Warming up...sort of :)

It's so nice having some days that have been nice enough to work outside all day! And I'm telling you, I am glad that one of my kiddies was on my back, so I only had to chase 4 (plus the two dogs) ;)

The garden is pretty much prepped (tilled, raked, and staked) and we have planted beets and onions. I don't know what to expect, but I'm hopeful.

I can tell you right now, I planted my squash too early. They are overgrowing their 2nd pots, and are just getting too gangly-looking. I'm going to start praying for them I think. The flowers I planted are doing well...I think they will do fine. The cucumbers and the cantelope are also doing well, but the watermelons died (I planted some new ones but they haven't sprouted yet). If I had it to do over, I would plant the squash and gourds about now instead of last month.

I got a seed planting guide from J&L...when I can get my scanner working, I'll post it on here.

A casualty...

It has been such nice weather for the most part this week, that on Friday, I thought it would be good to give my plants some "real" sunlight. The high was around 50 degrees or so. The first half of the day, everything looked good, but I think it was a touch too cool for my little watermelons because about half of them withered :( Everything else did fine...I think the other plants were big enough that they handled the temperature better, but the watermelong were just too small. I'm going to buy some more this week and try again.

Early spring stuff...

Wow, it's been a busy week in the garden! Many of my squash, gourd, and melon starts outgrew their pods, so this week I have been busy transplanting. I didn't expect that many of them to turn out, so I've been farming a bunch of them out to friends, because my basement is starting to look like a scene from "Where the Wild Things Are."

Last week I planted peas from seed, and this week, I am trying an experiment. I bought pea starts from the nursery, so I'm going to see how the starts compare with the plants from seed. I also transplanted my spinach, and planted some onions today. It's been around 50 degrees all week, so it's good planting weather for the cold plants.

Yesterday, I tilled our garden and raked it again...it has about a 6-10" base, so I'm hoping that will be deep enough. I only hit the sprinklers 3 times :( I love my tiller, though, can I just say that. I tell everyone, so you've probably already heard this story, but about 4 years ago, I found it on ksl.com for $25...in Preston, Idaho :) So I packed up my then 3 children and we drove 2 hours and hauled home my beautiful yellow tiller. It's probably older than me, but I love it so so so much. If I don't get to play in the dirt in heaven, I am going to be very upset.

I also planted my asparagus!!! I had to dig a 6" trench, put the roots in, and bury it with 3" of dirt. As it emerges from the soil, you are supposed to bury it a bit more, until by the end of the summer, you have filled in the 6" trench.

It doesn't look like my garden boxes are going to happen this year...we had to buy a washer and dryer instead...grrr. So I'm hoping since I tilled so deep that the beds will still turn out okay. Once we get our taxes, I am going to Lowes to buy my trellis stuff. I already bought the stakes, so I'm excited to get going on this.

We are also getting ready to sod the yard which is no small task considering our yard looks like an overgrown Eden. But I'm excited to have a place for my kids to play...finally.