A Haven for Vee

Thursday, March 1, 2012

I Shall Plant a Garden


Every gardener knows under the cloak of winter lies a miracle...
a seed waiting to sprout,
a bulb opening to light,
a bud straining to unfurl.
And the anticipation nurtures our dreams.
~Barbara Winkler

What is it about March that, even though the calendar says that the new season won't arrive until the 20th, we feel that spring arrives on the 1st? Is that how you feel about it, too? Spring feels so close that I could reach out and touch it. This despite the fact that there's been overnight snow; it is still snowing; it will snow all day, and it's rather brrrisssk.

A mild winter it has been even if Old Man Winter is putting up a fight about slinking on out of here. But I am so done with him. So. Done. I'm itching to get on to the next thing, which is going to mean changes and good ones, I hope.

This delightful book arrived yesterday from Manuela @ A Cultivated Nest. (It might be time to purchase a lottery ticket, I've won so many lovely books and giveaways lately.) Manuela is an accomplished gardener herself and often features posts on gardening. She had a post on *raised beds yesterday that included a lot of valuable information and resources. Check it out!

~Recycling Center~

~Recycling Basket~

Why is Starter Vegetable Gardens by Barbara Pleasant (another lovely surname) sitting there in my recycling basket? Because, until reading this book, I had no idea that my recycling basket is actually a harvest basket for vegetables.

~Harvest Basket~

Yes, well, and I have learned other interesting things like how easy it is going to be to have a wee vegetable garden this summer. I will, of course, show you come summer, though if you want to start planning your own, you could check out this book. It is chock full of fascinating tips. One of my favorites is not to plant vegetables that you don't enjoy. Great point. I might have, you know. I need to be very specific and purposeful because I'm planting an even smaller garden than the author suggests. What's more there'll be no digging involved. No digging! Yes, one of the author's tips involves a no-digging garden plan. Oh joy unspeakable! 

***

Last week, I received this sweet gift from Karen @ Life is Good~Smile. She had a giveaway that I lost, though she gave everyone a gift. 


Karen knows that I love yellow. This bowl is filled to overflowing with these cheery cloths. I have offerings from bloggers: Karen, Lovella, Suzanne, and from  family members: my mother, my nan, my aunt, and my daughter-in-law. Usually, I can remember which is which, too. Having a good supply is much easier on the budget than paper napkins and paper towels. I just grab a clean one from the top and I'm off. (I won't be using this one for a while, though. It's too pretty.)

***

So, will you be planting a vegetable garden this year? Will you have to dig? ;>

37 comments:

  1. Great post. I looked up Manuela's site and now I'm following her too. I am considering the raised beds; something about waist high.... ;D
    I am in the mood for yard work and may get a little snipping and raking done in our 50's today. The 5o's yesterday were accompanied with 45 mph gusts, so I stayed in!
    Later,
    Deb

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ohhhh, pretty new Spring Blog Look here!!!

    "The snowdrops are out around the twenty-second."~Gladys Taber

    ReplyDelete
  3. How come I am not chomping-at-the-bit for Spring? How come? Did I miss the gene, when genes were being passed out?

    No, I don't applaud that Winter is back with a vengeance. But I do see the beauty. Of the Narnia-In-Winter-Whipped-Cream-Covered-Look-Of-The-Snow...

    Guess I'm not as much of a gardener, or want-to-be-gardener, as most.

    Will we have a small veggie garden this year? Hope so. Hope I mostly eradicated the awful Binder Vine, by all my last year's work. Hope we can grow some tomatoes, without them being smothered by Binder Vines.

    Hope...... :-)))))))

    Happy March!!!

    "The snowdrops are out around the twenty-second."~Gladys Taber

    ReplyDelete
  4. Well you have some wonderful treasures...and those books, oh my!, I will have to check them out.

    I have done raised beds with Benjamin's help, now I am twisting the arms of two of my adult boys to go get me some dirt and let me use their wheel barrow...

    Happy Spring!! Welcome March...enjoy your treasures

    ReplyDelete
  5. Happy March!

    Your blog looks beautiful, Vee. You should put together a look for mine because I hate the way mine looks.

    We will have a garden this year - bigger than ever and are doing away with all of our raised beds but two. Those will have our strawberries. We are going to til the space where the raised beds have been as this will give us much more space to grow food.

    I am glad you are going to do a tiny garden and grow what you like! Can't wait to see it!

    That yellow is cheery! So cute.

    Have a happy, snowy day!

    Deanna

    ReplyDelete
  6. I had a vegetable garden that I tended years ago when we lived in Ill. and the soil was rich and black Now that our soil is red clay the Gardener does our gardening and we enjoy some good veggies. He loves it; for me it would be more of a chore at this point in my life as I have so many other things calling for my time.

