
Brandywine, Japanese Black Trifele, Black Krim and Marmande tomato seedlings to the left. Young lemon plant from blogger Casalba to the right.
And as you can see, there's a lot of that happening atop the sill of my only southfacing window. Life has been stirring in another location at L'Orto Orgolioso too. Most of the young broccoli, red cabbage and brussel sprouts that were set out to overwinter last fall actually survived 2008's snowfest, so we should be enjoying an early spring yield in a few weeks. A pot of tuscan kale (started from seed) didn't grow much in the past 5 months but is still alive, and looked even better after I gave it some fish fertilizer. Fava and sweet pea plants went into the ground yesterday, and both indoor potted nufar and thai basil herbs (sown Feb. 20th) just peeked out of the surface this morning.
My husband has been occupied with his own garden tasks. I asked for a cold frame and look what he built! The box measures 4 feet (120cm) by 2.3 feet (70cm) and should hold all of the tomatoes and other plants when it's time to make their transition outdoors. Setting a dome-shaped composter in the garden is the next project.


For MotH's general description on how he built it, read The Cold Frame
Aside from the usual observations and notes on what succeeds in our garden this year, I'm going to balance the dirty work with some creative play. I love the effect of bokeh photography and hope to capture scenes from the garden where light reflections are aplenty. This trick with hearts on a pea shoot is an example and instructions for the technique can be found here: DIY - Create your own bokeh

Bokeh hearts on a pea shoot
Average daytime temperature: 9°C / 48°F