Spring is Coming At Some Point

Not yet. We are under a foot and a half of late snow out there, after a very mild winter.

Garden developments:  DH bought me growlights. The good kind that apparently are coveted in marijuana production.  All Amazon reviews seem to be from hopeful weed growers, some of them with not very good spelling (stay in school!)

Under the growlights, I tried some things and failed with others, and am now hoping I didn't start too early-- depends on what the weather does.  What look like successes so far:

poppy (lots of that)
Veronica Georgia Blue (ditto)
Salvia Blue Angel
Mother of Thyme
Culinary Thyme (too much! somebody come take some! ack!
Larkspur

Delphinium were a bust as were eupatorium and for the most part penstemon.  Moderate success with:

Indian Springs hollyhock
Rose Campion

I was fairly scientific this year and bought a box of cowpots, hoping this will please the larkspur and poppy when they can go in the garden without a lot of root disturbance. Liking the cowpots so far.

Note to self: Park Seeds fancy selfwatering start system with the space age sponge thingies was a bust.  Some seeds never sprouted and other sprouted but didn't grow, so $34 not well spent.

Additional note to self: Outside Pride's seeds had a great germination rate and there were tons of them.

The timers are great, and my favorite systems are the self watering kind with the wicking mat. Need to see if I can buy or McGiver (with wool and styrofoam apparently) some more.

This year's focus will be, I think, on developing the bit of yard outside the fence.  I ordered 15 raspberry plants, shocked at myself that I had never put in raspberries and deciding they were more important than some silly ornamental thing. I also got seduced by Instagram into buying Floret Farm's Cut Flower Garden, which was worth every penny of the $18 I spent. Gorgeous hardback book with useful and specific information.  I'm thinking of turning the last bit of open ground by the driveway into a cut flower bed. It's a terrible position, right out front, and would have to be grassed over or replanted in shrubs before we sell the house in a few years, but when you want cut flowers and you're out of room-- what are you gonna do?  I guess I could make my patch next to the raspberries... the lot next to us is vacant and if my cut flowers overreach a bit, it won't cause any lasting harm. I think that bit is about 15' wide and maybe 30 feet long... even with A Lot of raspberries, there might be a little room for say a 4x10 strip of flowers.

So what I do want in my 4x10 strip, based on Floret Farm's luscious book?

--more peony always and forever, especially Coral Charm and Raspberry Sundae
--dahlia, especially Appleblosom and the staggeringly expensive Cafe au Lait
--delphinium-- I can order little packs from Graceful Gardens of the New Millenium series
--cosmos, Double Click Mix
--snaps, madame butterfly or chantilly mix

Erin of Floret Farm emphasizes lots of filler for bouquets. My yard is blessed with a lot of wonderful things I can use, so I'm not so worried about that.

So as soon as the snow melts, I need to get to work cutting down the overgrown disaster that is the easement, and put down paper or cardboard so that I can kill the turf/weeds prior to putting in my raspberries and row of cut flowers.