Early Spring Planting--

If your itching to get that garden started and can't stand to wait much longer than your in luck. Sooner than later is the time to start those early spring loving plants. Here in Ohio maybe even a few weeks ago you and I could have started, but today I started my cool weather plants.

I ended up squeezing a lot of seeds and variety into a little space. I plan on thinning them out and transplanting them elsewhere once they get to a viable size. I used my No dig Lasagna style garden area. One end has Asparagus plants from last year and I expect them to do well this year and give me more stalks. On the opposite side I have started lettuce, peas, radishes, beans, cauliflower, and broccoli. The lettuce you can cut and replant into late fall, giving yourself fresh lettuce constantly. The variety of early spring veggies is pretty good. Besides what I mentioned above you can start potatoes, cabbage, kale even before the last frost.

The No dig Lasagna style is built with cinder blocks as it's border. The inside is layered with old newspaper, cardboard etc and straw. Then it is covered with topsoil, compost, manure etc..that way you don't have to dig or pull weeds. This is my second year of lasagna style and straw bale gardening and I really love it. It's easy and convenient to do rather than a chore and in my opinion a lot faster process. In just a few hours I had it layered with all the components and the seeds planted and watered. I didn't have to till up the ground and pull rocks and weeds all day. This makes my garden experience much more enjoyable.

Now that the lasagna style garden is done I am back to dreaming about what I want to do with the straw bale garden area. I am even thinking about expanding or adding another straw bale garden area. In the meantime I am anxious to see sprouting in my cool weather, Lasagna style garden and deciding what herbs to plant in the cinder block holes. My Rosemary, Thyme and parsley all came back this year. My other herbs like Basil are seasonal and need to be planted every year.