips as the surface, and he and I set it all up.

Several kinds of basil can be seen on the right front double tray in the photo above. Behind it is a simple lettuce blend that I harvest leaves from. The double tray on the left has salad niche (Thompson & Morgan Seeds) in the front tray, and heirloom lettuce in the rear part. In the EuroBucket system on the far left, I have cutting celery growing in the right 4 buckets, and regular celery, Tango, growing in the left 4 buckets. I can also grow watercress very well in these units, but did not do so in the year this photo was taken. This is a West exposure and gets hot in August. Watercress would be happier on the North side of the house, in the deep shade.

 This is several kinds of basil growing, including some lettuce-leaved kinds for pesto, and blue basil in the right tray.

 You can see a volunteer lettuce plant underneath the tray on the right side, above. And another one on the left side, poking up.

Here is a close-up of the celery. You mostly are seeing the cutting variety here. The celery is growing in a mix of perlite and Hydroton clay balls. Each bucket has a waterline going to it, and drains back into the Panda reservoir via a drain line.