Spring is quickly approaching

Spring is quickly approaching. The days are getting longer, the sun setting at almost 6 pm, and the threat of prolonged winter cold quickly diminishing.

I went out to check on the vole traps and to setup a few more because I would hate to see the plants that survived the winter be chomped by the little critters. I found one more vole that volunteered to become fertilizer for my asparagus bed. Now I am thinking that a vole trap and a compost tower will become standard accessories for each of my garden beds. The latest traps have an open top to make maintenance easier. The draw for the voles is the little opening in the end appearing as a neat place to hide. No other bait is required.

While peeking under the covers, I was somewhat surprised to see that the lettuce appears to have survived (in spite of temperatures dipping well below zero) and has even grown a bit since I added the second layer of plastic in January. I have purchased lettuce from the market about three times since our supply from the garden ran out in January.

I am feeling the urge to start some lettuce, parsley, choi, kale and other greens so that we can start eating fresh from the garden again.

Dreaming of this year's garden while chewing on the last

There are still some young lettuce, choi and parsley surviving under the plastic outside, but today we ate the last of the mature veggies (kale) harvested last week from the 2015 garden.

I have been studying Eliot Coleman's books to find clues as to what and when I should begin planting for the spring garden. As I mentioned previously, I want to keep the entire garden in production this year with active succession planting. Based on what I have read so far, I should be planting short rows (or squares) of several vegetables each week or two once the temperatures rise. I know for certain that we will want a lot of parsley for tabouli and other purposes. We should also have a steady supply of carrots and beets along with the lettuce, kale and choi of which we seem to have mastered the culture.

My immediate goal apart from ordering and starting seeds is to run a drip irrigation system to save time on watering and to provide more consistent and focused nourishment for the plants.