Today we planted seeds with our homeschool group. The kids had a blast. Excitement arose in me to start planting. I told Mat about this and then realized tomorrow is March 1, my first scheduled day to plant seeds.

This weekend I am starting my extra-long-germinating seeds. Actually, I am staggering my starts over the next few months. March 30 and April 27 are my other goals for long and short-germinating seeds. Tomorrow I will plant onion seeds, a multitude of flowers that are great for pollinators, and some culinary herbs such as rosemary. At the end of March I will plant most of my vegetables: cabbages and other brassicas, tomatoes, leeks, more onions, eggplants, tomatillos, ground cherries, etc. In April I will plant super greens such as lettuce, basil, kale, chard, mustards, and spinach.

Whenever there is a new moon, you can think of me. We have grown to appreciate the book How to Grow More Vegetables by John Jeavons. It provides general guidelines and is basic enough for all gardeners, yet has a great deal of depth for those with a Masters of Agriculture in Horticulture (my Mathew). There is a short section on planting by the moon and the ideas behind it, so I decided to give it a try this year. However, I think prayer will be the only thing keeping our garden again this year. I look outside at the below average temperatures and just can’t imagine winter ending here in Minnesota.

We will be using our Ladbrooke soil block maker. To use these neat little contraptions you need a special kind of soil mix that will stick together.  The New Organic Grower by Eliot Coleman gives a good recipe:

3 buckets brown peat (standard peat moss)
1/2 cup Lime
2 buckets coarse sand or perlite.
3 cups base fertilizers (equal parts mix blood meal, colloidal phosphate and greensand)
1 bucket garden soil
2 buckets well-decomposed compost.

Mix all ingredients thoroughly.

Tonight I clean and prepare. Tomorrow I plant. Always we pray the Lord to supply. Come plant with us when it warms up!