still feel the itch....

It's a beautiful saturday morning and I still feel the garden itch - maybe even more than yesterday. I'm anxious to get things started, but its just january....

what have i done in terms of trying to satisfy my gardening crave you ask? well, i looked at all the seeds i have. to my surprise and delight, i have many vegetable seeds of various sorts. bad news is that they are all dated for 2008 planting. i'll probably start them in flats to test for viabiliy before placing in the garden.

another thing i did was to look upon the immense job that lay before me in the garden - the feared "w" word...WEEDING. why do weeds need to infiltrate the grounds upon which my future luscious, organic produce will flourish and provide (i hope)? i guess its kinda a good sign...it means that the ground is fertile, and with the help of these weeds' roots, the soil is kept aerated (sp?). and...most/some weeds are actually beneficial! clover, for example, fixes nitrogen into the soil.

anyways, yes, i LOOKED upon the weeds. assessed the situation - LOTS OF WORK. although, thanks to my mother in law who came last year in october, the weed situation is not as bad as it could be (she weeded my ENTIRE garden...thank you SO much!!!). then, i looked upon my stock of garden tools...a little rusty perhaps, but good tools. i don't think i need anything new in that area.

what i have in the garden - well, i have 4 hibernating vines/trees. i have 2 grape vines which i pruned very hard (i haven't done that for 2 years and its getting really out of hand!) - one is a merlot grape (i dont know why we planted this...we never used the grapes), and the other one is a concord grape (can you say concord grape pie??). the other two are trees - one is a european plum (im hoping it is the same species as the one i ate from when i lived in Germany - they were SO good) and the other is a almond tree. i forgot the species, but it is self-polinating and its a sweet variety (not bitter). i've eaten from this tree over a year ago. last season, the squirrels beat me to them (and there were lots on that tree!). i've pruned them all very hard just because i don't want 20 foot trees in my backyard. i want to keep them in somewhat arms-length of pruning and picking. i just hope these trees can take it.

i do have a dwarf mandarin orange tree that is growing v-e-r-y slowly. i haven't tended to it much, and it was partially covered by a bush last season which has been chopped way down, so i didn't get any oranges last year. but i am hopeful for later this year.

what else do i have besides those plants and WEEDS...i have some herbs that has lived through our early winter - sage (although i think its dying), rosemary, oregano, marjoram, mace...lemon balm. i think that's it. i also have some crops that are re-emerging that i planted over a year ago - fava beans (i used this as a cover crop last year, not to mention for eating as well...but i found that fava beans are not really my thing). i think this year, i'll let them grow a bit and then chop them to be used as green material into the ground. i think i also have some tyfon growing from last year's sowing (part of the brassica family - broccoli, cauliflower - used as a cover crop).

now im in the process of figuring out my plan of action. first, weed.. sorry, WEEDING. just to keep the population in check. i'll probably have to reWEED again when i start planting. then i will go through my cool weather crop seeds and figure out what i want to start growing. i have tons of peat pot, it seems. i need to check on my growing soil (im not too worried about using a seed planting mix or just regular soil).

oh, and i also want to fertilize my trees...

see you later!

ps...pictures? i hear you...i'll see if i can get some done, not sure of what i should take pictures of tho...wanna see some WEEDS? lol