Enter the first full week of spring 2023. Our garden plans? Transplant lettuce to the hoop house and direct seed a few herbs in the new herb beds we prepared last fall.
Mother Nature says; “Not so fast Skippy.”…we wake up Saturday morning to see 6″ of snow on the ground and another 4” yet to fall before the storm ends at noon. Transplanting will need to wait until we can move enough snow to get to the hoop houses and…Direct seeding will need to wait for another weekend. The next best thing?
Herbs in seed starting trays…and clear a path the leafy green hoop house.
R Dub was able to find the driveway and front patio. 10″ of heavy March snow takes a toll on a 60 something body. That’s enough snow removal for one day. Our usual snow removal guy Chris from across the street spent the morning digging out his grandparents and we didn’t want to wait until the afternoon warmup made the job near impossible for our Snow Thrower.
Instead of Saturday gardening, we took in two local theatrical productions. A matinee in Slinger, WI. Dinner at locally famous Wendt’s On The Lake in Van Dyne, WI. Then the evening theatrical production in Fond du Lac, WI. Gardening would need to wait for another day.
That day was Sunday. Beth cleared a path to the hoop house raised garden beds while R Dub cleared a path to the BBQ grill. We each have our own priorities…
Earlier we chronicled an expanded seed starting tray of lettuce. Tri-colored Romaine, Gourmet Blend, Black Seeded Simpson and Loose Leaf Blend. We seeded 16 cells each of these four varieties of lettuce.
When we opened up the hoop house, warm air cascaded out of the cover. That was a great sign. Better sign; the soil was loose and warm. Best sign; the spinach that was overwintered needed to be harvested.
To be safe, we only transplanted 3 plants each per variety. However, 12 lettuce seedlings that should bear its first cut and come again harvest in 2 to 4 weeks is WAY ahead of any other season we’ve had since beginning this adventure during the pandemic lock-downs in 2020. Something to look forward to!
Last fall was by far the best lettuce and spinach production we’ve had. Getting them started earlier in spring should result in better early harvest. News at 11.
Until next time. R Dub and Beth…out.
Ron's Ramblings 
Oh No!!! That was a crazy amount of snow. You sure have a green thumb, your lettuce is beautiful!
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By the end of today all of that snow should be gone. Thank goodness!
A Master Gardener friend told us in 2020 that it would take 2 years to learn the art of gardening. He was correct. We do, however, study many master gardeners and have experimented with many soil mixes. The two main keys are timing (for your growing zone) and soil.
The seed starting soil that is working great for us is 3 parts coconut coir, 1 part compost (we use worm castings from our Urban Worm Bag), 1/2 part perlite and 1/2 part vermiculite. Seeds germinate very quickly. We also use a heating mat set at 80 degrees F with a humidity dome. As soon as the seeds germinate the heating mat and dome are taken away. Then we put them under grow lights and use a fan.
It’s Friday! What’s on tap In Diane’s Kitchen today?!
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