With the arrival of this spring-like weather in February, I am chomping at the bit to get in my garden, but patience must prevail. I will wait until March to begin planting, but that doesn’t mean I can’t start buying seeds – which I did. I stopped by Blue Ridge Farmers Co-op (formerly Southern States) and filled a small paper bag with onion bulbs and bought two packages each of Black Simpson leaf lettuce and dark red beets.
Southern States apparently merged with Freedom Ag & Energy Cooperative on January 1 this year. But it appears the stores will remain the same. The one on Harris Street certainly had a nice inventory and the staff is very helpful.
But back to my schedule, and by damned, I am sticking to it.
This is the time of year I generally lose all sense of logic and pre-planning and buy every packet of seeds that I can pronounce. Then, I can’t plant them all, or if I do, the rows are three inches apart. Vegetables, I have come to determine, do not like three-inch wide rows. I have planned my little garden down to the square inch and I am sticking to the plan – plus I will wait until April to plant the late summer veggies such as squash, cukes, peppers, tomatoes, and okra.
Here’s hoping this will be a good year for a backyard garden. We are certainly due.