Etsy Bloggers Blog Carnival- Gardening

This monthly Etsy's Blog Carnival is about Gardening. My garden has gotten larger and larger each year that I plant it. This year, we're (er, mainly my dear husband) expanding it. We're also building a raised flower bed with a 18 foot wall* (ok, maybe not that high) to hide my neighbors** trash and hopefully stop their dogs from barking at us when we're in our kitchen or dining area. Oh the joys of living in the city!

This year I actually started some seeds and had good intentions of bringing my plants to life. Yet, I was foiled by Ohio weather. See, mother nature got all sneaky and threw in some 60 degree days last week. Then, BAM! Without much warning, she dropped her temperatures down to freezing.

And, I happened to leave my seeds outside. (I don't have a grow light and decided to put them outside, in the sun so they could thrive)

And, most of them died.

The End.

Actually, some of the seeds survived. Not many, just some.

Then, last week when we had all of that nice 60 degree weather, I got the brilliant idea to plant peas, spinach and some early lettuce. I even made my pea trellis out of bamboo so I didn't have to do it after the peas begun to sprout.

Did I mention that it snowed? Well, it did. About 2 inches. And I didn't cover my newly planted seeds with anything besides some dirt. Now, I know that peas and spinach love the cooler weather but I'm not sure if they love the snow.

Let's just say that I'm happy that seed packets have so many seeds in them. 'Cause at the rate I'm going, I'm going to be using every single last seed in them.

Believe it or not, I actually do pretty well with gardening once the plants are up. It's getting them to sprout that is the hard part for me. That's why I tend to stick with buying seedlings. But this year, I got the brilliant idea to save money by buying seeds.

My plants do Ah-mazing once they come up. I blame it on my compost pile. My secret is bringing home my horses' manure and composting it.

I am planning to plant our usual tomatoes, cucumbers, different peppers, broccoli, peas and different lettuces and am also adding carrots, onions, cauliflower, radishes and blueberries. I also always plant basil, oregano, sage, thyme, chamomile, lemon balm, chives, dill and mint.

*Both my husband and I would prefer a moat. With alligators. With lasers.

**Ah, my neighbors. I hope that they read this blog and stop letting their dogs bark all.the.fricking.time. for extended periods of time. Especially, in the middle of the night. It's called a bark collar people! Buy one!