My Gardening Journal Indicates It's Time

Bob Bauer

February 05, 2017 (Last Updated: March 06, 2023) | Reading Time: 1 minutes

February 05, 2017

My gardening journal indicates it's time to direct seed spinach in the garden. It also reminds me that spinach, lettuce and the cole crops are planted indoors 6 weeks before transplanting outdoors whereas cucumbers, melon and squash can go out in 4 weeks. I guess the roots develop faster in the summer crops. I'm a bit conflicted now on when to start the summer crops because I don't thoroughly trust the new frost date..

A twenty year habit is hard to break. An old Chinese saying is that a man with two watches never knows what time it is. My journal has never lied..

February 06, 2017

I saw a buttercup blossom, two bluebirds, a box elm bug, and the crocuses are up. What a great time to be alive, watching the unfolding of a new season. I'm looking forward to a warmer climate and more active ecology. The double row of my lettuce starts that I planted in the greenhouse yesterday, and watered in with half strength fish emulsion, look bigger, greener, crisper and healthier than they did when I planted them..

I know they can't have changed that much overnight but that's how they look out of the six packs. Einstein said imagination is better than knowledge, and in the case of extracting joy from the world, he's right on..

February 07, 2017

Welcome back turkey vultures, toads and ants. I enjoy your company. The slugs are back too and without Deadline I would have lost my lettuce transplants. I hadn't seen any slug activity in the greenhouse but I put some Deadline around and found dead slugs this morning. They hide underground during the day so you rarely see them, but put out some transplants and they smell them from 3' away..

I accidentally introduced snails into the garden long ago by bringing home the bags of leaves and lawn clippings from town. I should have composted them but I used them as mulch instead. Every spring I find baby snails on the artichokes. Cute little buggers when they are small..

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