Hello and welcome back to the garden.  For everyone who is new to The Frugal Gardener, I want to welcome you and thank you for joining our community.  I want this newsletter and to be a place of comfort for you.  Gardening is a personal and spiritual endeavor and it's important for you to feel secure.

I recently changed web hosts and have begun working with a new provider. Our new domain name is http://www.myfrugalgardener.com and I'm slowly but surely building it back up to where the old one was. It takes time to move and change web pages and I do all of that work myself.

As you're well aware, gardening is trial and error and sometimes you can have so much of the latter that it feels embarrassing. Please don't worry about that. Remember what Edison said about the first 2,000 tries at a light bulb: he didn't fail 2,000 times; he just found 2,000 ways a light bulb wouldn't work.

Do I have garden failures?  Heck, yes!  And that's why I started the web site and this newsletter.  To share tips, techniques and secrets when things work and, especially, when they don't.  I also rely on you.  I'd like to have your feedback whenever you feel comfortable to give it and would love to have your suggestions to be able to include on the web site and in the newsletter.

I can't quite believe that January has come and gone but it sure has. February is a month that's notorious for gray days and bitter winds but there's one thing that warms the heart: Valentine's Day.  I don't know about you, but I love Valentine's Day and I'm fortunate enough to have a husband who loves to remember me on that day.

Valentine's Day, though, doesn't just have to be for lovers.  Valentine's Day can also be for you.

As we get older, we tend to think about gifts that we can give to others but forget about giving a gift to ourselves.  With all of the wonderful seed and garden equipment catalogs that come out this time of year, buy yourself a
present. 

This prezzie doesn't have to be seeds or gloves or a new trowel. Think about your hands, though: they get rough and chapped all year long. Try a new hand scrub and emollient lotion that will replace the moisture lost in the winter and during gardening season.

Many of you may remember that I used to tend a vegetable garden for my friend Adele in Irvington, Virginia. She lived in an assisted living community called Rappahannock Westminster Canterbury and loved fresh flowers and veggies.

On Sunday, November 11, 2007 Adele passed away. Fortunately, I had spoken with her on the phone making plans to get together just the night before.

She was an amazing woman who lived life to the fullest and she is sorely missed. Godspeed, Adele.

For those of you who live in the upper two thirds of the United States as well as countries around the world that have traditional winter weather, February is a bittersweet month.  The reason?  Because all of those seed catalogs of come out, you've ordered your seeds, and you're just itching to start them and get out into the garden to get your hands dirty.

Well, give yourself another month of rest and relaxation.  Just like plants and bulbs, gardeners need to rest too.  There'll be plenty of time and plenty of jobs to do in the garden soon.

For those of you who live in the Southern one third of the United States or in countries that have warmer winters, February's a great time to get your seeds started so that you can get some plants out in the garden in March.  You'll want to start seeds for lettuces and spinach and you could begin direct sowing scallions, radishes, carrots and other cool weather root vegetables.

And in the Southern Hemisphere, you're still going strong with hot weather veggies and fruits. Next month, you'll start winding down as the weather begins to cool off.

Have a question for The Frugal Gardener? Please feel free to e-mail questions or suggestions to me.

• If you've already ordered your seeds, set up your plant markers and start labeling them
• Make sure that you have plenty of seed starting material like heating mats, disinfected yogurt cups, dowel rods, and a good commercially prepared potting soil 
• Do you have all of the containers that you'd like to use this season?  Most home centers are starting to stock up on their garden supplies and sometimes February is a good time to pick up a few unique things before the springtime rush. I like unusual planters like square ones or tall rectangular pots
• If you're planting peas this spring, make sure you have enough support in the form of a pea fence or trellising for your plants.  And remember - 24 hours before you plant peas, soak them overnight because to soften the outer seed coat and help the seeds germinate faster
• For rose growers who llive in Zones 7 and higher, President's Day weekend (the third weekend in February) is the time to prune roses 

The weather here in Tidewater, Virginia has been relatively consistent throughout the last half of January. We had a nice dump of snow and that helped add to our water deficit.

Spring will be here before you know it so enjoy your break in February, buy yourself a Valentine's Day present and I'll see you in March.

Yours for a bountiful garden,

Victoria
The Frugal Gardener