Spring has sprung!!!

Mike has been working diligently to prepare the garden for early spring planting.  While cleaning out the asparagus bed, low and behold, tender asparagus shoots were revealed!  Fresh asparagus in April, can't beat it.  The asparagus bed was created over 10 years ago.

Here's a picture of  his cold frame that he build about a month ago using using 2 x 2 furring strips, plastic, zip ties, and clothes pins (Mike's from Arkansas - he's an arki-engineer). Total cost to build the cold frame is about $20.  He can easily dismantle it and save the furring strips for fall use.  If you'd like more details, we're happy to share.

Think Spring!

Mid-February and we're thinking spring.  I walked out on our deck this morning and was excited to hear the birds chirping.  What a wonderful sound.  Warmer weather will be here before we know it! Of course, I just heard we're expecting 3 to 5 inches of snow tonight.  Oh well.  Our winter hasn't been as intense as it has farther north.  These last days of snow will make spring that much sweeter.

Ok, so it's time to think about the garden.  We're receiving seed catalogs daily and we love looking through them, getting ideas, making plans.  I'm posting a few photos of our 2010 garden in its beginning phase.  We didn't take a lot of pictures but will this year to record our progress, and include cost saving measures Mike, my husband, is so creative at coming up with.

The first picture includes our dogs, Oreo (who passed away in October 2010 at the ripe old age of 17--he had a good life) and Roux (a pit mix who thinks he's a lap dog).  Oh, and yes, that's my husband Mike! The next picture is of our shade garden and the last is of Oreo, Roux and Max Max (our rescue - he's a sweet boy - we think he's a mix of beagle, basset, maybe brittnay spaniel, and who knows what else - he looks like a toaster on toothpicks).