It is Time

    Yesterday I decided it is time.  I've had about enough of winter.  While it hasn't been particularly cold, it has been rather gray and bleak.  Rain is a fact of life in the wintertime in the Pacific Northwest.  It's really what we do best - generate weather for the rest of the country.  At about this point in the winter season, I've   had it.  The days are growing longer, and mostly it means we get to prolong the grayness and the rain.  However, yesterday and today have been beautiful days.  Crisp, chilly and sunny! Perfect weather for starting our summer garden...from seeds of course.  Kaysie and I went off to the Home Depot.  It was the perfect day for seeding.
     I spent a small fortune at the farmer's market last summer on lettuce and tomatoes.  While I did so gladly, in support of our local farmers, I thought maybe I could expand our little garden a bit.  Last summer I rearranged our porches and this year, my front porch is bare.  What furniture I had, I moved to the back, so I decided this would be the perfect place for my container garden.  Kaysie and I thought that perhaps a "box garden" would be fun.  I got online last night and looked at box planters, and decided maybe it might be more economical to build our own.  So while our little seeds are tucked into their jiffy pots just waiting to sprout, Kaysie and I will be building and painting their summer homes.  A very fun mother daughter project.
      As I sit here in my "writers nook" my jiffy greenhouse planters are basking in the winter sun on our living room windowsill.  This is where our tomato plants, peppers, jalapenos, lettuce, scallions and pumpkins are planted.  There is a smaller version on my kitchen windowsill which contains our kitchen herbs; sweet basil, chives, cilantro, oregano, and rosemary.  Kaysie has two plants as well, birdhouse gords and watermelons.  I'm not sure where all those are going to go, but we'll figure that out later.  To that we're going to add a container of two blueberry bushes.
     The promise of spring is right there in front of me, and I'm so glad.  Tomorrow the weather forecast is for snow and bitter cold temperatures.  But I know that when I look at those little jiffy pots with the plastic covers, spring is coming.  We will go back to Home Depot this weekend with our plans for our box planters.  We will let them cut the lumber, and we will pick out stain and nails and then we will get busy.  Before too long, we will be setting up the pop-up greenhouse and putting our little seedlings out side to get used to the weather, and then it will be time to fill up those planter boxes and get growing.
     Yes, it is time.  What are you planting this spring?  What fun things will you be placing in the dirt, for the sun and fresh air to grow?  Let me know!  Peace.