Special Delivery!

The seeds have arrived! Woo-hoo! Opening up the box and seeing all the crisp little white packets brought back memories of gardening with my Mom when I was little. I was always disappointed that the Johnny's seed packets didn't have pretty pictures on them like the ones at the hardware store did, but that doesn't bother me now. It just lets my imagination run wild, making up my own pictures of huge zinnias, cosmos as tall as I am, and purple bell peppers. I want to plant them all right now!

...Unfortunately, the beds aren't ready yet, so I have to wait. I did figure out where I'm getting the soil from, though, which is exciting. Originally, I thought I was going to have to get bagged topsoil from the big box store on the other side of town. That stuff was nice, but it was about three dollars per cubic foot, of which I need 17 or so. Then I found a local landscaping places that sells topsoil in bulk. When I told the guy who runs the place that I needed 17 cubic feet, he said it'd cost a grand total of $15. Sweet! All I need to do is show up with my truck and a shovel. Then into the beds it will go, mixed with some nice compost, and I'll be able to start planting!

I did run into one little snare with my planting scheme. Apparently, even though the county extension website says that peas and carrots can be planted in March, it's at the very tail end of the season and they really might not do well if it gets hot early. Once again, I launched into some research, culminating in a call to Johnny's to ask their advice. The verdict? The carrots should be ok if I plant them really soon, but the peas are, in the words of the very nice lady I talked to, "a crap-shoot." I think I'll plant a few anyway, just to see what happens; this is an adventure, after all! Then in the fall, I'll plant the main pea crop. Sugar snap peas in December? What a novel concept.