    Your sweet little package arrived ...snail mail on its way. And it may break an 82 degree record today. Maybe we are skipping not only winter, but spring?

    ReplyDelete
  7. I shall have to check out this book, sounds like a helpful one. We will plant our garden and hope that This Time the deer will stay out and the weather will cooperate. Our garden hasn't done very well in recent years. We do plant tomatoes and green peppers very close to the back of the house and they usually do well. I'm so ready for spring even though we've had a mild winter...I'm ready to see green!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Oh yes, I am planting a garden again this year! I can't wait to get going. No, there will be no digging here at home - but down at the allotment, i will be supervising digging (the son/s will have to do that)for more stuff. You are absolutely right - NEVER plant things you do not love, and not even ones which you sort of like. I always end up with a glut of those, and I would far rather have french bean bushes by the dozen and no more runner beans. Peas, oh yes, but only 2 courgettes this year. I had marrows last year - way too many to cook, eat or freeze. Potatoes will be planted in pots in the next couple of weeks and we will be off!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hi Vee
    What a beautiful gift, I love receiving things that someone made with their hands. You can feel the love sewn in to the piece. Spring, well we have quite a bit of snow today. How about you?

    Have a beautiful day.

    Karen

    ReplyDelete
  10. Yes, I will be planting a veggie garden this year. I don't really have to dig much with my raised beds. I do more digging with my gloved hand than a shovel. This weekend (it will be 72 here today!) I plan on planting my spring crop of radishes, beets, carrots, peas, broccoli and some lettuce....I am looking forward to getting out and playing in the dirt!

    ReplyDelete
  11. I would love to plant a garden, but I have been forced to container gardening because of our caliche soil and tremendous heat. I do grow fruit trees and love the harvest of lemons, oranges, tangerines and grapefruit. Have a wonderful day.

    ReplyDelete
  12. First of all I like your new header photo and sweet polka dot page background. I would love to plant a garden but we don't have the space for one in our tiny yard. However, I would like to try raised bed gardening in a small plot and have yet to look at Manuela's post on that. Congrats on your wins! Lucky lady you are! The snow is going to miss us today. Yay!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Hi Vee,
    Your blog looks so pretty and all ready for Spring!

    We plant a garden every year and this year my husband wants to plant more things. The price of food is crazy and just keeps going up.


    I love handmade dishcloths, you lucky gal!

    ReplyDelete
  14. How fresh and spring-like your blog looks! My husband does the gardening around here. He puts in a few tomatoes and some herbs. My daughter is starting to be a gardener as well.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Guess what? We have snow! I will have to run out with my camera and blog about it. We are leaving..to find some warmer weather....and will be back when we are good and ready.
    I love this post and your new header and template and your dreams of a beautiful garden this summer.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Yes...I will be planting a garden this spring. And...I have raised beds that I love. I still do a little digging around in them before I plant, though. It just feels good to have the soil all loose and 'lump free' for the new growing season. My beds are 4' x 8'...with a ledge all around to sit on. (My kind of gardening!)

    I made carrot soup this week...with carrots that I dug out of the garden. There are still more out there...none the worse for their winter outdoors.

    ReplyDelete
  17. My husband always plants a garden...as does everyone in his family. I guess it's part of their genetic code. (Although I suspect is has more to do with thriftiness really. Which is a good thing.)

    I grew up in a neighborhood, and while my dad did beautiful landscaping, we never had a vegetable garden. So the first summer that I was married, my husband planted an enormous garden, and brought me basket after basket of vegetables to "do" something with...and I was completely overwhelmed! It scarred me. ;-)

    In recent years, I have taken more of an interest in the actual gardening and asked him to build some raised beds, as they seemed less intimidating than row after row of planted things and hoping that slithering things were not lurking in there. (Yes, I know I'm a wimp.)

    Anyway, I'll start off with a bang. Here on March 1st it sounds like a lovely idea!

    ReplyDelete
  18. Before I forget, I smiled big when I saw your upside down snowman on your sidebar and had to laugh at your comments.
    Also, I am loving - LOVING your new springy look here today. Beautiful!!
    Congratulations on your recent wins. That book looks very interesting and Karen's dish cloth is lovely. In fact that whole bowl full of them is like a bowl full of love.
    I'm interested to see how you will garden without digging. I have one raised bed which I recently planted with seeds of romaine, radishes and peas. They are just beginning to sprout. So exciting.
    I probably shouldn't tell you this, but we are headed for the upper 70s here today which is actually unusually warm for this time of year for us.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Loved that yellow knitted cloth you received from your friend. What a cheery display of Spring in a bowl!

