A Time To Sow

Oh what a beautiful sunshiny day it was here!  I couldn't resist.  After a little errand-running with DH and DS3, I came home to dig in the dirt.  Scored the fencing for my strawberry bed.  On the advice of more experienced gardeners, I've resigned myself to the fact we will not have berries because we need plant growth this year.  I also found a new Joseph's Coat climbing rose!!! These are so hard to find!  And...we bought windows for the chicken coop ~ DH was already digging into his stash of 2x4s and framing walls this afternoon (I love that handy man of mine!)  His design is loosely based on a photo he found online ~ pics to come as the work progresses

So, the sun was shining, the sons were in the sandbox, and DH was in the garage.  After the last week of frosty nights, I had 3 loads of towel/sheet laundry on the line.  And what would be more natural than digging in the dirt?  Today I planted onions, garlic, lettuce, and staked off other plants to come later in the season (place-holders if you will).

There's a list of cold-weather veggies that would tolerate a mild frost, and I try to get those in as early as possible.  Around here the deep summer is too hot for these goodies, so plant early or don't plant.  Good Friday is a good goal for things like that, other books I've read say "as soon as you can work the ground."  Here are my early spring plantings: Potatoes, beets, carrots, onions, garlic, lettuce, spinach, peas, and broccoli.


Now, the potatoes and beets have been in for a few weeks thanks to our mild weather, and are starting to peek out of the ground.  Carrots are in, but not up yet.  Today was onions (I'm trying yet again -- never had good luck with them before), garlic (new this year), and salad greens (in the former strawberry raised bed, closer to the house).

For the onions we bought from the open stock of onion bulbs, and only bought ones that already have green growing; planted them every 6" alternating in true square-foot advantage.  I'm hoping this increases my success rate -- I refuse to give up!  The garlic came as a set of 3 bulbs -- which you split into cloves and plant at 3" intervals.  We use a lot of garlic, so I'm looking forward to having fresh.

I'm so excited to have a true "kitchen garden" now, in addition to the large veggie garden.  DH built a double 4x7' raised bed a few years back.  This is about half the yard closer to the house -- very handy!  The lower tier is herbs, and the upper tier is now salad garden.  Today I planted spinach, gourmet blend lettuce, green ice lettuce, and mesclun seeds.  I also had a few lettuce plants, started three or four weeks ago, so those went in as well.

The peas and broccoli will have to wait for another day.  I need a trellis figured out before I decide where to plant the peas.  My broccoli is not quite big enough to be hardy yet, they are still indoors.  C'est la vie.  Can't do it all in a day, right?

I was motivated by the sunshine, yes.  But also the upcoming forecast.  We've had a cold snap, as can be expected in April.  Most of my plants made it through fine.  There's a little frost-nip on the grapes, but most of the plant is still good.  The lows aren't supposed to dip below 35 for the next 10 days, and 5 days have rain predicted at some point or another -- perfect growing weather!  One of the best gardening tips I can give: plant right before the rain... you save yourself from having to water, and nothing soaks the ground and seeds like a good rain anyway!  Many times I find myself getting those last few seeds in while it's sprinkling -- and it works well.

So as we are told, there is a time for everything under the sun, it is wisdom to recognize it and make the most of it.  A time to cozy and crochet (which I did over the days I nursed a cold), a time to bake (anticipating a joyful holiday with the family), a time to cover plants (being prudent on the freezing nights), and a time to sow (today!) and a time to get that laundry off the line (now, as the sun just set).  What a joy to take each day as it comes and make the most of it -- even when it's jam-packed and challenging!  A favorite of our family: This is the day the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it!