Working around a soggy spring

Last year at this time our gardens were sunny, cheerful places where planting was possible. Eager to get a started, we prowled the local nurseries that were stocked with fresh vegetable and flower starts. Seed potatoes and summer flowering bulbs enticed us to dig.

This year is just the opposite. These days our gardens, battered by storms, hail, flood and even snow, are saturated. No digging.

Well, savvy gardeners know ways of getting around a soggy spring. We grow in containers. Here is what you can do to start up your own little home nursery:

Pot up: If you are looking to add fruit trees, berries and other bare root ornamental shrubs and trees, you may find digging a hole will make a muddy mess. Instead, get some cheap potting soil, mix it with wood compost and pot up the plants you want. They will be OK for planting in May when the soil will be warmer and drier.

Grow food: Yes, you can still get a start on the vegetable and herb garden. But, you might have to consider growing in containers. Lettuce, spinach, chives, chard, kale and carrots are among the many spring vegetables that will grow well in large containers. Cauliflower, broccoli and cabbage will not, however.

What about flowers?: Fill up cheap one-gallon nursery containers (and you often can find them used for free) with potting soil and plant up six-packs of your favorite flower starts. They should last six to eight weeks in containers until it's time to plant out. Summer flowering bulbs like gladiolus, dahlias and the like may also be grown in one or twogallon pots for setting out later on.

Beware: Even though it is cold and wet, slugs and snails love this weather. Continue applying organic slug bait all month long. Then when you do get out in the garden to dig, the hungry critters will be gone for the most part.