I am one of those people that loves winter. In October I can hardly wait for the first serious snowfall… the deeper the accumulation, the better.

Nonetheless, come mid March, I am ready for fair weather. This year it seems winter had a stronghold over Long Island. Even last week we were dumped with about 4” of snow by freak storm that passed by. Luckily all the snow melted away that same afternoon, and the weather has been somewhat decent since. This is “Week -4” in my gardening calendar (4 weeks away from last expected frost on Long Island). The temperature has been in the mid 40-50º F during the day and dropping to the mid-upper 30º’s at night.

Our garden this year got a major facelift with the addition of the 5 raised beds I built last fall. This past weekend I was able to finish filling the last bed with the help of my sons, so I am ready to go. All my beds have been filled with “Mel’s mix” grow medium (1:1:1 compost, sphagnum moss, vermiculite), which I enrich liberally with glacial rock dust.

I have so far finished the bulk of my spring pre-gardening projects. Three weeks ago I built a large hoop house over a couple of my beds. It was big enough for us to walk in without having to duck, it did not come out as beautiful as I had imagined it, but since it was just going to be used temporarily, I figured it would be fine. And “temporary” it was, I found it all mangled up a few feet away in the garden on the first windy day. No big deal, that giant thing was really an eye sore… Besides, the next day I found a light plastic portable greenhouse on special at a Odd Lots, a local overstock warehouse, which is what I am now using to harden my seedlings.

I finished my compost tumbler, and started two other which I am giving away to our friends at Hobbs Farm. I have also just finished making changes to the containers I will be using to produce worm castings, and I should be getting my live worms in the mail next week. The only big item left on my “to do list” is the installation of a drip irrigation system to the beds, which I will probably start this weekend.

As for my plants, last week I planted all the broccoli, and cabbage seedlings I started back in February. This week I also planted the beds with onion sets, cauliflower, and a nice assortment of lettuces and garden greens.

I can also report that the garlic that B, my young assistant, helped me plant last fall is growing very strong and healthy, and the shoots stand now over 3″ tall.

I am still keeping a few batches of tomato, basil, pepper, more garden greens, celery, eggplant in the house under grow lights. I am quite happy with the overall germination rates, the only disappointment so far was my first batch of bell peppers, I only got a couple seedlings out of a full pack of seeds, the second batch seems to be doing much better, as they say never put all your eggs in one basket…

Starting next week, I can start most cool temperature tolerant seeds outdoors, either sown directly in the ground or in the greenhouse. This will afford me the space I need indoors to continue nurturing the more delicate seedlings for a bit longer.

Have you started your garden yet?

What have you planted or plant to grow this year?

Any advice? I can surely use it.