Early season gardening
More gardening is getting done, slowly but surely. Amazingly, I discovered that a single parsley survived the entire winter in a relatively well protected spot at the edge of the greenhouse adjacent garden. I can't wait to see what gardening miracles this year will bring.
I have now rototilled twice both the enlarged garden next to the Quonset and the smaller garden next to the greenhouse. Once was in late fall, after dumping some bird poop on them and now again in very early spring. Another tilling by mid May should make it good to go.
In anticipation, over the past several days, I have been starting last year's leftover seeds in the greenhouse. They look to be in very good shape, so I hope germination rates will be rather decent. So far, I have started Italian eggplants, broccoli, cherry tomatoes, and okras. It would be great to start some vines - at least pumpkins, squashes, cantaloupes and watermelon, as well. Hopefully I can get that done later this week.
There has also been some progress in the flower department, as I decided to put out Cannas early this year. Their rhizomes from last fall were not looking so good - drying up even with all the soil I left around them. Most people on the net did not recommend it, but I decided to do it anyway. Cannas are fairly hardy, so unless temperatures suddenly drop into the teens, they will probably be better of in the moist ground then shriveling in my basement.
Surviving the winter in the greenhouse were a few seedlings of Lilacs that volunteered from seed last spring and I containerized before the rabbits go to them. Now, I transplanted them to a semi-sheltered location outdoors. I mulched them pretty well, so I hope they survive even though they already started to leaf out. If not, that's too bad, but they were not worth moving to larger containers in the greenhouse anyway.
I'll probably not put out Gladioli, Dahlias and Elephant Ears until May - I have plenty of things to do in the meantime. Ash tress will need to be sprayed against borers pretty soon, plants will have to be watered a lot more, steps in the backyard must be completed, Sofae's play-set has to be built and let's not forget taxes - I really should file them on time this year!

Post new comment