5th week of March 2010

Marla's Cold Frame Last week we took a mini vacation to visit my sister and brother and families in Indiana. I scrambled to get everything planted and in order before we left and had a list for my husband of what needed watered and attention while we were away. I was actually thankful for chilly and rainy weather while we were away. We even missed a snow storm of about 2 inches back home though it was all melted by the time we returned. Our outing was a bit of a working vacation since I gave a talk on gardening and local food choices to my sister's mom's group of about 45 ladies. They were a very lively bunch with lots of good questions and hopefully a few will be inspired to try a few things in their backyards this year. It was very relaxing to have a few days of being spoiled with others taking care of the meal planning and having lots of cousins around to keep the kids entertained. It was pretty neat to see a cold frame in my sister's garden (pictured) right next to her garlic bed that was originally started from some of my bulbs. She even passed some of her bulbs along to my brother and they are watching their first crop of garlic come up.`How exciting to see others catching the gardening bug.

Trampoline Frame Now after a refreshing break, we had a very full week. Things were dry enough in the garden for us to start some planting in areas we could work up by hand. So we put in several beds of greens like spinach, chard, lettuce, arugula, cilantro, kale, burnet, parsley and others. We also planted radishes, beets, onions, sugar snap peas and a few early potatoes. Some of these beds were covered with the barrel halves to hopefully give them a head start. We had weather in the 70s and it even broke 80 one day but I know that more cool days are ahead. A bed of lettuce seedlings with radish seed planted along the side went under our cold frame built from old trampoline legs and covered with a salvaged piece of plastic. Here I am trying to secure the plastic on a blustery day with wind gales that seemed to shake everything. We also took a chance and put a couple of the early tomato plants (Stupice and New Girl) out in their waterwalls. These little water teepees claim they can protect plants down to 19 degrees but I sure hope we don't have to test that claim too closely.

Waterwall Not only was the list of things of outdoor work long this week but I had a couple speaking events sprinkled in as well as the start of my Thursday garden demos at Lehmans store. One of the groups was a seniors event at The Pier in Mt Eaton. It's always interesting when I need to speak to a group that probably knows far more about gardening than I do! I shared about how gardens can be therapeutic, ideas to continue gardening in their senior years and ways to pass their knowledge on to others. While researching about ways gardening can be therapeutic I learned that soil contains a beneficial bacteria called Mycobacterium vaccae that acts as an antidepressant. When we come in contact with this bacteria it stimulates our brain to release serotonin which is how antidepressant drugs operate. How amazing that working in the soil has so many benefits, no wonder God began life in a garden. My kids are really milking this tidbit of information for all it is worth by claiming they are getting healthy by playing in the dirt. I wonder if it is just an excuse to justify all their muddy clothes... Oh well, I'll cheerfully do laundry for happy kids (as long as they hang it out on the line for me!)