Its the end of March and I'm **so ready** for spring! We've been having a lot of rain recently (completely normal for late winter/early spring in Portland), but in the small breaks between rain showers, I've started to do a little "spring cleaning" in the garden. Its always such a chore to clear away the old dead leaves, pine cones, stray branches and, of course, the weeds! But its also neat to see what you find
under all of the debris. Above is a little pansy that Gavin gave me as a mother's day present last spring. It almost died shortly after I planted it, but it slowly came back to life. I assumed it was an annual and wouldn't come back, but what a nice surprise I had as I cleared away the leaves and found this pretty purple flower!
I started seeds a couple of weeks ago in an egg carton and within about 2 weeks I needed to transplant them into something larger. I had hoped to time it right to be able to transplant into the garden, but since its not the right time yet, I just moved them into some bigger pots. I stuck my tomato cage in the pot with the peas as they are already trying to climb! Maybe I'll just put these on the porch and direct seed some more for the garden. That way we'll have twice the peas and an earlier crop. I'm looking forward to moving them as they are already taking over my kitchen!
This is my new setup this year. Last year I had such a hard time starting the seeds and I couldn't understand why. I watered them every day and gave them as much light as one gets on our gray Portland days. This year I decided to add a flourescent light and that has made all the difference! Its hard to see the seedlings in this picture, but I have basil in the terra cotta pot, marigolds (which I learned are a great natural pest deterent) in the square plastics and zinnias and snapdragons in the yogurt containers.
