Baby spring steps

Got out my "portable" container yesterday and filled it up with a combo of soil and compost - I put portable in quotes cause there's no way it's movable after it's full.  It does have wheels but this year it's not on the porch, it's down on the ground.  I found that putting it right up against the house let it get too hot for the lettuce and radishes I planted in it so down on the ground it goes.  Less reflected heat there and more air circulation.

Today I planted two kinds of lettuce and some radishes in it.  I have high hopes for the lettuce and not so much for the radishes.  Lettuce doesn't mind some cold weather but the radishes might have a few issues.

Got a couple of starting pictures to put on here - partly my point is that things don't have to look all neat and tidy to be a garden.  It's a good thing too cause my gardens (with the best of intentions) just seem to happen more than go according to script.

Portable container ready to sow.

Ready to sow - overflow opening on side

One thing I will tell you is that even with a small garden (and they don't get much smaller than this) put markers up to tell you what you planted where.  I know, you're sure you'll remember - you won't!

Portable container sowed with lettuce and radishes.

This particular container was part of a "system" that I bit on a couple of years ago - that pipe in the corner leads to a reservoir in the bottom where water can gather and wick up into the dirt. It even has an overflow opening so it doesn't just fill the whole thing up like a bucket.  It came with special instructions and special dirt and didn't work a bit better with all that than it did last year when I just filled it with regular garden soil.

It's chilly today with an east wind but nice in the sun.  I am always filled with hope when I start to plant my gardens - I imagine them flourishing and filling the beds to over-flowing.  And, have I mentioned, I hope the woodchuck died over the winter?

Anyhow, I will hover around waiting for some green to show (I have been known to dig up seeds that I thought weren't germinating fast enough for my taste just to see what is going on!) and hope to have more pictures to share in a couple weeks.

P.S.  And I even promise to share my failures just to save y'all some steps!