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Tag: spring

  • March on the homestead: the loud month

    March on the homestead: the loud month

    February is silent. April is busy. March is loud. It is the month when every animal, plant, and weather pattern shows up at the door at the same time and asks what is for dinner.

    What is happening this week

    Peas in. Onion sets in. Seedlings under lights getting their second true leaves. Chickens laying every day again, finally. Bees coming and going on warm afternoons.

    What we are putting off

    Pruning the apples. Mucking out the run. Building the new tomato trellises. None of it is urgent. All of it will be by April 1.

    A small joy

    The first crocus on the south side of the barn opened on Sunday. We stopped what we were doing and stood in the mud and looked at it for a while.

    March is the month we remember why we live like this.

  • What we planted in March, and why

    What we planted in March, and why

    March around here means three things at once: dirt under fingernails, seed trays on every windowsill, and weather that flips its mood twice a day. Here is what we put where.

    Direct sow

    Peas in the first week the ground unfreezes. Spinach and lettuce a week later — they would rather be cold than warm. Radishes and carrots once we are sure the daytime stays above 50.

    Indoor starts

    Tomatoes, peppers, and basil go under lights mid-March. We have learned the hard way that too-early starts make leggy seedlings and a lot of February resentment.

    What we skipped

    Eggplant. Our season is too short and we are not running a greenhouse yet. Maybe next year. Probably not.

    If we get one week of “oh no it is too cold to put the peas in,” we know we got the timing right.