I just LOVE this time of year!

What's not to love about spring? Especially an early spring like this year. It is just so heartwarming to witness everything in nature coming back to life. Hope springs eternal this time of year.

I'm still afraid to plant too much for fear that winter might come back but I have planted a lot more than in previous years.

Look at those beautiful pea plants. They are doing so great. Rain is coming in this evening and we are going to have a rainy weekend which is going to make those plants really start to climb.

The lettuce plants actually look like lettuce now. Yum yum - those delectable babies are going to welcome the rain as well.

I just planted the onion plants so they don't look so hot but give them a week and they will bounce right back.

What's this? Blossoms on my replacement peach tree that I just planted last year? Wow - I sure didn't expect that this year. We'll see if any of them actually set any fruit. That would be a pleasant surprise. I guess I know the new tree is healthy.

My strawberries are also blooming. It won't be long and we will be enjoying fresh everything from the garden.

I have also planted carrots outside. The peppers I planted inside never came up and it is too late now to try and plant more so I am just going to buy pepper plants this year. Everything else that is started indoors is thriving.

Did I mention how much I LOVE spring? I really do. Even if my allergies don't!

Free Organic Lettuce Seeds

Earthbound Farms is giving away free organic lettuce seeds.

http://www.ebfarm.com/AboutUs/GrowYourOwnOrganicSalad/

Then in June, they will have a contest on how your garden grew that you can enter.

Many thanks to my friend Vanessa for this information.

The last of the lettuce for awhile

But doesn't it look yummy? I can't complain - it is almost August and to have had lettuce this far into the summer is pretty incredible.

I have two other heads that I let go to seed so hopefully I will have some fall lettuce.

I love having a fresh salad every night for dinner - I don't think you can put too many veggies on the table. It's so much better when what you have in it depends on what you found in the garden that day.

We got a good rain this morning right after I picked this - and we needed it. It has been hot and dry - not good for the garden.

The baby robins hatched. There are two of them and they are looking more and more like birds every day - they grow up so fast - I imagine Mama Robin will be kicking them out of the nest soon. It sure has been fun to watch her.

It's looking like it may be a good gardening year after all!

We had a late start and now it is just hot but the garden seems to be weathering it all. And after all, isn't there always something about the weather to complain about? Every year it is too hot, too cold, too wet, too dry or too something.

Mostly my garden is doing great. I had spotty germination on the parsnips and some of my carrots and Andy's sunflower fort has seen better years - but overall it is doing well. We have been eating lettuce and radishes from the garden for some time.

The strawberries were great this year. The currants and raspberries are loaded. The apple tree doesn't have any fruit this year and it looks like I have lost the peach tree - the green that was there has shriveled up and died. But I keep watering the tree hoping beyond hope that there is some life left in there somewhere! LOL! My plum tree has plums for the first time - I can only find 3 - so not a huge harvest but I'll take what I can get and it is still a very young tree.

I snapped a few pics of the garden this morning -



2 views of my raised bed from opposite angles.


Wayahead Tomato


The dead peach tree.

Pushing myself to Garden

What is wrong with me? I love to garden but this year I am just not doing it. I pushed myself to get out today for a little while. I don't know if it is just that I have so much else going on or if it is the weather.

But I did have a good gardening day today.

I planted:
Carrots - Scarlet Nantes, Tendersweet, Nelson Hybrid, & Atomic Red
Radishes - Easter Egg Mix
Leaf Lettuce - Lettuce Blend
Parsnips - Hollow Crown
Beets - Red Ace Hybrid

I also set my tomatoes out for a few hours today to get them used to the weather and wind so I can plant them out soon. They have grown so tall that they are touching the lights - the weather needs to cooperate so I can get them out in the ground!

I also took a couple of pictures -


The plum tree is blooming. I am hoping for plums this year - it would be the first year - last year we had a couple of blooms, but no plums.


And strawberry blossoms.

Spring is coming slowly

We've had a couple of nice days with highs in the 50s. Now it is supposed to go back to being colder and rainy. Rain I can handle - that makes the garden grow - as long as it's not snow!


The lettuce hasn't bounced back yet. We'll see what the rain does for it. If it doesn't bounce back, I will just plant more. I also get my first box from the CSA next week so hopefully they will be able to keep me in lettuce (we eat a lot of salads in my house).


The Brocolli is looking great - it likes the cold weather.


I transplanted brussels sprouts yesterday and they look nice.

I am going to start setting my cabbage plants out next.

April continues to act more like March!

And I don't want to believe that I saw snow on the ground Saturday morning. I did not take a picture of it - I prefer to be in denial.

I am going to go ahead and garden and pretend that it is a normal spring. I need to do that. I need my sanity.


Here are my Packman Brocolli seedlings. I have them sitting on my patio table (that has been freed from the grape vines) "hardening off" so I can plant them in the garden later this week. They don't mind the cold and will do great.


