We had a bit of fake spring in Michigan this past week. 60 and *gasp* 70 degree days had everyone outside from the moment we got home from school until dinner and darkness ushered us inside.
But I was reminded that this weather was just a glimpse, a tease, a taste of the weather coming. We dive back into 40 degree days with the occasional frost on the car in the morning. Even though we experienced a bit of Mother Nature’s teasing, we can look back on those warm days to plan for the warmer weeks and months ahead.
Outside, I clear garden beds of leaf litter and other debris that has built up. Soon, I’ll be adding a few loads of manure to the soil to prepare it for our earliest plantings. Up first are potatoes and onions, which can tolerate some of the cooler days, especially when covered. I’m learning a lot about potatoes, something I have never grown before last summer when I was handed some starts. They were buried and watered when I remembered, and we actually found some lovely tubers come September. My husband is so excited to add them to our CSA boxes, so fingers crossed!
A few other cool weather plants on my list this year are radishes, turnips, peas, and an assortment of leafy greens. Most of them will probably wait until the first week of April when we finally plow the field.
Inside, under the grow lights I’ve sprouted tomatoes and peppers, and am hoping for the herbs to follow quickly- basil, parsley, dill. This greenery under my lights gives hope for spring and warmer weather, even though it’s inside and not outside. I’ll be starting some flowers indoors as well, hoping that the extra attention indoors will produce a bumper crop of my favorites: zinnias ans snapdragons.
None of these tasks are a surefire way of chasing the winter blues away, but maybe you can find a combination that works for you! Like I said, a little bit of each is the medicine that is working for me right now.
And if you need the hope of sunshine and flowers to give as a gift, I still have some spots open in my Flower CSA for this year.
