Spring Cleaning Mastermind Notes part 2

If there's one thing I've learned about Spring Cleaning, it's the fact that it can be just as overwhelming to decide on the projects that need to be accomplished as it is to actually get down into the cleaning/ organizing.

Some of my attempts at Spring Cleaning have been fruitless in the past due to the nature of coming up with my list. I've tried to analyze why that is, and I've never succeeded in figuring that out. Today, I decided that I won't analyze anymore. It takes too much time and energy. From now on, I'm just going to launch a different plan for accomplishment.

Instead of having one gigantic, impossible, and otherwise intimidating list of things to get done, I'm splitting my list into two this year: Spring Cleaning/ Organizing, and Spring Goals/ Ambitions. (I haven't finalized my lists just yet, and I'm trying to tackle the first couple items on the lists before I go public with them. But I promise to post as soon as I feel comfortable with them!)

I thought in the meantime, though I'd share with you something from my list of ambitions/ goals: My herb and vegetable garden!

A view of everything in it's starting phase

 It's not much; just a little space along our back patio. We have three planter boxes and two pots that contain our herbs and vegetables. We even have strawberries and tomatoes as our attempts at fruit!

Lemon Balm

 Today, I was doubly blessed with some free plants at work! Our campus has a plant swap in honor of Earth Day each year, and I made it early enough to get some of the only edible plants available today: Lemon Balm! I also got an Evening Primrose for the front flowerbed closest to the house, as we've had to get rid of a lot of dead plants this year.

Strawberries - don't worry; they'll come back!

In addition to the herbs I bought while I was with Mom C. and Ashley up at the Skagit Valley Food Co-Op a couple weeks ago, Robert also bought me a new tomato plant and some cilantro. Our dear friends, Paul and Bambi, gave us some strawberries to start that they had harvested from their own garden! (The picture looks bleak, but it's just because they are so dry. I've been watering liberally!) 

Shallots

So, I started with everything I bought in those little black containers. Since I didn't have time to plant until a week or so from the time I bought them, I decided to just set the black containers on top of the planter box bases and allow the sun to get to them as much as possible, and I kept everything watered. (As for the strawberries, I had to just keep those moist until I could plant them the other day).

Dwarf Snap Peas

I am being slightly ambitious and attempting to grow some Dwarf Snap Peas. Supposedly, the ones I got do not require a trellis. We'll see!

Another view of the snap peas

Chocolate Mint! Yum!

 I also planted something as a special treat for my husband! Chocolate Mint! I thought it would be so yummy in some desserts, and I knew he'd love it. I'm researching how to use it currently!

Cilantro

As for the cilantro this year, we are not starting it from seeds. There was a time that I thought the only way to grow a garden was from seeds, and that starts were a cop-out. That is not true! And this way, I don't have to coax everything along so much. No guilt!

Tomato plant - Early Girl

The tomato plant is the neighbor that shares a pot with the cilantro. I read that it's okay to do that (since you all know I don't really have a green thumb!) I am not sure how well either plant will do, but we'll see. Trying the Early Girl variety of the tomatoes this year will hopefully be better than the Beefsteak variety last year!

Green onion

I've got a few varieties of onions this year - green onion, shallots and chives. They usually do okay, but so far in my experience, not great. I'm praying it goes well this year!

Spicy Lettuce!

Something I tried from starts I got at the Evergreen State Fair 2 years ago was lettuce. I didn't take care of it properly, though. So I'm trying it differently this time, in a pot altogether with a few other varieties of lettuce - this is a spicy lettuce mix.

Arugula!

I'm trying Arugula again. The first time it failed. Completely. I believe I can keep it going from this point, as it's really bloomed a lot in the past couple weeks!

Mild Lettuce mix

I'm trying a mild lettuce mix, too. I have no idea what to do with it, so I'd welcome any input!












So, that's a few of my ambitions for this spring. Again, I welcome any input you might have that will be helpful to me and my veggies, herbs, tomatoes or strawberries. :)