Mother Nature continues to play games with my heart.

On Wednesday I had Snowdrops blooming in the warmth of the sun. (This is the earliest I’ve ever had flowers bloom)

And then Thursday….

The snow didn’t end up being as bad as they predicted, but the yard did get a couple inches, and temps have been below freezing since.

Happily, that amazing man of mine surprised me with the most wonderful Valentine’s gift. We don’t normally do much for Valentines – a small token and a card usually. And Dave usually leaves it to the last minute then asks me 10 million times what I want.

So when I came home in mid-January, and he was wrapping something up, and said I couldn’t have it to Valentine’s, I was quite intrigued. (And maybe a little nervous… who was this man???)

Valentine’s finally came and I was able to open it… and he knocked it out of the park!

Basically, and encyclopedia by my favourite Gardening Guru. This book is big and thick! I’m loving it… and it’s keeping me from going too crazy about not being able to get out in the garden.

I can’t even plant my seeds yet. I sat down on Thursday, while the snow blew cold and grey, and took stock of all my packets. I set up a spreadsheet, noting whether they would be sown direct, or started early… and the sow dates for each. And according to my spreadsheet, the earliest I can start anything is the beginning of March – though the bulk needs to be started early April… that’s soooooooo far away!

But that hasn’t stopped me from collecting more things for garden beds. As you may recall, I bought the Squash Tunnel, which will expand the veg garden… and so will these

We picked up this nice tall raised bed at the ReStore. It will be painted our signature green as soon as the weather is warm enough to paint outside.

And this galvanized tub was a nice surprise find at Value Village. It’s about 2′ square and 18″ tall, so it will be a nice size for planting.

I think I may have to sit down with a sketch pad and draw out some new plans before things get too out of hand…