I planted some lettuce in the garden this weekend (seedlings I had started in the basement) - the plants don't look so hot now but they will bounce back and do fine. They don't mind the cold either. It won't be long now - I'll be eating lettuce and forgetting it was ever cold real soon.

It still looks like winter in Minnesota!

The highs continue to be 10 degrees below normal. I am so ready for spring. Ugh - more flurries are predicted for today.

Watching my seedlings in the basement grow helps me realize it really is spring and know that this snow won't last forever - even if it feels like it will!


The Red Acres Cabbage has sprouted.


The brocolli and brussells sprouts seedlings are growing taller and stronger.


And the tomatoes are even sprouting up!

The seedlings know and feel that it is spring. I can't wait for that first taste of spring lettuce and rhubarb crisp. Yum Yum!

We have sprouts!

I always get so excited when I see the first sprouts of the season. It is like everything is right with the world, the circle of life continues and warmer weather will be here soon! Like every year, the cool weather plants are sprouting first. The brocolli and brussells sprouts have all sprouted as well as some of the lettuce. I love gardening, I really do! I can't wait until I can taste the goodness these sprouts will turn into.

Sunday's Harvest

I got kind of busy yesterday and didn't get around to posting these pictures. I also dug a few new potatoes and cooked them for dinner. Nothing like the taste of new potatoes. I love the fresh taste of everything from my garden.


A basket full of lettuce and beet leaves for my salads this week.


Radishes from the third planting of radishes. I love the different colors. Whenever I have the choice to plant more than one color of something I do.


And another bucket of currants. This will be a good year for currant jelly.

My Garden Today 6/13/07

I've had a cold for over 2 weeks now and I'm getting quite sick of it. I guess I should probably go to the doctor soon and make sure it isn't my allergies. It has also finally gotten hot.

The tomatoes have just really sprouted up with this heat. I did lose several in the hail and replaced them with grape tomatoes from the nursery - but this is one that I started from seed and survived the hail. A week ago it was looking sickly and today it is the picture of health!
The pole beans are still looking beat up from the hail, but there is new growth and they are starting to put up runners. Before you know it, we'll be eating beans. Yum - there is nothing like that first taste of fresh green beans in the summer!
The lettuce has also bounced back nicely from the hail. I never pick the whole head except if it looks like it's going to bolt (go to seed) - I just pick the outer leaves and keep it growing. It looks ready for another picking.
The watermelon plant that my son started is growing and starting to flower. I sure hope he gets at least one watermelon. Nothing like success to keep a kid interested.
Andy's sunflowers are also up and looking good. They were pretty tender when the hail came, but seem to have bounced back.

In My Garden this evening

The bushes in front of the house are blooming

The currants are starting to ripen

The lettuce and cabbage are bouncing back from the hail - they are still looking tore up, but they have perked up and put out new growth - they will be fine.

The peaches are getting bigger - yum, I can't wait!

And black raspberries are forming. I am not going to get a lot of them this year since I transplanted them - but I will take any I can get. I think the blacks are my favorite. Dan likes the yellow the best and Andy just likes them all.

My first picking of lettuce and radishes

I picked lettuce and pulled a few radishes yesterday morning. There is nothing like the taste of lettuce fresh from the garden - it tastes so alive - not like the stuff you buy in the store that has been sitting there for a week. I am so glad I start my lettuce seeds early indoors under lights. Being able to start harvesting before Memorial Day is just so great.

In my garden this morning

Lots to see in my garden this morning.

The tomatoes are starting to bounce back from transplant shock. I do think I lost one or two - but most look like this one. Next week they will be looking good.

The Red Cabbage is loving the cool weather and doing good.

The Brussels Sprouts are also doing good.

The cauliflower was planted out this past weekend the same as the tomatoes and they haven't fully recovered from transplant shock yet either - but give them a week and they'll be looking fine!

The onions are looking great. I could start pulling some for green onions now if I needed to.

The last lettuce that I planted out is recovering mostly from transplant shock (this was the third planting) - but I think I may have lost the red one on the right.

The first lettuce I planted out is looking good. I will start picking the outer leaves for my evening salad in the next few days. I can't wait - nothing tastes better than lettuce you grow yourself!

The lettuce I direct seeded in the garden is also up and doing good. To the right you can see the radishes are also up.

The carrots are up - well, not the Nelson hybrid, but all of the other varieties I planted are up.

You can see baby beets here.

And the potatoes are starting to peek through the ground as well.

So far I am pretty pleased with how the garden is shaping up this year.

So many wonderful things to look at!

The lilacs are starting to bloom

The radishes are up

The lettuce is looking great

I planted onions and potatoes on Saturday. These onion plants may not look like much right now, but give them a week - they bounce back from shipping very quickly.

Apple Blossoms

And Peach Blossoms!