Is it already time for seeds?

The Jung seed catalog came in yesterdays mail. The big question is does this really signal the beginning of the new season or is it merely a fake, an attempt to lure us into the thinking that Spring is just around the corner. One can merely contemplate the possibilities. I tend to much more of a pragmatist than I believe one should comfortably be.

Yesterday it rained and stayed in the 30's. This morning it was 46 at 0600 but by 0730 the blowing snow had transformed the sights outside the window. It all depends on where you are and where you want to be. I tend to remember that the calendar says it is not yet Christmas and that while the frost might not be deep in the ground, the environment will continue to remind us that NE WI will be in winter for at least the next 120 days before we should be thinking about planting outside.

That said, it is very appropriate to start looking forward to the new seed catalogs that will be coming in the mail. The tendency will be to over dream, over plan, and in more than one instance, over buy. I must admit that the great amounts of counseling have slowed the "over" tendencies for me. Realism is now part of the plan. Stay tuned, more to come....

A start for next year

It's cold and rainy today, the kind of weather that chills right to to the bone. Not too cold, just enough to invite you out to do some things and take advantage of raw weather. Snow will come tonight with much colder temps. Tomorrow we should see a high of 22 and then lower, lower, lower. Blowing snow will be the recipe Christmas Eve, Eve.

Got the last of the tillage done today. Turned over the last 4 beds. Had to shovel the snow off the beds, but as suspected the frost had been drawn out. The ground remains drier than what it should be. A definite watch out for next spring. The frost was only .5-1.0 inches deep and easily penetrated with a pointed shovel. This will end the for the year.

The photo shows the 4 beds that were tilled (front left and center). The 4 beds across the back of the garden are asparagus. The large piles across the back of the very back are the leaf mold piles from this falls leaves. A lot of leaves, but much smaller in total piles due to the shredding of the leaves with the yard vac. As I start thinking about seeds for next year, I will put some of my thoughts out here for comment.