What a Spring!

We have had some incredibly warm weather already this spring. Temps have been in the 80's on several occasions and the farmers in the area are way ahead of schedule in getting planting done.

I have tilled the garden and sowed some lettuce and spinach seed. A half dozen broccoli plants are set out, with rabbit-deterring cages around them. I even planted some old Blue Lake Pole Bean seed that i found in the freezer where I store extra seed. It was dated 1997, so it is sort of an experiment to see if it even germinates!

The blackberries are getting ready to burst into bloom and the blueberries have already bloomed and are dropping flowers. One of the newer apple trees has bloomed nicely. We;ll see what develops. More importantly, we'll see what April brings in the way of cold snaps. Around here, our frost date is about 10 May.

The garden is growing!

Where we live right now, our garden space is limited. But we managed to have plenty of tomatoes and green beans last year, and I expanded our space this year. Of course, we have the kitchen salad garden of radishes, spinach, lettuce, green onions, cukes, and such. It's always fun to plan and plant, but I usually end up planting too early. Even with thirty-some years of gardening under my belt, I still give in to those spring warm spells and set out some tomato and pepper plants. Then, I scramble around finding enough buckets and pots to cover the plants with when those final frosts come!

FYI--You (and I) will be better off to wait until the soil is warmed to put those temperature-sensitive plants in the ground. The plants that are set out later will quickly make up the difference and do as well or better than the plants that were put out earlier, but in cold soil. I'm just saying!