Spring is almost here and it’s about time! I guess those of you up north are ready to lose all that snow. No snow here; just cold rain. But it’s time to get ready for spring vegetable planting.

I used to do my gardening in the back yard in a plot of about 15′ X 15′. Problem was, it was just a lot of work and it was hard to keep the dogs out of it. So last year about this time, I decided to build a raised bed garden to grow tomatoes, basil, etc. Basically, just things I like to eat but cost a lot at the grocery store.

I had fairly good luck with it but discovered that I could have had a better yield by preparing the soil with better garden soil amendments. So that’s just what I did week before last. Of course this is an ongoing thing, done yearly.

For this purpose, I keep a compost pile going. This is a good way to go organic; use natural broken down matter rather than chemicals. What’s the point of putting all that stuff down the garbage disposal? If you don’t eat it, mulch it!

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For the second time in the past 10 years, a swarm of bees has taken a breather on my property. The first time, it was on a sago palm in my front yard. This time, it’s on a maple tree in the back yard.

We didn’t know what the deal was the first time so we did some research. At first we thought they were adopting us - not a pleasing concept. So we called a pest exterminator to find out what to do. Not to kill them, just how to get rid of them.

Turns out there was no need to worry. When a swarm is on the move, they go until the queen bee wants to take a break. She settles down to rest and the rest of the bees swarm around her tightly. Talk about endurance. If I could duplicate it on a human level, imagine how I could boost my running performance!

When she’s ready to go again, they all take off. The whole operation only takes about two to three days. Fascinating. Click on the pic to see the bee swarm in detail.

Bees really do us a huge favor with pollination, as you well know if you watched The Bee Movie, starring Seinfeld. And since I’ve put in a raised bed vegetable garden, I’m all about pollination.

Just watch out for those stingers when you go for the honey!

Sounds like conspiracy theory, doesn’t it. Don’t go all aluminum-foil hat on me now. No, it just struck me this morning as I was brain-storming for a new article to write.

See, Obama likes to compare himself not only to Honest Abe Lincoln, but also to FDR. So much to FDR that he’s sort of following his New Deal set of programs with his overblown stimulus package. For an academic, he has missed the point that socialism failed while the Reagan doctrine succeeded.

But since this isn’t a political blog, I won’t recount that history here. So let’s talk about Michelle Obama. I think it’s pretty cool that she’s doing that big organic victory garden on the south lawn of the White House.

And that’s where I see the connection between her and Eleanor R. The Michelle O.-Eleanor R. Victory Garden Connection. As the first lady during WWII, Eleanor established her own victory garden at the White House.

Those were hard times just as these are. And that garden concept was a rallying call for millions of other Americans to pull together and pull themselves up by their collective bootstraps.

I think Ms. Obama is symbolically doing the same thing. Pretty clever. And it’s a good possibility that she’s also establishing her First Lady agenda. Good chance that it will be good nutrition and charitable giving (part of her harvest goes to a local soup kitchen).

That second part might be a not-so-subtle bit of publicity to combat the rising ire over Barak slashing tax deductions for charitable contributions.

Be that as it may, it’s a win-win. How’s that for a conspiracy theory. Snopes-proof!

I spent some time planting in my raised bed garden yesterday. Already had some corn, peas, and some lemon basil in so I put in some tomatoes.

Now I’ve planted tomatoes in the past but I’ve only really had success with cherry tomatoes. This time I did some research. Soil is the first thing to consider. From listening to Randy Lemmon (garden guru) on the radio I’ve learned to go heavy with the rose soil.

Next, not all vegetable species are created equal. Certain varieties do better in any given location. For my location along the sunny gulf coast, I bought Carnival and Better Bush, both determinate.

Say what? Yes, that’s something else I learned: the terms determinate and indeterminate. Don’t you just love counter-intuitive words? In a nutshell, determinate tomato plants only reach a given height, four feet is a good bet, and produce fruit within a short period of time.

Indeterminate ones, on the other hand, grow larger, need staking, and bear fruit for a longer period of time.

Will I save much money by growing my own vegetables? Probably not this year, give what I’ve shelled out for building the raised bed. Cinder blocks, soil, and mulch. This year, I do it for homegrown organic flavor. Next year, I save money!

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I usually write about home improvement, but at times I get off on a tangent. Which happened this week. Growing up in Panama, I ate empanadas all the time. That is some good eating.

Now I live in South Texas, or is it Mexico? It’s hard to tell, with all the “guest workers” roaming around. Anyway, it’s a good thing I speak Spanish. I wish I could say that Obama is going to do something about the border but he probably won’t do any better than President Bush in that regard.

But I digress. The point is that when I get a hankering for empanadas, the only ones I can buy are the Mexican variety, which are stuffed with fruits. So I make my own from my Panamanian-style empanada recipe.

They’re not hard to make at all. The only thing I change from the original is that I make my own crust using a whole wheat pie crust recipe that I invented. I just like whole wheat as opposed to wimpy overprocessed wheat products.

Speaking of  food, I recently recieved two batches of frozen meat, both buffalo and deer. Delicious. Honestly, I tried the vegetarian thing years ago and it didn’t work for me. I know it’s the way for some people, and more power to you if you fall in that camp.

Not to say that I don’t enjoy vegetables as well. I’ve got my vegetable garden all set up and I’m just waiting for the weather to warm up a bit so I can plant.

OK, back to the work. Ready for more free home improvement articles?