Fast and Furious

Wow. Today was quite a productive day as far as the garden is concerned. It has been a little while since I have made an entry here but that is simply because there hasn't been much going on other than the continual removal and turning in of leaves. Also, it has kind of been a slow cold spring thus far. But looking at the forecast for the next week, it looks to be fairly warm, getting to the mid to upper 50's each day and also there looks to be rain almost every day. As far as seed starting goes, an uptick in temps with constant moisture for germination is really ideal. Being that I have semi raised beds and a nice soil filled with organic matter, I'm not too worried about drainage and seed rot. Perhaps I am being optimistic but I feel relatively confident that my soil will drain enough to prevent rot.

Yesterday (April 6th), Jack and I went out and bought some pea inoculate and some composted manure. For those that may not know, pea inoculate is a type of bacteria that you add onto your seeds. This bacterial will help peas form nodes on their roots that will take atmospheric nitrogen and transfer it into your soil. I added the manure into some of my side beds that didn't get as much attention over the last year in order to help prep them for the growing season.

I added the manure while Jack was taking his afternoon nap. It is kind of tricky to get a lot of garden work done when he is awake. Our back yard is not fenced in completely (though we are in the process of fixing that) and now that he is mobile on his feet, he likes to head towards the front of the house and the road. Not exactly easy to concentrate on what needs to be done when I'm worrying about him taking up a mission to go play in the road. But I get done what I can, when I can.

Speaking of which, last night I attempted to put together my homemade pea trellis using bamboo poles and chicken wire. Inside. At 9pm. While a child was sleeping in the house. I probably don't have to tell you that it wasn't a good idea. I did manage to get one half finished before just getting pissed off and scraping it for another day. I do have to give credit here to my wife Maggie for talking me off a ledge. Sometimes I get a vision in my head and when I can't do it how or when I want to, I get a little ornery about it. We like to refer to it as Joe Pesci-ing out. Yes, that is a reference to the Snickers commercial.

But today was a new day and with the help of Maggie, we were able to get two pea trellis' built.

On the trellis closest to the fence I planted Mammoth Melting Snow Peas and on the trellis to the front I have Super Sugar Snap peas.

Along with those plantings, I transplanted out half of my Cos lettuce seedlings. I only did half because I didn't want to doom all of them if I am putting them out too early. But to be honest, some of them needed to be thinned out again and I figured instead of re-potting them and planting them in the ground all within 2-3 weeks, I'd take my chances with putting them in the ground right now and saving a step. I figure if/when it drops below freezing again, I'll just cover them for the time being.

Along with the transplants, I also planted some Cos seeds to help stagger the growth and harvest. Other seeds that went into the ground today include spinach, Easter Egg radishes, Black Simpson lettuce and Grand Rapids lettuce.

 These aren't the sexiest pictures in the world but it does give you an idea of what I have going and where. Not picture are the tomatoes, dill, and basil that I am going to start inside later tonight. But for now, dinner and family calls. There might even be a poopy diaper that needs to be changed.