24 March

I think some more rain is moving in. But I have the patio pretty well situated now. After getting the trash tote and skeleton of the mini-greenhouse out for pickup I took a trellis apart and moved it to serve a different function. I kept the wire racks from the greenhouse and have other racks that I can put up as trellises. I moved some of the 5-gallon buckets and cleared some of the dead material. In the process I found another plant coming up that is a mystery to me. Even if I had a schematic of the gardens last year it wouldn't help me identify my mystery plant because I have moved the containers. I haven't yet found a truly weatherproof method of labeling plants. Before fall has arrived the labeling has faded. Oh well. I will let the plants grow a bit, take a picture, and use one of the "What Plant Is This?" programs on-line. I used on last year to identify a Malabar spinach which suddenly appeared a year after I gave up on it.

Carolee at Herbalblessings is as anxious as I am to get some gardening done. I noticed that she is working on a lot of cool weather early plants. But she uses a trick I have: cutting the bottom out of a gallon milk or vinegar jug and using it as a cloche. I need to take out my seeds and see what I will put and think about when. It is almost April but April can be a treacherous month. Hard freezes and heavy, deep snow are not unknown events. Last year May was unusual because of a late freeze. I didn't get my garden fully planted til late June.