Spring has Sprung!

Glorious Spring! It is my favorite season.  Everything comes alive.  All those plants that hid through the winter start popping their little heads through the dirt. The coats get put away, and the flip flops come out. I love the energy that Spring brings.

Spring also means gardening! I love getting in the dirt! Look at this beautiful dirt!!!

I spent the better part of the day working in the yard.  Aside from the wind whipping everything by at warp speed, it was a beautiful day.  In the 80's.  This is my first year to plant vegetables and to start plants from seeds, so I was really eager to get at it.

So armed with new garden gloves, a great organic gardening magazine with lots of tips, and seeds, I hit the back yard running!

Out with the day lilies - they only attract the moles and gophers anyway . . . 

and in with the topsoil bags, in which I will plant my little seeds, from which peas will grow. The bags are placed strategically under a trellis, with a row of seeds on each side, and then they can climb the trellis and produce wonderfully fresh peas!

The bags have been pierced on the bottom with holes to allow for drainage.

The top of the bag is cut out in the shape of rectangle, leaving a two inch "frame" around the top of the bag. This is an especially appealing approach. The bags can be layed on top of chicken wire and it will be much more difficult for the moles or gophers to feast on my great plants.

This is how the bag looks after the top has been cut out and it is ready for planting.

After the seeds have been placed in the bag I will add mulch, and then the bags will be covered up and it will be much more pleasing to the eye, and the landscape!

In addition to peas, I planted onions (that my organic gardener guru co-worker Maxine gave to me), spinach (seeds) and lettuce (seeds).  Well, maybe lettuce got planted.  The wind was so bad that I am not sure exactly where the seeds ended up!

This is where the onions live.

At Whole Foods they had lots of starter plants available today and I just couldn't resist.  It is still a bit early to put them outside but they sure make me feel good when I look at all that green on my windowsill! I took them outside for some fresh air, sun and a good drink.

How nice it will be to just walk out the back door and clip clip clip those wonderful herbs that I now have to buy! In the next few weeks lots of time will go into the preparation of planting beds, and then lots more veggies are going to take up residence in my yard. It is all pretty exciting. I will be ecstatic if it all grows, and even more ecstatic to eat it!!

Speaking of eating, I made an incredible salad for our lunch today. We will have this again many times.  It was really easy to make, but looked complicated.  (Note to self: this could be a company salad!)

Southwestern Fiesta Salad with Cilantro Vinaigrette - recipe by Penni Shelton

Happy Spring Everyone!