The Start Of Grow Season 2026

As winter begins its long walk toward being over, with the snow finally starting to melt, I got very busy this past weekend. After being cooped up inside all of December, January, and all of February, I wanted to get things done. To anticipate the start of spring. This coming week is supposed to be in the mid-50s, with temperatures approaching 60 one day. And while winter will come back, work while it is nice out.

The youngest son is my helper in our gardens. He is a talented builder at 14 and has assembled most everything I have picked up over the past few years.

He quickly built me another raised bed and then a second pop-up greenhouse this weekend, which I slid into a number of bare-root starts (buy early, before they start opening up in stores!).

To get that set up, I had to go to Home Depot and pick up bricks for weight. At around 70 cents each, they are possibly the cheapest items bought for my gardens. I go for the grey versus red, just my preference. It’s hard to own too many bricks – I use them in so many projects.

Well, I got there, and the outdoor area was still deeply covered in snow and ice and was blocked off. Great.

I puttered around under the covered area outside and noticed I could, in theory, reach the bricks by walking on the shelving behind them. Nothing dangerous, so win-win. I picked out my bricks and got back inside, where it was warm (it was in the 20s outside). Helps I am shorter and could fit into the area.

The next day, the sun came out and was so warm. I hauled out my big potting soil tub (it is a large concrete mixing tub, btw). I put a 10-pound brick of compressed coconut coir and slowly added water until it softened. Scrape off a layer, a bit more water, and keep repeating till done. The 10 pounds eventually make 51 quarts of soil amendment,

Once done, I added commercial potting soil and blended it in. This stretches out the soil and also lightens it. For what I do, I don’t want heavy soil that holds onto water. I want it to dry out faster to avoid seedling rot.

Once Alistaire had assembled the new greenhouse and we got it installed, I pulled out a number of trays and started filling up pots. Not to use immediately, but to be ready in a couple of weeks for the first seedings. I prefer using 4″ pots, which might seem large, but over the years, I find transplanting seedlings from the tiny cells to a bigger pot is just another step. So I cut that out entirely.

I had picked up 20 new bare-root strawberry plants, set up the tall tower, and planted them. They were already coming out of being dormant, and if you wait to plant them, you may well end up buying dead plants that try to grow, then dehydrate in the bags they are packed in.

I put the tower into the greenhouse to protect it for the next month, then I will plant it in the garden.

It’s planting the first plants. The first seeds. That you know grow season has arrived!

Btw, once I have mixed up soil, I stash the tub under our potting table when not using it. If it rains, then it doesn’t fill up with soil.

I also potted up 2 bareroot berry canes, which I will plant in the main garden in the spring.

This new pop-up was put in by the other one, under our deck, on the brick patio. It gets a lot of sun till late summer, but is also protected from the wind and rain.

The sun on the bricks radiates heat at night, helping keep the little house warm.

Last summer, I put up a pop-up greenhouse in our garden as a focal point (it had been on the patio at first, to raise small plants), and it was nearly destroyed by a sudden August storm. Even with how I installed them, it couldn’t handle the winds out here. The garden isn’t protected.

I use heavy items to hold down the inner frame (on the left is a roll of hardware cloth), and not shown, I added heavy square pavers on the right side.

Under the deck, the wind seems to go around them, as I have watched for the last 11 months.

On the left is the older one – it did survive that storm, but the frame got tweaked a bit. Because of that, I use it for a shed to store items, and it has worked great all fall and winter. The small lawnmower even fits into it, as do all our gardening supplies. It has stayed nicely warm and dry. So, because of that, I felt comfortable adding a new one on the right for plants.

I miss having a real greenhouse (as we did at our last 2 homes), but this works well enough. I can’t use it for tropical and citrus in winter, but for seed starting and getting dormant plants going, it works well. And it is affordable.

At $90, this version is full-featured. It has many racks (add some zip ties on the shelving to ensure nothing slips). It has a skirt, making it easy to hold down. It has 3 windows and a full door. I find I get 2 to 4 years out of them, depending on the cover’s UV exposure. The frames last a very long time, and make great plant shelves long after.

Now we need to build another raised bed, then a second large raised bed set (with the giant trellis over it). We will get those in the garden once the snow is gone.

Then he will build me a wooden cold frame for the garden.

And then….it’ll be time to start Garden Two – and this one is going to be one heck of a build!

And oh yeah, then it’ll be time to plant seeds.

For gardening season is here!

~Sarah