March Update: Gardening and reading!

Happy (almost) springtime!

Things have been a little hectic for me lately as I try to balance my weekly commitments with the start of the growing season here in Kansas. While most veggies and flowers don't go outside until late March or April, this month is the ideal time to start certain veggies, like tomatoes and peppers, inside. I'm not a very experienced gardener--this will be my first time really growing many things on my own. I grew up helping my parents and grandparents in their gardens so I'm not a complete newbie, but it's a different ball game when it's just you, the compost, and the veggies!

I'm lucky enough to have a grow light system inside so I recently planted my peppers, tomatoes and some flowers. It has been so amazing to see the tomatoes come up so fast!

Here is a full list of the things I'm growing this year:

• 4 varieties of tomatoes, all heirloom

• heirloom bell peppers

• cilantro and basil

• carrots

• strawberries

• snapdragons, marigolds, zinnias, fuchsia, impatiens, lobelia, coleus, asters

• wildflower mix that includes cone flowers, sunflowers and others that help pollinators

Looking at that list is a little scary right now because I realize that it's A LOT and I'm praying I can stay on top of it and not fail hard. But even if I do, it's all a learning experience and it's a fairly inexpensive hobby for me since I got most of my seeds and equipment from family.

In addition, I've also got my compost going and my grandpa gave me a few pollinator houses I've put up. They're basically like bird houses but for helpful insects.

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On top of that, the library decided to give me half of my holds all at one time so I have about 5 popular reads to finish within 3 weeks before they go to the next person. It's so hard to prioritize what to read first. Pray for me.

What projects are you working on this spring? Any fellow gardeners out there?