The weather has gotten unseasonably warm and melted all the snow. It’s supposed to get cold again, but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to bike to work a couple of days this week. The second day was in the rain, so my backpack, jacket and pants all had a huge muddy streak up the back. Fortunately, that came on the ride home, so it was good.

But the wonderful weather has pushed me even more into gardening mode, so I decided to get started. A few days ago, I brought all my garden stuff in from the back porch. Mainly so it could warm up a bit. Then yesterday (and today) I washed all of my seed starting trays. Apparently, lots of diseases can grow in old dirt and you’re supposed to wash everything before you start seeds. I learned that because I’ve been reading tons of gardening blogs and websites. So I did that. Then I found out that some of the vegetables that take the longest to grow are leeks and celery. Just now, I decided to plant three tray holders of each of those. Another thing I learned from all my research is that you should stagger when you start your seeds. This way, you won’t have them all being ready to be picked at the same time. Instead, they’ll be spread out more over the summer. Since I could never eat as many tomatoes as came up last year, I like that idea. I also decided to start some flowers because I think I’m going to make the dirt next to the garage into a cutting garden. I want to have a ton of flowers there. And it’s been so cold that I’m looking forward to some color.

Here’s my pile of seed holders drying after I washed them.

And here are a small number of seeds that I started.

Here’s hoping for a successful garden!