30 and clear again this morning. The past few days have been the same, and the saturated ground is drying out.
Although spring bulbs are beginning to come up, these pretty tulips are not from my gardens--they were a gift from Larry yesterday. He saw them while he was in the store and knew I'd like them. He was right.
The sunshine-y days have been such a blessing after two months of almost continuous cloudiness. But while clear, there is still a nip in the air, and the wind keeps us in jackets and hats. I've been out to rake out a few flowerbeds, but haven't stayed out for long. But later this week promises days in the 60's, so I hope to be able to do a little more outside work. And plant the lettuce bed. Larry has it ready, but I was surprised to find that I had no leftover leaf lettuce or radish seeds from last year, so I will need to make a trip to town to get what I need.
When sorting through my seed stash while looking for the lettuce seeds, I found that we have almost everything we need for this year's garden. I had ordered some seeds in January, and just put the unopened boxes away until I was ready to start seedlings. Yesterday I got them out, also got out the seedstarter soil I'd bought last month, and some flowerpots, and was ready to get started. I planted a few tomato varieties and the peppers--and got a surprise when I opened the packet of cayenne pepper seeds to find that Totally Tomatoes had sent me an empty packet. Bummer. I have messaged them about it, but no response yet.
Broccoli and cabbage were also on my list to get started, but I got another unpleasant surprise. I suppose Vermont Bean and Seed Company ran out of Stonehead cabbage seeds, and substituted Early Jersey Wakefield. Jersey Wakefield isn't a bad cabbage, but it's not nearly the sturdy cabbage that Stonehead is. I planted the seeds anyway but went online to order Stonehead from a different company.
I found that I did have some Red Sails lettuce seed and some Bibb, so I planted two plastic clamshell containers with those. The clear plastic containers make nice miniature planters.
Still and all, I've made a good beginning with starting my plants, and I'm satisfied with that. In a few weeks we'll assemble the miniature greenhouse I bought this past winter, and the plants can go in there when I transplant them to larger, individual pots.
With the cellar and the freezers still quite full, I don't feel a real pressure to grow a lot this year. We really stocked up last year, so this year will be simpler, perhaps. Perhaps. Knowing myself, I bet I'll be canning and putting just as much as ever. It's a habit I can't seem to break.
I bottled up my vanilla today. I started this in December, pouring vodka over vanilla beans and setting the bottle in a sunny window to steep. I'd shake the bottle when I remembered, and it's made a nice strong vanilla. I re-filled the jar with brandy and hope that there will be enough flavor in the beans for another batch. I'll have enough vanilla to last for years by the time I'm done.
The past few days have been taken up with booth work and paperwork as I continue to put together the tax return. Always a dreaded chore, but I hope to have it done by the 15th of this month.
So that's all the news that isn't, to quote Garrison Keillor. I sure miss his radio show, A Prairie Home Companion. I understand he wasn't the nicest person to work with, but it was a great show with good music and humor. There's nothing like it available, at least on our radio station, now.
I hope everyone is keeping well and getting vaccinated if they want one. We're supposed to get our second shot this week but I have not yet got an appointment notice, so I'm a little worried about it. I may have to try to call and to make sure we're on track.
