Brutal winter weather :)

A picture I took before the opening of gardening season.

For my legion of fans who live north of Waco, I apologize up front. I spent much of the day outside. Gardening.

True, we probably have another cold spell or two in the works before the 100 degree daze of summer hit us, but I decided to get a jump on the veggies this year. If we have no more cold weather, then I'll have a nice, showy garden a month earlier than anyone else around here. In case you don't think gardening is a competitive sport, hang around a garden center/nursery on a Saturday morning.

I started off a few days ago, thinking about the layout for my garden plot. Each year I plan out my garden on paper and think that I should increase the size of my garden. And each summer I complain that the large plot I already tend is a lot of work. So this year I am keeping my garden to the already established 250 square feet. Step one, done!

When we got the chickens I knew that getting rid of the "by products" would be a hassle. I decided to try composting the stuff in an enclosed bin and have had good luck with it. Since I use wood shavings in the chicken coops, the mulch still has a lot of wood in it, but it breaks down pretty quickly.

Today I dumped (that's a pun, son) almost a year's worth of "by product" onto my garden plot. I'll get it all mixed into the existing dirt with some peat moss. Once all that is dug in, the garden soil will be good to go. (Should I say good to GROW?)

Anyways, I stopped at the farm store for some chicken supplies today and they had seeds and garden supplies arranged all nice and neat, at the front of the store. I could not resist picking up a few seed packets. And some onion sets. And some garlic. And some...

When the kids got home from school we planted the garlic, the onions and some snow peas. All those should be OK if we happen to get any more cold weather.

Another shot before the opening of gardening season.