wyodreamer - we're not in Wyo any more

OK, getting cabin fever here. Not really much snow on the ground, we got a little freezing rain Saturday night and the snow we did have is pretty much thawed and refrozen into ice.
I was sent to Menards to get electrical supplies on Saturday, and they have all that candy in the checkout area. As I caught myself veering toward the chocolate covered peanuts - I swerved one aisle over and checked out the seeds. So instead of sweets, I bought cherry tomato and regular tomato seeds.
I am thinking of putting a couple of pots of tomatoes in my screen porch this spring, with the possibility of moving them into the garden later in the summer. DH just updated the electric to the upstairs sitting room. It has a double set of windows that face south! So it is fairly sunny right now, so I will start my starts and get a huge jump on the gardening. This summer, the maple tree will be leafed out and shade that room so they can't stay there all summer.
I will really have to be at the top of my game and get the garden area prepped as soon as the ground thaws enough to scrape off the sod.

Ugh, I remember getting a garden ready the first year. Lots of work! I'm so glad I have raised beds- the soil dries out and warms up faster, and the weeds are easy to pull because the soil isn't compacted.

I know I am going to miss the raised bed garden I had in Wyoming. it was small, 3 1/2 x 7 1/2, but I got enough out of it to make it worth tending. Even DH is missing the fresh spinach. The fresh spinach I get from the store tastes slightly musty to me, so I really don't like it.

This was my "grow house" in Wyoming. The original plan was to have 2 sets of side panels, which are all removable. One set greenhouse plastic and the other welded wire to keep out the varmits. I found I got the best results by keeping the plastic ones on most of the time, only changing the eastern end on to wire in the hot days of summer so it doesn't overheat. The solid plastic kept the wind off the plants and prevented breakage and drying. It seemed to help up the humidity just enough for the plants to grow well.
I had tomatoes growing in there until mid-November one year, and one winter I had spinach plants survive over winter and fresh spinach salads in early March.

Luckily, we have a Kuboda tractor with front bucket and backhoe, and a garden tractor with a sleeve hitch. DH bought a double bottom plow for wildlife plantings and a friend loaned me his single bottom, sleeve hitch plow for the garden tractor. He also loaned me his disk and his cultivater (at least that is what I think it is, lol). I have the implements, now to make the time to get it done.
We will need to get up the deer fence right away. I haven't seen much sign of rabbits. So far it looks like we only have one small cottontail around the homestead.

To keep that cottontail out, you need to put up a sign "Mr. McGregor's Garden"

i had a big pot next to my front door all summer that had a cherry tomato plant in it and enjoyed a tomato or two whenever i went in or out the door. loved it and it was in the shade too by the way but its so hot here in the summer that afternoon shade isn't a bad thing.

I have put in my seed order finally. We went heavy on the blueberries, raspberries and strawberries. I need to get those beds made and ready for planting.
I need to finalize my plan. No more changing my mind once stuff is in the ground.
DH needs to remove the huge trees that are in the way. They are just on the edge of the garden area, so not critical that they are gone right this minute, but it is easier to cut them now when we don't have as many summer chores/projects going on. They are not in very good shape, create too much shade and I am sure they are stealing a lot of nutrients from the garden area. I adjusted my plan so that we can keep three of the oak trees. One is still iffy in my mind, I would love to keep it as it is a beautiful speciman but it is too close to the driveway and it will shade my greenhouse too much I think.

Seeds came in already. Now to get a seed starting area set-up.
I have 2 florescent light fixtures that I use - 2 bulbs each, one warm light, one cool light. I put them on a timer. I also have 3 heat-mats for the seed trays.
It all worked nicely in Wyoming, DH had put up a couple of shelves for starting seeds. I put a multi-cell shade in front of it, it kept the heat and humidity in nicely.
Not sure where I will put the seed area in this place. All the floors are hardwood, except the kitchen, so I need to be careful because I don't want to damage the floors. I think the basement will be too cold to set up seeds down there.

Finally got the seeds started. Only a little late, but I think the garden area will be ready for planting a little late also. There is still too much frost in the ground to do any real plowing. DH and I spent some time a week ago to level out the garden area a bit. He cut down 3 trees.

Need to prune the old apple trees this week, before they start to bud out. I hope that they will blossom and produce fruit with the heavy pruning. There wasn't anything on them at all last year. I don't see any sign of old apple cropsa around them either, so maybe they aren't even apple trees ...