This year, winter decided to come a little later than usual in Southern Kentucky.  In the prior two weeks we have had a couple of snow storms that just makes me more anxious for spring to come!  As the peach blossoms swell and burst open, the pears in bloom along with the red maple's red blossoms dropping pollen - the snow flakes fall.  I wonder, will the peach blossoms freeze? Will the apples buds produce their sweet crop we just love to eat and drink?  For me, great anticipation for spring brings hope for things to come.  

     Life begins anew, the spring peeper frogs are singing such a familiar song for a mate.  Many baby animals are born in their dens with mother alert to watch for danger.  To watch this amazing transformation from God's handiwork that transitions an entire landscape in just a few short weeks.  The animals know, the trees know, all ready to soak up the sounds and fruits of the season!  By far, my favorite time of the year.  

     This is the time to prepare for another growing season if you are a gardener.  Generally, I like to start my tomatoes and peppers near Valentines Day.  Any time before the middle of April should be fine.  By now, my family is running low on our fresh picked apples we store through the winter, frozen peaches; canned tomatoes and green beans along with the frozen sweet corn that is just so darn savory in soups.  This is my motivation to get up, shake the dust off my shovel, and get moving. My first project. 

     These tomatoes were started from seed with the help of my kiddos.  Very simple to do, just buy some peat pots for a couple of bucks and fill with some high quality seed starting mix.  Just plant the tomato seeds around a quarter of an inch or less deep. One in each pot - or if you are less confident in the viability of your seeds, put two.  Generally, if I put two in there, I place them at least a half an inch apart.  If both come up, it is very easy to pull one of them up and stick them in another peat pot.  As long as they are kept moist, no problems transferring them - even if you break most of the roots. Here are a couple of more tips.

     All you have to have is a plastic tote - I like clear ones with a top that snap on.  Mine are a little tall, but will do.  I generally leave them outside, but we have had some real crummy weather this spring so they are living in my family room upsetting my wife.  You can snap the top on for cool and rainy weather and the tote will act like a mini green house keeping your maters and peppers nice and cozy.  The taller totes protect your maters from the wind when you move them outside.  I have a timer on the fluorescent light that turns the light on and off at preset times (Timers are not expensive).  The fluorescent light is cool enough just to sit on top of the tubs. Remember that in order to germinate tomato and pepper seeds they need to be warm - somewhere in the 70 to 80 degree range.  If kept too cool,  the seeds may rot before they can germinate.  After they have germinated you can move them into cooler locations.  If you keep your house cool or start them in your basement you will need to use a heating mat or electric blanket until the plants germinate.  We never start tomatoes or peppers from seed directly in the garden because they have a long growing season and need the maximum time to grow.  Most tomatoes that you will grow are indeterminate, or they just keep growing and producing until the frost kills them.  So, the earlier the better.

     Introducing the small plants to the sunlight will take a little time.  The sun generally burns the little plants, so be careful.  We put them on our porch where they only get the morning sun.  This is important and may take a week or more.  Make sure when you move them outside you take the top off the container or they may get too hot.  I generally leave the top off unless there is some cold weather or heavy rain is in the forecast.  Plant them when they are around 6 to 12 inches tall.  The larger ones prevent the cut worms from chopping them down.  Ugh!  My next project was to start preparing the ground.  

     I generally plow with a tractor and then till with either a hand tiller or a 72" tiller attachment on my old 1968 Massey Ferguson Tractor as early as Mid March in Kentucky.  Standing next to that old MF 164 50 horse power machine idling makes you realize the power at your finger tips.  The ground vibrates ten feet away when that machine is running.  I believe it would lift and carry away a new John Deere 50 horse power machine.  They just don't build things like they used to.  After breaking the ground up and pulverizing it with a tiller, we generally lay down our Mater Maker Film to get rid of any weeds and wait for warm weather to plant our peppers and tomatoes.  The rest of our stuff we plant (corn, green beans, squash, cucumber, watermelon, lettuce, potatoes) we plant where the Mater Maker Film was the prior year (Weed free!) and mulch.  The smell of the fresh earth being rolled over takes me to the future and hope of a bountiful harvest.  As a newly born white tailed deer bleets for it's mother, it attracted my attention.  Would it attract our local pack of coyotes?  Hope, fear, life, death - which would it be?  What a joy watching spring come with full anticipation!