Gloriously, we have had sunshine. Almost a full week of sunshine and warmer temps without rain until the next go round! Between paperwork and the garden, I haven't been cooking much. Handsome has been taking me out to eat or picking up food for us. I've been catching lunches and some suppers from the canned goods in the pantry.
I'm still working on planting potatoes. I've replanted what some of the ones the critters (doggies included) had dug up. I've been working mainly in what used to be the F'd Up Flowerbed that used to be a wildflower bed. This year it is growing mostly veggies. There are already quite a few volunteer sunflowers, I'm trying to save them as I go.
We were finally able to find some reasonably priced plant starts. I also picked up some pansies for the planters, some garlic (yeah I know it's really late for that), and some Vidalia onion sets. Then I went to the Mennonite store and bought regular purple and yellow onion sets. And the farm store had tomato plants.... shhhhh.....
The cole crops I purchased are: broccoli, red kale, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, red cabbage and kohlrabi. I've not been successful growing some of these before but I'm still hopeful. All are planted, along with the garlic and onions.
I was hoping to plant some beans but it just isn't warm enough yet. I'm loving the early spring but you cannot trust the frost dates around here anymore. Soil temp is still in the 40 degree range, that won't bring the summer crops up yet.
I have some leafy greens and roots to plant but I've not prepared the beds yet. I don't have any turnip seeds so that is on my list next trip to town. Will I like turnips now that I'm an adult? I dunno! And what about parsnips? I've never even tasted a parsnip, but I sure would like to grow them!
Do you plan your garden layout each year? I don't anymore. I can't keep track of it and I just plant as I'm able and what I have on hand at the time. I learned last year not to buy too many starts at once if I'm not planning to plant them right away. I would love to start my own seeds but that just didn't get done this spring; too many other things to do!
Thanks to help from Handsome and his machinery, I was able to get a good portion of the potatoes mulched and some of the flower beds mulched too. He brought out the skidsteer and moved a compost pile for me. Then he took out the old rotten tree stump. He also worked on smoothing some areas left from previous construction. And we have "hatched" a plan for some new raised beds out front.
Spring has sprung and we are taking full advantage!