Got some Roma tomato seedlings sprouted. The Serrano pepper seeds are not popping up real well— maybe they like it warmer than on my east window sill. Have to rake up the oak leaves out back (again) then mulch them with the mower. My cilantro is doing ok under the glass outside. Going to try some swiss chard again—haven’t planted any since many, many moons ago. I’m in /johnny’s area here in DFW and we can really use some rains again like he mentioned.
We have oak leaves all around too. Neighbors here rake them in the fall and burn them. We just leave them alone till spring and then rake them into one big compost pile.
Other wise we’d be raking all the time. They don’t ever seem to drop all at once, just a bunch at a time, just after you rake them up.
I did manage to sweep some off the patio during one of our warm days in January. While it makes the patio look nice, it probably would be better to have left them be. They help when you are walking in snow.
However, when it rains, they are slick, so sometimes I just leave a patch next to the house all the way to the door. Then we are all set for whichever we have.