Spring is coming!

At least I hope so. Today 42o tidal wave petunias and 210 maverick geraniums were dropped off at my front door. They are small, beautiful, green, healthy plugs that I bought from a nursery company. I ordered them before Christmas. My dream is to transplant them into 3.5 inch pots, grow them in the basement for 8 weeks and have them blooming by May when I start the early Farmer's Market. Last year I really couldn't go to the market until the 2nd or 3rd week of June when the strawberries and then the black raspberries were ripe. This year I hope to take advantage of every one's need for beauty and sell spectacular flowers for the first month.

My inventive and hard working husband is ready for me to clean up the basement. It still has the honey extractor that needs to be thoroughly cleaned and a bunch of bee boxes that need attention. Those items are in the way of the contraption that he hopes to build for me. Something that will hold 630 3.5 inch pots and provide enough light and access for watering. He has a bunch of 2x4s, 1/2 plywood, fluorescent fixtures and bulbs, chains, bolts and screws to do the trick I think. Now that the plants are here I am strongly motivated to get the basement cleaned and ready for building. I still need to get some planting medium and the pots. But I believe the best source for the pots is our local Menards. Maybe they will give me a deal if I purchase 630 of them. Soil medium is another story. There's a surplus store in town that will sell me 6 dry quarts of starter mix for $1.50. That doesn't seem very "dirt cheap". But a farmer's market friend directed me to a company about 30 miles away that I could buy in bulk from. I will need to do that pretty lickety split. But I wander in my thoughts.

The basement will look pretty funny from the outside. I can see it now... the local drug enforcement people will see fluorescent lights glowing from our basement 20 hours of every day. Hmmmm.... "What's in there ma'am?" "Really officer, they're just flowers." But hopefully next year I will have a cold frame or at least the porch to start my flowers and plants.

And talking about plants it's time to start the tomatoes, peppers, broccoli, lavender and other herbs. In a month I will start the melons and the cucumbers. I am hoping (again) to get a jump start on the competition and have some items earlier than I did last year in order to make a better profit. Yes, I am learning about business and farmer's market business in particular.

Spring is coming and I have much work to do. Off to cleaning the basement.....