Spring Planting

Last year I tried my hand at a little gardening.  And with success I managed to grow basil and flowers, and even started some carrots & tomatoes.  I was sure to keep you all posted through my progress and even into the fall.  In my last post I had just repotted everything, preparing for the cold.  This didn't go as well as I planned, I lost a few plants during the transfer and then in the end I never bothered to bring any of them in and they died during the winter.  In the mean time I picked up more seeds and eagerly awaited a warm spring day so my tot & I could plant new seeds and start from scratch again.  But during the course of the winter and after a few rain showers I realized the wood containers I had purchased in the fall didn't drain.  Which meant I was often having to dump excess water out, not to mention this standing water would most likely kill any new plants I added.  I waited and waited for the beautiful spring day, and well, it hasn't exactly arrived yet.  (O.k. there have been few and far between.)  Needless to say April quickly rolled around and I still hadn't yet planted the seeds, something that should have taken place in March.  But it was still snowing in March, c'mon, who's out gardening!  Anyway, I knew I had to get my butt in action and get out there before I missed my chance.  And since the containers weren't draining I had two options, get new pots (which is wasteful) or drill holes in the old ones (which is smart).  Which one do you think I picked?  Yep, I pulled out the old drill while my tot puttered in her sandbox and took care of the drainage problem.  There wasn't as much team work this year, last year she was fascinated with the seeds, this year she only cared about her one little wooden container.  As I mentioned, the sandbox was open, and that was only the 2nd time this year!  I made the holes, dropped the seeds in, covered the holes, and watered the soil... there's not much else to it when you're an amateur.  Now we wait.  Since it's been raining most of this week, I can just set the pots under the overhang to shelter them from too much water and put them out again for a good dose of clean city rain water.  I'm crossing my fingers I didn't wait too long.  This year I skipped the flowers, they die out anyway, and went straight for herbs & veggies (seems more useful to me).  My only issue now is keeping the dog out of the soil, on occasion she gets left on the terrace and when I go to let her in her little white beard is black and I know I have to go clean up the mess she made.  And once the plants start growing I have to keep her from eating them, she has a thing for basil.  The tot learned plant appreciation (she used to rip the leaves off everything), and so can the dog.  I'll be sure to give you an update in a couple months!