Spring Planning in the Snow

It has been sooo cold here over the past week. I can't take it anymore, I feel like a popsicle. It keeps snowing a little bit at a time so my poor partner has had to go outside and shovel just about every other day. Good thing he is Canadian and prides himself on his shoveling skills! He keeps bragging about how our sidewalk is the most ice free of the block. Haha I'm so annoyed that it has only been accumulating about an inch. I love snow- so if it is going to be this cold at least we could get enough snow to take the day off and go sledding or build a snowman or something!

The only things keeping me warm are my dog and thinking about what I'll grow in the spring. This is the first time I've ever tried growing seeds inside to plant out in the spring so it should definitely be a learning experience. I'm researching the best varieties to order and drawing up a plan of how to rotate my beds. Looks like the is a 50% chance of 32 degree weather on April 20th and a 10% chance by May 1st. So like last year, I'll plant the warm weather crops the first weekend of May, but the cold weather crops could probably go in as early as April 1st. That seems kind of late though...I think I'll have to do a little more research on that. In any case, I better get to ordering my seeds in the couple weeks so I can start growing them inside in March.

Edit: Aha! I just found this additional planting calendar from the farmer's almanac that even tells you when is a good time to plant in accordance with the moon. http://www.almanac.com/garden/plantingtable/index.php As I suspected, it says to plant the cool weather veggies like chard and beets in mid March. It still says not to plant beans until mid April. I thought they should go out earlier than that. Hmm. I've never grown any beans except those scarlet runner beans last year that didn't do well at all, so this is completely new to me. I'd really like to grow haricot verts this year. I'm thinking almost definitely Emerite Pole Beans, or maybe Straight N Narrow. I might try Soleil bush beans too. I think I'll have to call my friend the Master Gardener and my brother to find out what they think.

Here is a picture of my dog playing in the snow in the meantime. Today he was eating the flakes in the air as they fell. Too cute. :-)