Get Set to Grow

Spring is getting underway. My greenhouse is overflowing and we're now adding more cold frames. With our crazy weather, going from hot to freezing, it's still to early to plant here. Ground and night temperatures won't be warm enough for a few weeks yet. I know its tempting to see all the pretty flowers available at your local greenhouses, but planting them in cold soil will only stunt them. My herbs and vegetables will be ready closer to the end of the month. I won't start selling at the Croswell market until then. The greenhouse will be open on weekends and by appointment after May 15th, weather permitting. I'm already taking orders for tomatoes.

Herb List for 2008

• Anise Hyssop
• Basils: Sweet, Cinnamon, Genovese, Holy, Large Leaf, Lemon, Rubin, Serata, Spicy Glob, Thai Magic
• Borage
• Burnet
• Catnip
• Chamomile, German & Roman
• Chervil
• Chives: Fine leaf & Garlic
• Calendula: Deja Vous
• Coriander/Cilantro
• Dill: Bouquet, Dukat, Fernleaf
• Fennel, Bronze
• Feverfew
• Horehound
• Hyssop
• Lavender: Hidcote, Lady, Munstead, Rosea
• Lemon Balm
• Lemon Verbena
• Marjorams: Sweet, Variegated, Zatar
  
• Marigold, Sweet Mexican/Spanish Tarragon
• Mint: Peppermint, Kentucky Colonel Spearmint, Orange, Mountain - will have Apple, Chocolate & others a little latter.
  
• Nasturiums
  
• Oreganos: Compact, Ditany of Crete, Golden, Greek, Hot N Spicy
  
• Parsley: Curly & Plain Italian
• Pennyroyal
• Rosemaries: Arp, Goriza, Huntington's Carpet, Salem, Spice Island, Prostrate, White
• Sages: Bergaten, Common, Golden, Pineapple, Purple, Tricolor, White
• Savory: Dwarf winter, Summer
• Scented Geraniums: Apricot, Atomic Snowflake, Citronella, Ginger, Lady Plymouth, Rober's Lemon Rose, Rose, Snowflake Rose & more.
  
• Sorrel
• Stevia
• Tarragon, French
• Thymes: English, Lemon Variegated, Miniature, Mother of, Oregano, Silver

Tomato List for 2008
Heirlooms:

• Brandywine
• Cherokee Purple
• Giant White
• Oregon Spring
• Red Oxheart
• Rutgers
• Striped German

Small/Cherry Tomatoes:

• Tumblin Tom
• Supersweet 100
• Sweet Olive (grape)
• Yellow Pear

Other Tomatoes:

• Beefsteak
• Better Boy
  
• Early Girl
• Giant Delicious
• Celebrity
• La Rossa

I'm also growing a large variety of peppers this year. So start getting your gardens ready. It's time to clean them out, amend the soil and plan on a great harvest this year. Peas should be in, mine are already up. Potatoes can go in now too. Spinach and lettuce are also great early crops. We're expanding our vegetable gardening area and will also have produce available in season.

We're looking forward to a great gardening year!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!
I've always loved this holiday as a harbinger of spring and the wonderful Celtic music everyone plays. Today everyone is Irish! We all done the green of spring, whether our ancestors wore it or not and cheerfully celebrate.

The celebration of St. Patrick's Day began in 1737 in Boston. The city of New York still has the largest parade and celebration. May the luck of this day be with everyone who reads this!

An Irish blessing:
May your blessings outnumber the shamrocks that grow
And may trouble avoid you wherever you go.

I've been doing genealogy research since my grandmother got me started at the age of 14. That's well over 40 years. It's been a fun, challenging and overall interesting experience. I'm not sure why I do it. It's almost an obsession. I enjoy fitting the pieces of the puzzle together, digging up minute details and fitting into the picture. I've met some really interesting distant relatives along the way. I guess I feel that we can't go forward without knowing where we came from.

So for those other researchers who stumble upon this post, here is my family. Feel free to contact me if you're also researching any of these names.

Tipton, Hill/Hille, Wagaman, Byer, Greisher, Armstrong, Aikelbarger, Tinkle, Lake, Defibaugh/Tiefenbaugh, Lantz, Pritchard, MacClelland, McArthur, McGlaughlin, McKinney, McLaughlin, Myers, Winstandley, Heyward, Stewart, Orr, Redman, Baker, Hambleton, Marchant, Wyn/Wynn, King, Dunning, Ebden, Brooks, Cunningham, Ford, Hugh, Fitch, McEwen/McQuown, Clark, Herron, Johnson, Kitchen, Bennett, Dalton, Dinsinger, Hollenbaugh, Staub, Koser, Sicher, Walbert, Mayer, Dietemer, Schwarz, McIntyre, McIntire, Harwood, Marsh, Snyder, Locke/Lock, Bishop, Perren, Gale, Bly, Eaton and a few more.

Ron's family: Houston, Whitehead, Schramm, Kreger, Gregory, Wilson, Borah, Roy, and Cochran.

So many of our ancestors culturally revered their ancestors in some manor, I guess this is just my way of honoring them.

Is It Spring Yet?

We still have lots of snow on the ground. Hard to believe it's mid March. Ron's been busy making lots more wooden bowls and things for his etsy shop. I really like this pear bowl. He always seems to be working on something new.

While he's been hard as work I've been off playing. Went to the annual Herb conference at MSU. It's really nice to visit old friends and meet lots of other herb enthusiasts. Now that I'm back home I'm busy getting ready for spring. Starting lots of seeds and cuttings for the new growing season. I'm planning on growing even more heirloom tomato varieties this year. As well as more peppers and vegetables. I'm also adding a few more perennials. The list of herbs I'm starting continues to grow. Hope I have room for all this!

Our new greenhouse is working out pretty well. We're still having to heat it on really cold nights. But with more sunny days it's heating up fast and I'm seeing lots of new growth on the plants that were dormant for the winter. Some of the seeds I've started are already up. It's always heartening to see that flush of new bright green growth. I'm starting to feel like spring is really going to come, in spite of the snow still on the ground.