Nursery/Nursery

This morning, I bought all my flats from the nursery so I can start getting seeds ready. I was going to build my own, but it was cheaper to buy the black plastic ones at the store. Following the Biointensive method (one of the books my Dad provided us with) for a 4-person garden (enough food to feed us all for 1 full year), I figure we'll have about 2500 seedlings started at one point in time. Yeah....now the question is raised--where do we put all the planted flats???? I'm think I'm going to start out by borrowing the toy shelf from downstairs, which should hold about 15 or so of the flats. I'll have to rig a light to the underside of each shelf, but I think it will work. Problem is, I have at least 50 flats to plant, so I need a few more shelves, and a few more lights! I'm planning on bringing them into the computer room/nursery upstairs, since that's really the only place they will be out of the way of little hands and kitty cats. I wasn't expecting it to be that kind of nursery, but whatever works, right? We'll just start calling it the "multi-purpose room."

Mike and I and the girls have been out in the garden for the last few days (since the weather has been gorgeous in the 50's & 60's) cleaning out all the debris that we didn't get around to last fall. I'm hoping Mike will get around to pruning the trees by the weekend, so we can torch our pile on Saturday night. Anyone for a bonfire? We were going to compost it all, but there's way too much & I don't want to sort through it to see what's useable & what's not. (I'm afraid of diseased leaves and grass clippings, as well as weeds--goatheads, or puncture weeds--that may regrow.) Maybe we'll rent a shredder for the prunings & just keep that separate...hmmm...just thinking out loud here. It's amazing how much more room we have with everything cleared out, though! I figure we'll be able to fit 10-100 sq. ft. beds out there, which I never would've attempted before, but it's perfect for our plan. I wish we could plant fruit trees too, but I think we'll have to forego them until we move into our own home. I just don't want to invest $40-$50/tree, only to leave them here for someone else to enjoy & benefit from. We still have the apricot tree at the Mortuary that we harvest every year, so we won't be completely without. It sure made some great apricot jam last year! I do want to plant some concords along the back fence, though, so we'll see what I can find. If not grapes, maybe raspberries...

As excited as I am to get going in the garden, I know how much work it will be, and I hope I can keep up with it all! I've read up on Toxoplasmosis, and as long as I wear gloves & wash well after digging, I shouldn't have to worry about contracting it, so that's a relief that Mike won't be left to do it all on his own. The weather is expected to turn towards the end of the week, and snow is even in the forecast again (welcome to Utah!), so we'll hold off on tilling the garden and doing our soil testing until after that's cleared up. Then we can get the soil fed and start getting the beds ready. I seriously can't wait for that part! I'm a little nervous that my expectations are higher than my skills will prove to be, but I'm looking forward to it, nonetheless. What I'm not looking forward to is all the hours I'll be spending in the kitchen after the harvest is over...Anyone up for a "Canning Vacation?" A little service project, perhaps?

Well, I've finished my novel, so I have to fold clothes now...or I could put it off some more and write about something else...