"Workable" Soil

It has been a long winter. We had record cold temps, record snowfall, and record duration of days below zero. So, needless to say, we are all looking forward to spring.

Chives are the first signs of life in the garden.

The signs of spring are evident in the usual places. The trees are budding and the birds' songs are those of spring. The back yard is a mix of ice and mud. March has been here in all of her early spring glory.

Workable soil.

Garden helper.

So I took advantage of the "workable" soil to get in the first seeds of spring this afternoon. By "workable" soil, I mean mud with a little bit of ice that I needed to break up.

I plan to plant successive plantings of my cold-weather plants, every two weeks, this spring. Today, the high temp was 41F and we're expecting another 8-14 inches of snow over the next two days. So it seemed like a good time to get the first seeds in.

I put in seeds for radishes, lettuce, spinach, corn salad, rutabaga, beets, bok choi, onions and peas.

 I haven't planted shallot sets before. So I thought I would give them a try this year.

I'm Back

After a long hiatus, I am back to my blog. Since I last posted, I have moved and, for a time, didn't have a garden. This weekend, my husband build me a raised garden bed and I am back to gardening.

The garden bed is filled with garden blend soil, a combination of topsoil, manure and compost. It is 18" high, by 4' wide, by 12' long. It is located in the sunniest spot in our yard.

Today, I planted three chive plants that had been awaiting homes and eight cloves of garlic. I don't know what variety the garlic is. It is a hardneck that came from the farmers' market. I planted it to the west (right) of the chives. I had some garlic scapes and cloves from the year before last. They were all dessicated and I don't believe they are viable. So I threw them in to see what would happen. Probably nothing, but, at worst, they'll be compost.

Lettuce Out, Tomatoes In?

I Was Wondering

If 

lettuce gets bitter 

when it gets warm 

and tomatoes prefer to be planted 

when it gets warm

does it follow

that tomatoes should be planted

when the lettuce gets bitter?

Tomato Day

Even though the nights are still getting cold (40-50F), I decided to put my tomatoes in the ground. Last year, I tried some fancy pants "heirloom" varieties of tomatoes. I was disappointed. They were not disease resistant and did not produce well. It might have been the weather last year, but, with my limited garden space, I decided that I wanted something more reliable. So I put in two 6" seedlings:

1) Better Boy - "vigorous vines yield tasty tomatoes with excellent disease resistance. Indeterminate plant produces a continuous supply of fruit until frost."

2) Champion - "provides high yields of very sweet, solid meaty tomatoes. Disease resistant. Indeterminate vines."

How did I forget last year that seedlings go on sale after Memorial Day. Note to self: Buy plants the weekend after Memorial Day. 33% off! 

I have put in some annuals as well:

1) Stock - Harmony Mix

2) Marigold - French Dwarf - Safari Mix (this one has a pretty orange and yellow petal)

3) French tarragon

4) Vietnamese Coriander (Rau Rahm)

5) Linum Perenne - Sapphire - pretty blue flower

6) Sweet basil - genovese

7) Thai basil

8) Greek Columnar basil 

9) Lobelia - Regatta mix (pink, purple, and blue)

10) Petunia - hurrah blue (that really dark, velvety purple)

11) Fenugreek

12) Phlox subulata - creeping phlox - candy stripe (pretty pink and white petals)

13) Thai hot pepper

The little thai pepper is sad. I think the plant actually shrunk since I planted it two weeks ago. Maybe it likes warmer weather. And I've nearly weeded the Vietnamese coriander out multiple times. It looks like a weed. The fenugreek looks like alfalfa so I have to resist weeding that one, too.

Learning about Trees and Shrubs

We're thinking about buying our first home. As a gardener, that means my options have expanded to include trees and shrubs. So I got a book and I'm starting to teach myself.

Enjoying The Rain

I planted more lettuce on 4/11. It has been raining off and on for the last three days and I'm loving it! Thank you, God, for watering my seeds. It's especially wonderful because the water systems aren't up and running in the garden yet so I would have to carry all of the water from my house to the garden.

I also planted some pac choi and beets. I included this picture so I remember where I planted them.

Garden Bees