The spring weather has been just as lamb-like as promised, and all of the plants are thrilled. Everywhere in town the early fruit trees are blooming, and everything has the spring green glow of tiny leaves bursting out of winter branches. At the red house, there are new blooms and sprouts, and the indoor seedlings are ready to be potted up.

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Let’s take a tour of the garden!

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The front flower beds have a few new blooms. The very first forget-me-nots are blooming on their own for now, but soon there will be a blue cloud of them to enjoy. There is one Checkered Fritillary nestled in the grass, keeping me from mowing for a while longer. Next week, this budding columbine will be in full bloom.

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Tiny Orchard

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The baby trees in the tiny orchard are waking up despite the whitewash, this Liz’s Late Nectarine is flowering, but I won’t let it try to fruit this year. The Bartlett Pear is just about to pop, and the rasberry canes are getting leafier by the day.

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Vegetable Garden

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The vegetable beds are looking much better after a day of weeding last weekend. I definitely need to get that chard into the kitchen, and to pick the purple sprouting broccoli that is just barely visible in the neighboring bed. There are still a few carrots, too, and some beets to eat up before we turn those beds over to tomatoes and peppers. The garlic and shallots are looking really good, they’ll just need weeding every so often and to have their water managed. This week’s very exciting news is that the peas are up!

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I cleaned out the bolting salad bed and re-planted. There were still some small lettuces so I left them alone and added more lettuce, radishes, turnips, mizuna and kohlrabi. The radishes are already up!

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Seedling Nursery

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Inside, it is time to pot up some of these tomatoes, and to figure out getting the cardoons planted out in the garden. I have lots of little bunching onions and leeks, which I will nurse along inside for a while and then go plant out around the garden. Rather than turning over a garden bed to onions, I’ve been tucking them in around the fruit trees and in the herb garden. I was worrying about peppers and tomatoes, but I am starting to feel better as things germinate, lose their seed coat, and finally grow second leaves. I have about 5 times as many eggplants as I need now. This always happens. I’ll give them away to friends.

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Garden tasks for this Weekend

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  • Keep weeding- this is ongoing maintenance now.

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• • Mow again, being careful of the fritillaries.

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• • Harvest the rest of the carrots and beets before they bolt

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• • Keep working on dismantling the brick planters.

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• • Start bringing in mulch for around the trees.

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• • Scatter cool spring seeds.

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• • Pot up the seedlings that are ready, and figure out where to begin hardening off.

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What are you working on this weekend?

Let us know what the weather looks like where you live. What zone are you in? What’s coming up in your beds? Can you plant anything yet? Let us know!

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