    No veggie gardening here anymore, although once in a while we do get the urge... (we wait for that urge to pass hehe.)

    Enjoy dreaming... gardening is a great thing to dream about!

    ReplyDelete
  20. It's really March??? Where has the year gone? It is a big month around here...the new show, Jonah, opens...Warren and I celebrate 23 years of marriage and our Jonathan turns 21. Yikes. Hard to believe!!

    Can't wait to see your garden grow.

    Love that yellow cloth. The shade is perfect.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Well as you already know I think it has been far from a mild winter here in Europe, but at last we are seeing sings of spring and today was the mildest of the year so far. I feel so much brighter now Jan and Feb are behind us.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Love your background and header. I want to have a garden, but won't this year. I'll dig and play in my flower beds and be on the community gardens steering committee which will mean volunteer work out at the gardens.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Hi Lucky Lady! :) Your bowl full of hand knitted cloths looks so cheeful!

    I definitely will be planting my little flower pot garden again..I love watching things grow, even if they require daily watering and yield itty bitty amounts of veggies. I always grow basil and other herbs and tomatoes and peppers. Last summer I had luck with with eggplant, so I might try that again although this mild winter may mean we will be bothered by a lot of new hungry baby squirrels this summer. They seem to LOVE eggplants.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Glad you like your yellow dish cloth. It fits in good with your other ones. : )

    Just have a tiny yard so no vegetable garden for me. I tried planting some in pots out on the deck last year, but didn't have any luck.
    I think I'll stick to some color flowers this year.

    It feels like spring in my neck of the woods. 65 degrees and sunny though it is windy.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Vee,
    I am so looking forward to gardening this year! I have great plans, so we will see! I'll check out Manuela's site..

    ReplyDelete
  26. part 2....so cool. I am planning to do raised beds/square foot gardening this year.

    ReplyDelete
  27. I'm going to go right over to see that post about raised beds. We have four raised beds and I can't help but think we could do better with them. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  28. Will definately have a garden this year...already have some seeds started indoors. Maybe raised beds, maybe pots, maybe veggies mixed in my flower beds. No digging here...back just not what it used to be
    I have been thinking of spring for weeks now

    ReplyDelete
  29. What a beautiful yellow cloth! I wouldn't use it for a while either :)

    I will be planting a garden. My big issue is too many big trees so I've learned to deal with the veggies I can grow and like to eat too.

    ReplyDelete
  30. I love your cloths! Each one so pretty. I'm trying to change things in my kitchen. You will laugh but on any given day you can find a diaper in my kitchen. I use them for just about everything. It's a habit I have decided to change. Well, I will still use them but not so much in the kitchen. I can't wait to see your vegetable garden! I had one every year while our sons were growing up. I miss it but I do also love having a little flower garden.

    ReplyDelete
  31. I love Manuela's blog she does have a lot of great tips. I may do a tomato plant or too in a container. I'm not sure I'll be up to maintaining one.

    Love your sweet dish rags. I just got 10 from a friends mother who made them. they are so much better than "store bought."

    Enjoy your weekend!
    Leann

    ReplyDelete
  32. Sad to say no room for a veggie garden...Herbs and flowers. Love looking through gardening books even through I don't have room to have my own...it's all good. Maybe I would just have weeds....time is often not there for more than my little yard.

    ReplyDelete
  33. Happy Spring !
    Planning a little veggie patch is a great delight, hope it brings you hours of fun

    ReplyDelete
  34. I'll definitely be planting vegetables this year. I have three raised beds, one with a greenhouse like cover over it. I'm longing to get out there and weed some more, but it's been so cold! And yes, definitely, once March comes, it SHOULD be spring.

    Love the sunny yellow dishcloth. So bright and spring-like.

    ReplyDelete
  35. Vee, I'm doing some raised beds this year, too, instead of traditional row garden. I've got about 6 boxes ready to go. I'll still have my peas and beans in rows, but most everything else will be in raised beds. I've got that Mel Bartholomew book "Square Foot Gardening". Dad's built me 4x4 garden boxes, and I've got two of them done up with onions already. I'm still leary of another little freeze before it's all over with (altho time for Texas is growing short). I think you'll enjoy it (John will enjoy it) and I'm hoping I'll be able to save much water, after last's years drought. Doing a compost?

    ReplyDelete
  36. What a lovely idea. I knit white ones and use as dish cloths.

    March breaks - is that mid-term school holidays?

    ReplyDelete

🕊
If comments disappear, please don't fret. A simple "hi" will do. The platform surely needs some maintenance.