The seeds have arrived

Today, Sean and I went to the Manassas National Battlefield Park and spent several hours walking the trail around the sites of the First Battle of Manassas (there was a second battle but that part of the park was on the other side).  We have a book on hikes around DC/VA/MD and we are trying to be more active on the weekends.  What does this have to do with seeds?  I was commenting on the way home how this time of year was very calm.  Normally, I am always thinking "I should be out in the garden" - either in my yard or vegetable garden.   This time of year there is nothing to do but plan for the Spring.  Although this year, the winter has been so mild, a couple of weeks ago I spent the day weeding the front yard.  The Bittercress is taking over the front yard and back lawn.  Luckily the roots are shallow and it's very easy to pull up in the wet soil.

Bittercress

Yesterday, I received in the mail a booklet called "Plant Invaders in the District of Columbia" put out by the Urban Gardening and Forestry Outreach Cooperative Extension Service - part of the University of the District of Columbia.  Who knew such a group existed?!  I had no idea. I will have to explore this group more thoroughly.  The booklet lists 14 of the most common invasive plants of the city. I think most of them are growing in my next door neighbor's yard (the rental house next to me).  Every summer it's a struggle to keep the honeysuckle, ivy and porcelain berry from taking over my yard from the neighbor's yard.

I have ordered some seeds and they have arrived. I didn't order too many this year because there are lots of seeds leftover from last year.  My gardening neighbor and I go in together on seeds plus the local nursery was having a sale in Dec - 50% off seeds.  So I didn't need to order too many this year.  I get almost all my seeds and potatoes, garlic, sweet potatoes and shallots from Territorial Seeds in Oregon.  I've used them for years and have been very happy.

I am going to try something new this year.  I ordered cucumbers and zucchini that are especially bred for containers.   I will try this in the front yard and see how it goes.

The end of Feb, I will start the tomato and pepper seeds and if this weather keeps up being warm, I should be able to start planting lettuce and greens the beginning of March.