What to Sow in Plant Zone 8 in March

For planting zone 8, our last average frost date is March 15th. It's time for spring planting! 

Plants that tolerate cool weather can be planted outside now and include: 

Asparagus, beets, bok choi, broccoli (and other brassicas such as broccolini and Chinese broccoli), cabbage, carrots, collards, lettuce, mustard greens (and any other type of green, leafy vegetable such as spinach), onions, radish, turnip, Swiss chard, white potatoes. 

It's getting a bit late, but English peas could still be planted this week. (ideally, English peas are planted as soon as the soil can be worked in the spring.) 

 Perennial food plants that can be planted now include artichoke, asparagus, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries. 

Herbs that can be planted now include parsley, thyme, oregano, cilantro. 

Seeds that should be started indoors now (under lights or in a sunny window) include tomatoes, peppers, eggplant. 

Ash Wednesday Blessing

A blessing for Ash Wednesday: 

Rend Your Heart by Jan Richardson

To receive this blessing,

all you have to do

is let your heart break.

Let it crack open.

Let it fall apart

so that you can see

its secret chambers,

the hidden spaces

where you have hesitated

to go.

Your entire life

is here, inscribed whole

upon your heart’s walls:

every path taken

or left behind,

every face you turned toward

or turned away,

every word spoken in love

or in rage,

every line of your life

you would prefer to leave

in shadow,

every story that shimmers

with treasures known

and those you have yet

to find.

It could take you days

to wander these rooms.

Forty, at least.

And so let this be

a season for wandering

for trusting the breaking

for tracing the tear

that will return you

to the One who waits

who watches

who works within

the rending

to make your heart

whole.