Where is Spring?

It's been two weeks, things got busy, but I did manage to get tomato, tomatillo, and pepper seeds started indoors. I was eagerly looking forward to taking pictures of the little sprouts, because I just can't bear to post any more photos of bare dirt. Things were looking up, and spring seemed to have arrived!

Then this happened. Ah, Michigan.

Highlights from 2012

Winter seems to be neverending, and with my first packets of seeds finally arrived, I am more anxious than ever to get started on this year's market garden. I thought I would recap some of last year while I wait, so here is what I managed to capture with my camera!

My assortment of seedlings growing steadily by the window. This was the second week of May, and hopefully I will have things further along by that time this year.

First transplant, this one's a tomato started from seed. The collar is cut from scrap tagboard and stuck about an inch deep in the ground to protect against cutworms. It worked great - all my tomato plants were huge!

The beets that were beautiful and lush and... were eaten by the deer. Didn't pull a single one out in time.

Onions planted from sets, prior to thinning. I think these were yellow ones.

These were among the first flowers that popped out of my growing veggies. Clockwise from upper left: cantaloupe, tomato, potato, and tomatillo!

My first real vegetable, a yellow summer squash. Held onto it a couple days until it had some friends, sauteed it with its neighboring zucchini, and it was delicious!

One of my tomatillo plants in all its glory. Started it from seed because it seemed like a unique plant and was touted as "hardy." No kidding. I had no idea what to do with this thing, but I must have done something right, because fruit started dropping off left and right in August. To call it "prolific" would be a massive understatement.

Cherry tomatoes that filled our salads for all of August and most of September. If we hadn't taken a vacation for the last two weeks of July we probably would have enjoyed them then, too!

Seeds!

I probably should have started this a few weeks ago, but I bought my first seeds for 2013 today! I'm trying out Johnny's Seeds and Seed Savers, neither of which I've used before but have heard great things about them. Stay tuned for a review.

Tomatoes, peppers, and tomatillos were first up. I'll be starting them indoors and transplanting sometime in May, probably a bit later for the peppers and tomatillos. I'm salivating just thinking about BLTs, fresh salsa, and tomatillo-lime jam.

Carrots, radishes, and peas will be the first seeds to go in the ground this spring, so I ordered a few varieties of those too! Now if only someone would tell Old Man Winter that it's time to let another season have a turn. It just snowed again this morning, which means the garden is destined to be a squelchy mud pit for a week or more as soon as it warms up. THEN maybe we can till the garden. The waiting is killing me!