Gentlemen, Start Your Lettuce !

 
Today our wind was from the north.  That brings us crisp clean air and a clear bright sky.  Strong sunlight draws one outside but temperatures in the low teens quickly suggested inside activity.  Lettuce planting seemed an appropriate way to spend this morning.  It is way too early to be starting plants for the garden.  These will spent their growing time confined to their pots.  Outside on the wall near the basement door when the weather is mild and inside when it snows will be the fate of these plants.  We will have a little early fresh lettuce soon but more importantly this year's garden is underway.

These plastic domes keep the soil moist as the seeds germinate.  A thirty gallon garbage can was filled with prime potting soil last fall.  Unfrozen sifted topsoil, compost and forest floor litter were combined and brought inside in preparation for early gardening.  The expended effort wildly exceeds the expected return but it is what I like to do.

Here is the present status of the Easter Lilies that were fall potted so that they could be brought inside for an early start.  Their growth looks good but the plants are smaller than what will soon be in the stores.  My best bulbs are still outside where they will wait for their time to grow.  The bulbs committed to this forcing experiment were the smaller ones.  Still, early flowers look like a very real possibility.  Perhaps next year we will use our best bulbs for forcing.  This has been a pleasant late winter gardening experience.