The garden is planted.

Well, some of the garden is planted.  Indoors.  In little containers with peat that sort of look like brown sushi when you water them to expand them.  Ami J and I took the kids to Rocky's 20% off sale yesterday and got the majority of what we were looking for-a few special things are being ordered from catalogs.  Last night we had a planting party:  here's what we planted:

We both admit, that we got a little carried away at Rocky's...it wasn't in our original garden plan to plant birdhouse or dipper gourds, but who could resist?  Obviously, not us.  

Now we are getting pretty close to the time when things like peas need to be planted right into the ground-so in the next couple of weekends, we need to get ourselves bundled up and out in the back to start the cleanup.  I would have done some of it today if I wasn't so exhausted from having strep throat this past week.  But we are moving.  Most of the stuff that needs to be started indoors has been started-we need to get some brussel sprout seeds, and some other random herb that Ami wants.  But as of now, I have 4 lovely seed trays steaming up nicely next to the window in the living room.  See?

The random green dish looking this is just that...its a plastic dog dish that I have converted into the planter for my cat grass.  I suspect that my cats will eat it and promptly throw it up, but we will see.  I am hoping that since cat grass is specifically for cats that maybe it will actually work as it should, but its an experiment, for sure.

Updates on other planting projects:  here's my window herb garden:

Correct.  Nothing has sprouted.  Awesome.  

My rosemary plant is VERY unhappy.  I am not sure what the problem is, other than I am sure she doesn't want to be inside any more than I do at this point:
See?  Very sad.  Hang in there girl...I will get you outside soon. And probably bring you a nice handsome friend from the Hartford Farmer's Market...that should start pretty soon.

And last but not least today, a teeeeeeeny bit of Spring.  Ami brought it home from River Valley Market for me. 
And there are only 27 days until the Smith College Bulb sale...and I am counting.  

Here's hoping that March doesn't come in like a lion but leaves like a lamb...I am not hopeful...I think I hear the weather people predicting snow for some time this week.  Although, they haven't been what you would call...um, what's the word I am looking for...accurate...for the past couple of months.  

Horsesh*t

We (Ami J and I) have been trying to figure out where we could get a cheap supply of composted manure for the gardens, and today Ami scored for us.  We have a student who keeps horses, and Ami happened to ask if she had any we could have and she not only has more than we could ever want, but she will deliver!  WOOHOO!  Problem solved. 

Here are a couple of "before shots"

Extra dramatic because of the newly fallen snow today:  photography credit goes to Avery, because she wanted to go out in the snow, and I didn't.

You will notice a lot of Uncle Art's belongings "strategically" placed throughout the yard...I am hoping he's going to be okay with me organizing them a little.  We are going to bring some more garden boxes in, and also plant in the yard in general...I will take front of the house shots soon. 

I need dirt!

The spring fever is consuming me.  It's a bad scene.  I had to plant something or I was going to go crazy.  I went to Home Depot today to pick up a few seeds and some planters so I could at least start some herbs.  "Can I help you?" said the nice Home Depot greeter this morning..."I need dirt!", I said.  He chuckled to himself and pointed me to the garden center. 
Here's the beginning of the project:

 

And here is the end result:

You can see some of the snow that's on the ground out the window (not very much, but its still chilly!).  I am growing chives, basil, oregano, cilantro, parsley, lavender and another rosemary plant because its my very favorite....stay tuned.

The beginning of the project

My sister Jackie and I have already spend hours pouring over the seed catalog, and our initial list had more than 25 veggies, flowers and herbs and a price tag of over $200 so we have to revise. I am also considering a couple of fruit bushes, but those are most definitely a luxury. We need to draw the garden soon and focus our efforts, I think.

Now as I have mentioned previously, its too cold to do any work outside, and still a teeny bit too cold to set up a makeshift greenhouse in my enclosed front porch (stay tuned for this!) so I had to start small. I found myself at the hardware store the other day and my seed display radar went off...here's what I bought:

I already have one rosemary plant that we bought at the farmer's market a couple of weeks ago. Rosemary is my very favorite herb because I love how it smells. I put it in a new pot this weekend:

Welcome!

We are smack dab in the middle of winter here in Western Massachusetts, and although our winter hasn't been as bad as those poor folks in the Mid-Atlantic states, I have a bad case of cabin fever. Which brings me to the start of this project.

Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Penny, and the past 6 months or so have been a bit on the tumultuous side. I will spare you the details, but the end result is that I now live in the second floor apartment of my sister's house with my 2 children and my 3 cats. We live in Springfield, which is the 3rd largest city in the state of Massachusetts, and where we are not living downtown, this location is more urban than we are used to. We have a backyard, and even a bit of a front yard, but not much has been done with it. My sister has had a small garden in the back in the past, but we have decided to put some real effort into spiffing this place up a bit. A project is born.

Now, since its only February, and too damn cold to go out and even do some cleanup in the back, I have decided to soothe my cabin fever with this side project of my own...a blog to follow our progress. I wanted to start it now so I have something creative to work on so I don't go completely insane before its time to plant peas. So here I am!

Are you wondering about the name of the blog? I couldn't come up with anything clever on my own so I asked the most clever people I know to help me come up with something and after a bit of deliberation and talking it out, I arrived at this. A shout out to my friend TH for helping the thought process along...I had come up with "Tomatohood", which turned into "Its a beautiful day in the tomatohood" to "Hello Tomato!", which sparked the comment "Its always important to greet your vegetables properly"...and so a blog was born. Here are some of the runner up names:
1. Reflections from Longfellow Farms
2. Uncle Hank's Garden
3. You say Tomato
4. Ghetto Tomato Bravado
5. Locavore in the Hood
6. Bulbs in the Hood

Thank you to all that participated in my contest. :O)
Here we go!