Garden Friday

Welcome to Garden Friday!
It's actually starting to feel like spring around here!
Several sprays of daffs have been noticed around the neighborhood,
and it looks like we will be enjoying some in our yard soon too!
Temperatures here are still in the 30's overnight,
but we've had a few brilliant days in the 50's with ample sunshine.

 Recently our local Soil and Water Conservation District
had a tree seedling sale.
According to their website, this department 
"offers free technical assistance to landowners in the county 
with land management, drainage, wetlands, soils information, 
best management practices and other land resource problems".

white pine

I was able to pick up a smattering of white pine,
red bud and red cedar tree seedlings for under $20.
The goal is to add some privacy around our property
using these evergreen varieties.
What a bargain for the homeowner! 

With the weather cooperating,
I was able to get some veg seeds started.
My handy-dandy tweezers help with small seeds like lettuce.

I sowed a few trays of different lettuce varieties,

some broccoli, cabbage, kale and thyme.

The trays have been monitored to ensure they stay moist.

They will remain covered until germination takes place.
I checked them yesterday,
and no sign of it yet.
Once they have sprouted, the covers can come off during the day,
so that they can drink up the sunshine.
At night, they will be covered again,
until temperatures warm up a bit more.

 Much to my surprise,
some carrots were ready to be picked.
We roasted them yesterday with some other veggies.
The tub I grew these in somewhat stunted their growth,
so they will be sown in the raised beds from now on.

 I am absolutely blown away by this parsley!
It was planted months ago,
and made it through the winter uncovered and virtually ignored.
I'll be picking some for the freezer this weekend.

Another pleasant surprise was this broccoli growing
despite miserable conditions this winter.
We can never grow enough broccoli around here.
Both C and myself could eat it everyday.

Some of the crops in the hugelkultur bed are still trying to make something of themselves.
This Green Oakleaf looks scrumptious,

 and this Swiss chard is coming right along.
These crops have not had much attention and yet, keep right on growing.
Isn't Mother Nature just a wonder?

I'm not sure what happened to the cover crops.
This was the first time I have tried growing these,
so I'm not sure exactly what they should look like.
I guess I was thinking they would be taller.
The idea with cover crops is to keep the soil covered during the colder months,
to deter weeds, keep the soil warmer and enable earlier spring planting.

 These are the new raised rows I put in last fall.
I am still trying to decide on the final design of the garden.
I'm leaning toward all raised beds,
but the raised rows are less work and maintenance,
so the jury is still out.
We'll see how the crops do this season before making a final decision.

Meet my new best friend.
We have had a time gathering leaves, twigs,
sawdust and straw in the past couple of weeks 
since Big K brought it home.
It's been a regular rake-o-rama!
I love me some raking!

It seems that finally we are making some progress in the garden.
Slowly but surely, that task list will be tackled.
We are forecasted to have a week's worth of rain
without any letup.
So, although it will be a great time to install those tree seedlings,
not much tray work will get done.
Ah well.  
A gardener is at the mercy of the weather.

"Show me your garden
and I shall tell you what you are."
~Alfred Austin