What a Difference a Year Makes: Musings On Soil

I just finished reading through a few entries I made in this blog a year ago. One was exactly a year ago, on the 30th. A few more were scattered on either side of this date. From what I can tell from the little hints I gave about the temperatures (one entry mentioned a few days of freezing temps still on the horizon) and some of the pictures of me working in the garden, I have concluded something. While the temperatures at this current time might not be all that different (we are in the midst of a warm up. 60 degrees tomorrow!), our winters that came before each date were vastly different.

By now, all of you reading and especially those of you living in Michigan know what a near record breaking winter we had. Those long bouts of extremely cold temperature has made the ground near impossible to work in further than a half an inch down. An almost permafrost type scenario. Last year at this time, the soil was workable. I was turning soil over and putting seeds into the ground. While the temperatures seemed to be similar, the deciding factor was that our winter last year was decidedly mild, especially in comparison. The soil just wasn't frozen that far down so it was quicker to warm up and become workable.

This doesn't become that big of an issue when you are talking about normal planting schedule. You just push some dates back a bit, keep seedlings inside for a bit longer. However, for myself, this is the year I decided to order raspberry plants to put in this spring. Now, a smarter man would have tilled the soil and gotten the beds ready in the fall. That smarter man didn't live here this past fall.

No, instead I decided to stop hemming and hawing over the winter and I put in orders for 3 different kinds of raspberry plants from two different companies. Apparently one of the companies mails out their plants based on planting zone dates and not the actual weather conditions on the ground. So, despite most of Michigan's ground still being frozen, they decided to send me 4 red raspberry plants this past Thursday. Per the recommendations of both the company and a fellow gardener, I have kept them in my fridge with the hopes that the ground would thaw enough for me to rent a walk behind tiller today and get those plants in the ground.

No such luck. I found out that places (smartly so) are not renting out their tillers for another week or so because the ground is "still too frozen and hard to till without breaking the machines." So, again, what is a gardener to do? I think that my solution, in a last ditched attempt to save these raspberries is to get a very large planter, fill it with soil and temporarily plant the raspberries in there until I can transfer them to the ground. I do not know if this is better or worse than keeping them in the fridge. It seems like it would be better for them to be in soil, aside from the whole disturbing their roots twice in a short span thing. This is what I am facing. It may work, it may not. But damn it, I am trying something.

In other news, my onions are still growing well despite our new curious kitten pulling out a few. She has been warned. Her life hangs in the balance. (I should say for legal purposes, I would never really kill my, or any, cat) Also, I have two different types of cabbage seed in the garden window. One is an early season Copenhagen and the other is a late season Mammoth Red Rock cabbage. I also have planted Serrano pepper seeds and Bell Pepper seeds. Pepper seeds are difficult as they need the soil to stay at least 70 degrees but prefer 80's while sprouting. I've been trying to keep them in my garden window during the day to let the sun heat them up but moving them to a spot close to a heater vent during the night. The window gets too cold at night for their tastes. My garlic sprouts are up outside, just waiting for the warm sun to let them perk up and continue their new growth.

That is where my garden year stands. I have tons of seeds and packets waiting on stand by. Things like this make me think about our ancestors and how they did not have things such as forecasts and radar to help them know when the weather would break or when a devastating frost would sweep through. It is amazing that they were so innovative and hardy in their survival.

Until next time, I will gladly hear any advice or questions you have to give. Happy permafrost-ing!

Break On Through (The Surface of the Soil)

Spring has been slow to come, giving us quick glimpses of it's warmth and promise. After such a long, harsh winter, it is easy to get anxious for it to finally stay. However, this year especially, it is a blessing that it has been such a mild and gradual warm up. With as much snow as we have had (just mere inches off of the record books), a quick and rapid warm up would have been the worst possible scenario in terms of spring melt flooding. Luckily, that has not been the case thus far. Flooding has been at a minimal (at least in the areas that I have been dealing with).

The good news is that even though the warm up is slow, the signs of spring are there. Located just beneath that scattering of soggy brown leaves are sprouts poking through the soil to say hello to any who are taking the time to pay attention and look a little closer. Almost as if by a calendar hidden deep within the DNA of certain early spring plants, they know the first day of spring like a mother knows her babies cries. And Spring calls to them by name. 

Another sign of the season is my first meeting with the community garden gardeners today. I have been in the process of getting in touch with and recruiting gardeners over the last month or two and today I finally get to be face to face with most of them all at once. I am very excited to be able to talk gardening with so many like minded and interested people. 

And what would a gardening blog be without some pictures? Here are just a few pictures that show the very beginnings of the gardening season. 

Here is my pile of seeds. I have a problem. As my friend and gardening partner Cassie put it, "There are worse problems to have." So anyway, if you are looking for seeds, chances are that I have some. 

Oh this might look like a random picture of dirt but that is where you would be wrong! Those are my garlic sprouts shooting up from the spring ground. I think they may have started sprouting in the fall and because of this, some of them look a little worse for wear from the weather we had. I am hoping that most of them pull through and give me a decent crop. 

Look at my onions go! Started from seed, they were just tiny little sprouts not so long ago. I need to trim off the tops so they don't get too top heavy and floppy before I can set them out but they are certainly growing at a healthy rate. Part of this is thanks to Cathie Blumer. She gave me worm poo compost and I put some on my onions. Their color and size improved noticeably after about a week. 

It is early yet and there will be more things to come. I am hoping that my shared experiences will help to motivate you and even possibly help give you a timeline of when things can/should be happening when it comes to your garden. As always, I love questions and welcome the chance to help anyone who might want it. 

"The glory of gardening: hands in the dirt, head in the sun, heart with nature. To nurture a garden is to feed not just on the body but the soul." -Alfred Austin