Spring is upon us. And it is cold again. While I've had enough of 50 degrees and overcast by now, the last week and a half has been a great time for seeding and transplanting, so I went ahead and direct seeded the first round of beets, all of my peas, and a "wild" salad mix (seeds bought from Johnny's) I'm growing for my friends who are getting married on May 1st. The salad mix came up in five days, so we're right on track. It can be a little nerve wracking when the crop must be ready on precisely this day or that, but salad mix is pretty predictable, and usually only takes between 25 and 35 days to mature, depending on weather and what kind of salad it is. Plus, I gave myself a good two week buffer.
I also transplanted the first round of cabbage, two kinds of kale, onions, broccoli raab, and bibb lettuce. The lettuce we've had to cover up with Reemay and plastic a few nights where the temperature dipped a little too far down for comfort, and we'll most likely do the same tonight- since it's going to SNOW.
Don't curse the weather.
Since I brought the first round of seedlings outside, I made room for tomatoes and peppers and perennial herbs, the latter of which I hope to get into a nice, permanent raised bed on the west side of the garden, to keep with the "perimeter of perennials" theme that I've noticed.
The tomatoes were up in just a few days, and they are so cute. If I could find the charger for my dead camera I'd certainly put a picture up so you could see their little pale green heads poking up out of the soil. I started six heirlooms types, and expect to get many more from PHS, too, so it should be a colorful, tasty spread again this year.
Other preparations we've made include: digging one more bed for asparagus, transplanting strawberries from their nursery bed into the orchard, and buying wire for the fruit trees to be trained along. I'm debating whether or not to go outside and seed the first round of carrots, taking advantage of promised precipitation, or to wait for the threat of snow to pass us by.
Things I'm avoiding include: unwinding and patching all of the irrigation that I just got done pulling in and winding up (the latter is typically a fall activity, probably so that you don't find yourself saying, "I just got finished pulling it in, can't I put it off for a while?").
Seeds to be planted this week or next include: Swiss Chard, Turnips, Radishes, spinach, arugula, baby lettuce.
Happy Planting!
