Springtime and Garden Prep

 So many plans and happenings in the yard this month that this is going to be a long post! First of all I'm very excited to say that we finally got our compost bin up and running. All it took was a big plastic trash can with some holes drilled in it and a wooden frame to set it on to allow for drainage. This is a project we've been wanting to do for ages but we kept putting it off. Now between recycling and compost we hardly have any trash, yay! Plus I have high hopes that this will improve the quality of my garden greatly this year. Sadly the compost won't be ready for a while yet but it's a good start.

Hooray compost!

Speaking of the garden, I haven't too much time for it yet this year. It's been too cold to take Echo outside with me while I work in the main garden beds but I am trying to grow some things in containers on the back deck. I can work out there while she is sleeping in her room and still be able to hear her when she wakes. Out back I am working on some lettuce, carrots and peas. Sadly it looks like the squirrels had a field day digging in my pots the other day so I'll have to see which if any of my seeds survived. 

Some of my containers on the back deck, in the sunny corner

I did spot a little lettuce sprout today in my outside planters, maybe the squirrels didn't get everything

I'm also starting some tomatos inside so they will have a good length of time to grow before I move them to the big garden outside. I wasn't planning to grow tomatos from seed this year since they didn't turn out well last year but the guy I buy seeds from always throws in a freebee and this time it was tomatos so I'm giving it a go. 

Baby tomatos

 In other yard news some of my blueberries are already getting blooms and my daffodils and forsythia are starting to bloom! It was so refreshing to go out in the sunshine today. As much as I love rain it was nice to see the sun and I took Echo out with me for a bit to enjoy the fresh air.

Blueberry blossoms

Echo lounging outside

Daffodil 

Forsythia

 Below you can see all the seeds I'm planting this year. I tried to stick with things that are supposed to be very easy to grow. I enjoy gardening but I'm not prepared to spend a ton of time on it. Honestly I'd rather be playing with my baby girl than laboring in the garden. Still, I enjoy the thrill of watching those little green shots come up so hopefully by sticking with the easy stuff I can have some fresh veggies without too much work. This year I'm planting green peas, green beans, carrots, radishes, tomatos, lettuce, chard. cucumbers and basil from seed. I will probably buy a few more mature pepper plants later since they are harder to grow from seed and I had a ton of success with them last year.

sseds!

 As you can see my main raised beds are currently empty, but hopefully I'll get to planting them soon!