In typical Cincinnati fashion, March certainly came in like a lion! We had a stormy start to the new month and the rainy weather continues. I’ve enjoyed taking the time to walk slowly throughout the yard and gardens where it seems everything is getting an early start this year.

February 2017 Goals Recap

February is a short month so I went light on my goals. Even so, I only really accomplished goal 1. But cleaning the seed starting containers was an important, and somewhat thankless task, so I’m happy to announce that it’s done. New planting areas, which is goal 2, is ongoing but I have given it lots of thought and will share once I make some decisions. I am going to become a Certified Square Foot Gardening Instructor (goal 3), and I’ll work on this throughout the 2017 growing season. Finally, I’m punting on hoops for the raised beds until late summer/early fall, so there’s my out for goal 4.

March is one of those months where I’m frequently overwhelmed by everything I want to do. I like to start as much from seed as possible and, while I have seed starting down, it takes time and patience. Outside of getting all my seeds started, here are my goals for March.

Goal 1: Make Progress on New Planting Areas

Slightly updated from February. I know I need to figure out these new planting areas by the end of April. I’m hopeful that another month of exploring different ideas will help me decide. I am 99% sure about using the grow bags for peppers and I think I’d like to use individual 12×12 bags for each pepper.  Finally, this salad bowl container gardening idea is high on my list. Hmm—may be planning more than I can get done!

Goal 2: Fix the Pole Bean Trellis

This requires the husbands help and he’s promised to get his part done by the end of March. We created the bean planting area and trellis last year, which was one of the best gardening decisions I made. Beans are one of my all-time favorite vegetables and it was nice to grow pole beans in addition to bush beans. I used t-posts, heavy wire, and twine to create the trellis.  It held up but just barely under the weight of all the beans. The husband is going to work his magic and stabilize the trellis for me. I’ll share once it’s done.

Goal 3: Direct Sow Spring Vegetables

I already sowed a round of beets and peas; may be too early but I wanted to see if they would get an early start. We’ll see. As the month goes on, I’ll be direct sowing everything from bok choy to turnips. Again, I’ll share throughout the month.

Again, seems like a short list but it’s not. I know I’ll be busy between taking care of the seeds I’ve already started and direct sowing spring veggies. There’s also lots of pruning, cleaning up, and mulching to be done this month.