Early Garden

The first of my early crops are poking their heads through the soil. Spinach, turnips, beets, radishes, peas, rocket, and onions are all thriving. We've been really fortunate with the weather so far, and I'm glad I took advantage of the early spring to work the soil and get everything in.

Inside, I have seedlings in covered trays atop the fridge (really, it is like having a heating mat) and in my sunny dining room window. Danny ordered some black icicle tomatoes from Baker Creek that he's pretty excited about. They sent along a complimentary packet of wildflowers as well, so he's quite pleased. I bought him some seed packets for the Easter basket this year as well (it went over so well last year) and I suppose he'll need a new garden journal. Each packet gets pasted carefully into the book along with pertinent information about the development of the seeds.

As we had such a dry winter, I was concerned the tulip bulbs might not do well, but the first leaves are poking up, and I'm hoping they last more than a day or two (we get our share of high winds here).

Less exciting-the grass needs mowing-already. I hate mowing grass. Eventually, I hope to plant the back entirely and just have the grass in front of the house to deal with. It isn't really grass at all, anymore. It is ironweed, and something that used to be grass fifty years ago before it bred with some herbicide resistant weed. It looks ok from a distance, but it isn't the sort of lawn you'd want to spread a blanket on and have a picnic, even if the farm wasn't full of flies.

I bought some sorrel to re-plant (we lost ours to a bit of bulldozing after the tornado) but I may grow it in a pot as it has a tendency to take over. Mr. ETB doesn't care for schav, so I'm still a little unsure what I'll actually do with it. Who knows, sorrel ravioli might be the next big food trend (unlikely, but not impossible).

What I'm really excited about is the new hand-weeding tool I purchased at the hardware store (I know, the things I get excited over are pretty boring) I will update as soon as I get a chance to try it out.

I was never a keen gardener until after Danny was born-his interest has probably kept me out there weeding long after I would otherwise. I will say that I've learned quite a bit from the failures, and do not consider myself in any way expert. Largely, I've been the recipient of dumb-luck. I stick things into the ground, and most of the time they grow.

I wish I had the same luck with squirrels (yes, it defeated the humane trap, and made off with the cob of dried corn). At least the weather is warm and it will likely remain outside. Did you ever see the movie, Mousetrap? It is like that, with a squirrel.