Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Back with updates

It's been a crazy few weeks.  The flooding has ended for most, with damp, moldy remains for many.  When the rain was finished, we proceeded to have 2 weeks of sunny, abnormally warm weather.  It's been absolutely wonderful.  With all the beautiful weather, it's difficult to hold back from planting out everything. 

Last night was a return to reality with below freezing temps and more to come tonight.  Thankfully I don't have anything out that should be affected.   Above you can see my garlic.  It's been coming up perfectly this year.  So far it looks like the best year yet for garlic.  It's something I use in most meals, so I'm happy to have as much as possible.


This is one of the cabbage seedlings.  It is only one of 3 that survived.  The bok choy and broccoli didn't make it either.  This seems to be what happens to me every year.  I'm not sure exactly what I do to kill them.  A few weeks ago I direct seeded more brassicas and they seem to be coming up nicely.  That may be what I do each year instead.  I think my biggest issue is that I'm planting them too early and trying to hold them inside too long.  I keep learning.


This is the lettuce that was seeded far too early.  (seeing a pattern here?)  I thought it was dead and just left it where it was.  Lo and behold, it's coming back.  Again, I'm learning.


Those hard to see wisps of plant material are my onions.  They were planted out last week with the brassicas and are doing quite nicely.  I'm very happy with how these behaved this year.  It's actually my first truly successful year for starting onions from seed.  Usually they are killed off by fungus.  I planted far too many, but they'll all get used.  


The main garden is all turned over now.  I rented a rototiller for the very first time.  I have to admit that I was absolutely terrified of the thing.  It turns out that it was a reasonable fear.  Hubby was off meeting a wedding client, but J was home as my backup.  At first the plan was to have J help me get it out of the truck and I would do the tilling.  Hah!  Then the tiller started dragging me across the garden.  Thankfully, J took over and in not too much time, had it all tilled up for me.  He looked like I had almost killed him, so when his wife came home, I thought she might kill me.  She just thought it was funny.  Have I mentioned how great my neighbors are?  

Lastly, the fruit trees are flowering and leafing out.  This is the 3rd year for this peach tree.  It's still not very big, but seems healthy enough.  We'll have to wait and see if it produces any fruit or not.  Since we're getting another freeze tonight, and it's still only mid April, we won't get anything.  The warm weather has everything blooming and sprouting earlier than usual.  Hopefully, there won't be too much damage to the trees and plants that came back to life early.  

There is so much going on here now, I'll be busy until next November.  I love it!

8 comments:

Daphne Gould said...

We haven't had a frost yet in April. Very weird. We might get one tonight though. I have my brassicas under cover so they ought to be ok.

We rented a rototiller one year to remove then reseed our lawn. I won't ever do that again. It wasn't very pleasant.

Lise said...

Oh, this weather is so confusing!! I just took down all my sap buckets yesterday...now I'm wondering, was I premature?

Your garden's looking good!

kitsapFG said...

You seem to have hit your stride with the alliums this year! They all look healthy and thriving. I hope the flooding for you personally is well behind you now.

The Idiot said...

Good to see you're back on dry land!

I'm hovering around the "plant out" issue here. I've killed so much stuff indoors, I'm thinking that maybe I should risk a frost and just get going.

Karen Anne said...

I had two very small lilacs all budded out, then they were under 6-8 inches of water for a day or so. The buds seem dead, but one plant is is sprouting from its base.

The Mom said...

Daphne, we're getting frosts here in the suburbs. The last 2 nights have hit about 30. I can't say I'll be renting a tiller again. It was quick, but difficult.

Lise, it is confusing. Now we're back to more normal weather and possible snow this weekend.

Kitsap, I am quite happy with the alliums. The flooding is gone, but lots of work still to do.

IG, I'm not very good at the indoor stuff. When it's outside, I do pretty well. It would be perfect if everything could be direct seeded.

Karen Anne, my blueberry bushes are still sitting in muck. It's a waiting game to see if anything makes it.

Erin aka Conscious Shopper said...

Your garden looks so good! This is my first year planting anything but tomatoes and peppers, and so far we're not off to a great start. I started lettuce seeds and even took them with me on vacation, but then when I transplanted them into the garden, they died within a few days. Oh, well, I'm learning!

The Mom said...

Erin, thanks. I'm still learning. The hardest thing for me seems to be starting things inside and keeping them alive to get them out before they die.