Heather from Massachusetts Checks in with a Serious Case of Cabin Fever

Cabin fever here in New England is worse than ever. Yeah, yeah. I know, this year’s 6″ of snow is nothing compared to last year’s 120″ of snow. But it’s still dark and the sunshine is still too weak to grow a garden full of green goodness like I want.

But since the weather has been so all over the place I headed out to get my winter sowing buckets started. I always do a batch this time of year (but usually in the kitchen while the HH tries to ignore the soil on the kitchen floor). And of course they usually go out to sit in some snow.

But this year, well, today as 64*!! Which is downright TROPICAL! So, the question becomes – will the sowing buckets still work? Will it be too hot? Will the cold-warm-cold weather doom my little seedlings?

I think, when it comes right down to it – I’ll just have to be more aware of the weather and open them up on hot days so they don’t roast. We’ll see.

This was compost but is now a healthy, rich, earthy smelling soil that made my toes curl with happiness.

These buckets are the same ones I’ve used the last two years. Click here to see how to make winter sowing buckets.

Ready to ROLL – I’m planning on planting tomatoes in the little containers. If I start now, and transplant them a few times into bigger containers, they will be about 10″ by the time I put them in my garden boxes.

The rectangular pots I will fill with Brussels Sprouts, Kale, and lettuces.

Saving seeds (and then using them) creates a ridiculous amount of pride for me. Not only do you save money on the seeds (and shipping) but the seeds saved have acclimated to your backyard’s climate and are stronger for it. Mavis has a great link that I used to learn how to save the seeds properly.

Some people call it a dining room, I call it my greenhouse.

So yes, it did take me 5 days to write this post, but in the meantime we got 8″ of snow (and a snow-day) with another 8″ predicted for tomorrow (and another snow-day) – whootwhoot!

Meanwhile, my tomatoes are on the verge of sprouting and my cold weather plants have almost all sprouted. Let’s get this party started!

~ Heather in MA