I'm being adventurous and planting some winter-starting seeds for the kitchen garden beds. The first batch, mesclun, arugula, radish blend, lettuce blend. I used up old radish seeds by mixing them with the newer ones. If the old ones don't grow, then the plants will be further apart which is good. I usually overplant seeds. If they do grow, that's fine, I'll just thin to the appropriate distance.
These seeds went into cement-block
raised beds that are warmer than surrounding ground-level soil. A week ago, I scattered wood ashes on the soil and mixed thoroughly. There have been some rains since then to dissolve the minerals. A longer time would be better but this is what I have.
Last year I planted Fava beans and snow peas about now, and they were very healthy and vigorous and productive. This time I'm planting them in a standard raised bed that had tomato plants last year. That bed was given a dose of lime about 2 months ago.
