Hello Friend!

Thank you for joining our newsletter and a special thank you if you downloaded our Something to Discover Seed Starting Workbook. We are very excited to be working on the next part of the series which will be soils and containers, and then series three will be nutrition, water, heat, and light. But the next series won't go out until after I've got my own seeds started and well on their way... likely not until March. If you haven't downloaded our workbook you can get it here.

If you have any comments or suggestions about the workbook, or anything else about the blog, I would love to hear from you.. just email me at SomethingtoDiscover@outlook.com

Seed Planning

If you live in the Pacific Northwest and have a final frost date in mid April we are about 3 months away! There are many seeds that want to be planted as early as 10 weeks before your final frost date. For me tomatoes take quite a while as I pot them up into bigger containers at least 3 times. And I have found they need some good transition time acclimating them not so much to the cold but to the wind. So now or soon will be perfect for tomatoes and peppers.

Ever wanted a Treehouse as a kid???

I want to tell you about one of the coolest places in the Pacific Northwest. Have you seen Treehouse Masters on Animal Planet? Well, the guy who IS the Treehouse Master is Pete Nelson and he owns a property near Seattle called Treehouse Point and YES... you can spent the night in a treehouse! My husband and I did this for his birthday and wow, was it an experience. Its like camping on steroids. They have about 8 tree houses and a lodge where they serve breakfast. A river runs below many of the treehouses and each is very different from the others. WE got to meet Pete (although he usually is not there) and all the staff was wonderful. It was expensive... but we will definitely be back!

Get organized using OneNote!

I wrote this post a while ago but it describes how I organize all my gardening articles using OneNote... a free tool with Microsoft Office. Check it out here!

Goals for 2016

I don't believe in New Years resolutions... studies show that the majority of people who make these don't succeed. This source states that only 8% of people who make new years resolutions succeed!

And really, I think we all know what our individual problems are anyway and don't need a special day or beginning of the year to figure them out. But... I do think that any time of year we can set goals. This is where you really think about what you want to change and make specific attainable plans to succeed in meeting a goal. So instead of saying you want to lose weight... you would realize your goal is having better health and that losing 10% of your body weight would help you reach better health. So I for example know that I need to exercise to lose weight. I can eat well but my metabolism is low and I need to get off that chair to truly lose weight. So going for a walk every day is a goal. Losing 1 pound a week is a goal. They are specific and attainable!

Podcast watch

Check out the Living Homegrown Podcast... Teresa Loe talks about goals for homesteaders in her first podcast for the year. I love podcasts... I learn so much and can usually listen to podcasts while doing other things.

We are slowly adding light during the day and I noticed daffodils in the Skagit Valley this week starting to pop their heads out!

Tasks in the Garden in January

▪ Order new seeds, check status of old seeds
▪ Prune dormant deciduous trees (birch, cherry, maples), Wisteria should be done by now or now
▪ Prune roses and spray with horticultural oil if you desire
▪ Sharpen tools and organize your pots
▪ Make plans for your garden and any garden projects
▪ Get ready to go to the Northwest Flower and Garden Show in February
▪ Clean up winter damage (but be ready for more in the next two months), any remaining leaves (will smother grass and anything underneath leaf layer), and anything diseased or rotting.
▪ Weed (I know, I hate doing it too. But the soil is wet now and they will come out easily)