Pea shoots
Originally uploaded by kerner

See the little pea shoots? I'm not really sure I've ever grown anything from seed before. It's so exciting to see those little green shoots coming up after searching the dirt for any sign of life for almost 2 weeks.

Normally we just plant herbs and tomatoes, but I love the idea of these early season plants (peas, lettuce, spinach), because it makes me appreciate the cool weather and near-daily rain showers we've been having lately. After a long winter, generally I am anxious to get through this time of year, when the sky is blue and the sun is shining, but you go outside, and realize you better go back for both a jacket and an umbrella.

I've found a couple of new folks on twitter (veggielove, plangarden) that are doling out all kinds of good gardening advice, and now I'm seriously thinking about starting a worm composting bin.

Matt is helping me research it, and I think it's pretty funny that you get the worms at at a bait shop, not at a gardening center. I don't think the garden stores where I live have not quite caught on to the recent DIY craze. I called a couple today about buying worms and they were like, "Oh! Worm castings – yes, we have those." "No…" I said. "I want the WORMS." They were a little befuddled by that. But this handy dandy website from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources pretty much gave me all the info I needed.