It’s March 11th, and I put some of the potted plants outside to soak up the sun. It’s about 62F, I have doors and windows open, and I am wearing shorts.
And I have just finished tucking tomato and basil seeds into the starter tray.
Five types of tomatoes, a mix of US and Italian varieties: Arkansas Traveler, Black Cherry, Red Pear Sel. Franchi (a beefsteak-type), San Marzano (sauce) and St. Pierre (a salad/fresh). One type of basil, Italian Classic. I have them in the window with the grow light and a heating pad. Not sure if the heating pad will do much good, but I will turn it on every so often and check if the tray feels any warmer.
It’s clouding up now, but the next 7 days are supposed to be May-like. I may leave the Mona Lavender and the baby pine tree outside for the week. The herbs–not yet.
I keep reminding myself that we could conceivably still have some snowfall. A blizzard, even. But it’s kind of hard to wrap my mind around that given that I will be grilling salmon on the deck later this afternoon.
Even with the intermittent freezing temperatures, all my herbs except for the basil are still alive even though I didn’t bring them inside. Even the parsley, which never happens. And they’ve all got tons of new growth on them as well. I’m looking forward to a very herby season, cooking-wise.
Of course, the basil is my favorite.
My Indestructible Chive, which is entering its 4th year, is sprouting away in the raised bed. It gets bigger every year, and last year sported a bunch of lilac flowers (they occasionally turn up in the header photo). The temp hit 82F today, so I put the covered seed tray out on the deck to soak up the heat. One of the basil seeds has already sprouted.
I keep reminding myself that we could still get hit with snow/cold anytime over the next month.
I have an indestructible chive myself. It lives in a container on my porch. A 2′ x 2′ container. I think I’m finally going to divide it and spread the wealth before it starts eyeing the nearby container of pansies…