Dreaming of Spring!

Sorry it's been so long since I posted, but I've had sort of a crazy couple months. Christmas then birthdays and a nasty bout of stomach flu that practically took down our house then turned into fun colds for everyone! Woo hoo! Anyway, hopefully I'm back and intend to start posting once a week or so again.

The weather here in upstate NY has been lovely (for February) the past week or so and has really gotten me absorbed into thinking spring. I've been learning about lasagna gardening and am hoping to try that out this year, since our beds really need some help in getting ready before planting. Last year our crop suffered from our lack of attention to the soil in the early season. We did double dig one section of our garden and worked in our compost, but mostly because that are had been so neglected and was so full of clay and hard to work that it was practically required if we were to plant anything there. It worked out well, though, because we got some volunteer tomatoes in that section!

I'm also wondering if we can grow some vegetables inside. I think I'm going to try and start some tomatoes extremely early this year (um, like this week) and maybe some peppers, too, because our tomatoes and peppers always take FOREVER. Last year we didn't get to harvest many until OCTOBER!

I have piles of seed packets from past years, so my plan is to try those (most of them are about 5 years old) first, see if they germinate, and if only buy more if they don't. They may not be the varieties that are what I'd like, but honestly, they're free (well, already bought), so I might as well try 'em. I'm hoping to try some this week.