Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Seeds? Planting? Hugh?

With all this goat stuff going on, I have neglected my seed-starting obligations.  I had my gardening calendar all filled out, dates highlighted for which types of seeds to start, containers accounted for and seed starting medium acquired.  But Nettie's kidding had me in a tizzy the end of last week and then this weekend I cleaned up the goat yard and we disbudded Nettie's kid yesterday.

My oregano, parsley and mints were supposed to be planted already.  And my peppers, eggplant and cabbage need to be planted in like, this week.  I'm trying to plant by the Moon Signs this year.  But then we get a beautiful, warm and sunny day and I just want to plant right NOW!


So, which adage to I adhere to?  


"P
lant by the Moon" or "Make Hay while the Sun Shines"?

According to the Moon, I should be planting my above ground crops this Thursday and Friday and I missed the date for planting root crops by two days (supposed to be the 20th).   So can I manage to NOT plant any root crops until the next Moon day, the 9th of March?  Unlikely.  But I will try to busy myself with other homesteading chores in order to keep my mind off carrots and turnips and parsnips (oh my).


According to the weather though, I should have planted stuff yesterday and today. Because the weather has been just beautiful, and how can I not dig into that dirt when it's just calling my name??   


Maybe I'll get working on building the frames for another couple of raised beds.  Or start collecting rocks (i.e. boulders) for terracing the side of the house for my new garden area?  Maybe burn some leaves.  Or gather them up and use them as a smothering-kind-of mulch for a lasagna type garden somewhere?  Move all the little piles of compost into one big compost pile?  


All this planning is exhausting.  I think I should just sit down on the porch, watch Rhiannon play in the front yard and do some reading:

Nice looking book, isn't it?  Jealous?  You should be, because I WON this big honkin', full-color, homesteader's dream of an encyclopedia!  Kim over at Jabez Farm hosted a giveaway for this book a few weeks ago and I won!!  Aren't giveaways great?!?  Isn't Kim great!?!  Isn't life great?!  The FedEx man brought this up to the doorstep just yesterday and I ripped into it.
  
It not only has the obligatory chapters on livestock, preserving and gardening, but also includes such "artsy" stuff like blowing & painting eggs, jewelry making and basic furniture making.  And the photos are just gorgeous!  If this 888 page book didn't weigh fifty-two pounds, I would keep it on the little side table a it's beautiful even just as a decoration, but the sheer weight of it might buckle the table legs!  Thank you so very much, Kim!!

So I think I will get myself a glass of sweet tea (yes, it's going to be that warm today) sit on the porch and flip through this beautiful book.


Maybe I won't get any planting done today. :)


BTW, if you haven't been over there yet, go check out
Jabez Farm.  Kim is currently working on gluten-free goodies, so if you have any awesome recipes you'd like to share with her, go over there.  Oh, and don't forget to scroll down a bit until you get to the  " # 3 - You Should Know" post.  You'll never be able to look at a turkey egg without flinching!!

13 comments:

  1. That is one gorgeous book! I home you're having one beautiful day reading it. :) I cannot believe you get to drink ice tea outside!

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  2. I'm a "plant when the sun shines" kinda gardener :-) Hey that book looks great! I must look it up.

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  3. I struggle with planting by the moon also. It's probably even tougher up here than in your climate-friendlier location! Sounds like you have a bad case of the spring time itchies. I'm not feelin' it yet because we still have a long ways to go before we can even think about starting seeds inside. I'm still wanting to get into my quilt studio more this winter!

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  4. Congrats on winning the book! It is amazing how better things are when we get them for free. lol It's been warm here too but we are looking at a major snow storm on Sunday. Winter hasn't quite let go of us yet. There were many years when I planted way too early, so this year I am trying to be a good girl and plant no earlier than March 1st. On warm days like today that is very hard to do.

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  5. I'm VERY jealous you lucky duck!! (Pout, pout) What a GREAT book and how wonderful of Kim to do a giveaway for it!!
    I'm trying to wait at least one more week before I start my tomato, pepper and eggplant seeds. I started them way to early last year.

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  6. OMG Carolyn! It is time to plant stuff! I am thankful to Nettie that she had her kid and was able to distract you from your cold-weather-no-planting-anything twitches... As for me, I am doing my onions tonight!!! HOLY CRAP THE TWITCHES ARE GONE! Nice book there too...

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  7. Awesome book! Congrats to you for winning! :) And the planting advice I always go with is...do it when you have time! ;) I'm jealous of all of you - can't wait until I have my greenhouse so I can start seeds early (just can't do it in the house with all the animals). Won't be planting anything here for at least two more months. ACK!!!!! Thank God for bloggers and pictures!

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  8. Yay! I'm glad you got it!! And a day early!

    Sweet tea on the front porch? Ummm...slightly jealous here. We're currently watching the rain fall by the buckets and planning on a little dance with some snow in the next few days! Guess I'll have to be content with hot tea and a picture book! :)

    Congrats on winning the book! :)

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  9. Patty, several glasses of iced tea, it was 75 degrees yesterday!

    dr. momi, It's hard not to plant when it's sunny outside.....I just hope we don't get a freeze now!

    Mama Pea, I've been having the spring-time itchies for like over a month now! It's driving me nuts!

    Rea, you'd think I'd learn from planting too early, but it's just TOOO tempting when it's this warm outside!

    Candy, I started my veggies too early last year and they got leggy & most died. You'd think I'd learn!

    Tiny, I can just see you hunched over your seeds and potting medium, big crazed grin on your face like some sort of crack addict. Seeeeeeddddsss, neeeeedd seeeeeeedddsssss!!!

    Mama Tea, I get through our winter by looking at those pictures from "southern" bloggers also. And of course, the garden porn that comes in the mail.

    SFG, It IS an awesome (and heavy!) book!

    Kim, Thank you soooooo very much for the book! It is truly an inspiration looking through all those beautiful pictures. Although I now can blame you for the fact that my "To Do" and "I Wanna" list is now much longer because of my flipping through that book!

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  10. I plant when the sun is out, there is no wind and I am ready. If I had to factor in the signs, I would never make it!

    The book looks wonderful.

    We weren't quite that warm up here.

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  11. Awesome book! i've attempted to "plant by the moon" for 3 years now, ever since I had huge success with one particular crop and looked back and found I planted it on a moon date LOL. Attempted being the operative word there, I never actually managed to do it! Don't worry about your seeds, I should be starting mine today, but it's supposed to climb up to 70º today and my body needs to be outside instead! I can't even plant outside stuff yet since my beds need to be amended first, but I'll be weeding or pruning or SOMETHING :)

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  12. gld, I go back and forth, and as I really can't scientifically log "Moon" vs. "Good Weather" plantings, I'm not even sure why I'm bothering!

    Erin, weather was great again today. And no seeds started yet! :( Have pork fat on the brain right now.

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