Getting Ready for Spring

It was with much excitement we sat down last week and rummaged through the seed packets left over from last year. It turned out that we had some seeds left over from most of what we grew last year so there was very little to buy. The main items we ordered from the seed catalogues therefore, were fruit trees and bushes, as well as raspberries, which we hadn't got around to sorting out last year. They are being delivered on Tuesday and we are very excited. Garden Boy is thrilled with the idea of having apples in the garden and we are also planting a gooseberry bush, whitecurrant bush and redcurrant bush on the shadier side of the garden where only the weeds seemed to thrive last year.

With a birthday party to go to and a trip to the zoo we didn't see much of the garden this weekend, but Garden Dad is taking some time off work in February while we have some work done on the house and we are hoping the weather will be good enough for us to prepare the beds and get everything ready for spring. As my pregnancy progresses I am going to become less and less able to help out with the heavy work so the earlier we get it done the better.

Despite our lack of gardening however, we were able to enjoy the fruits of our second sprouting attempt at dinner tonight, although our Little Garden Helpers might have eaten more if they hadn't been trying to use chop sticks! Using a seperate jar or tray for each type of seed seems to have worked better although the smallest seeds we tried this time (alfalfa) didn't sprout at all. I think they were so small they just dried out too much so next time we will try to rinse them a bit more often than the others. Both are Little Garden Helpers are eager to start the sprouting process again so I have feeling we will have the opportunity to try again this week and hopefully we will head outside and plant some more broad beans as well.