a day in the life of a latvian mom

Last week was full of outdoor work. It felt like the garden was slowly waking up after winter.

At the beginning of the week there was still plenty of snow around. It’s always funny how quickly things change at this time of year — one day everything is white, and a few days later you’re already thinking about seeds and soil.

My mom came to help with cleaning and other things around the house, but of course we ended up doing gardening instead. Somehow that always happens.

On Wednesday, we cleaned out the greenhouse. While working, we discovered that we had disturbed a mouse that had clearly made itself comfortable there over the winter. I found our missing bucket of watering-system fittings – no mice in there.

In the autumn, I had hurt my back, so I never managed to clean the greenhouse before winter. By now it looked quite terrible, and I was very glad I had brought a respirator with me!

Later in the week I tried a small experiment. I covered my raised beds with additional collars and placed old glass from a tractor on top. The idea is simple — the glass should help warm the soil faster, creating a tiny greenhouse effect.

By Sunday I decided to test it properly and sowed dill, lettuce, and radishes in one of the beds. We’ll see how it goes. It’s still early for Latvia, so this is definitely an experiment.

On Sunday I also added more collars and glass to three more raised beds — including the one with strawberries. Maybe the extra warmth will help them wake up a little faster this spring.

I also checked my small outdoor greenhouses where I sowed seeds in January and February using the winter sowing method. To my surprise, something is already starting to sprout. Snowdrops are in full bloom!

If you’d like to see everything in action, I shared it all in my latest YouTube video. You can watch it here:

The seeds in the small greenhouses are already starting to come up. Even some sunflower seeds have sprouted — most likely from the bird feeder, where a few must have fallen in by accident.

Spring always feels like a small miracle in the garden.

Ilze