Preparation & Inspiration

Well, it's currently 50 degrees and raining gently.  Melting the snow.  The grass, hinting at touches of green through the patches of white.  Tomorrow's forecast holds the last bit of cold, with more rain and perhaps a bit of snow projected.  Then begins the warmup (so they say).  With 60's (even a 71 in the 10 day forecast!).  Now pardon me if my faith waivers a bit after the spring we've had, but if we can maintain temps above freezing on a regular basis I'll consider it good.

My big concern is that nothing has gotten into the ground yet.  No peas, no potatoes, no lettuces.  I'm hoping to get them in before I make my trip South this week, but we shall see.

We're going to try potato towers this year.  Not the kind that claims to get one plant to produce three feet worth of potatoes off of one plant, but one that you can plant groups of potatoes vertically instead of in mounds.  Pictures to come as we get them planted.

We also bought two hog panels for use as trellises in the planter beds.  They fit perfectly as arches.  The plan is to put lettuces underneath so when the trellised plants are fully grown, they'll provide some much wanted shade and help keep the lettuces from bolting.

More updates as we make progress on that front.  Until then, some inspiration from my recent trek through Texas.



South Padre Island



South Padre Island

Hibiscus, Harlingen Texas

The next set of pictures are from Tyler, Texas during the Azalea district during peak bloom which we were lucky enough to see.  Too bad they won't survive the Minnesota winters!