Spring Garden Update

As March draws to a close, I wanted to write down everything we have accomplished for our garden so far this spring.

Taylor has been an amazing helper - it is astonishing the difference one year makes in a tiny human. Last spring, at age one and a half, Taylor "helped" by planting his first radish seeds. He didn't really get any seeds in their holes and he drowned them in water immediately after. But I was more focused on him enjoying being in the garden with me, so I kept it light-hearted and fun. And it WAS fun... it just didn't result in any radishes, haha!

This spring, I was rewarded grately for my patience last year. Taylor joyfully helped me prep the one of the garden beds and planted one precious pea in each hole I made. It really was helpful as I've been getting some arthritis in my hands, and fishing out seeds one at a time (even seeds as big as peas) is challenging when I'm having a flare up. Not only was he helpful, he was happy to garden with me. It was absolutely lovely!



So, we successfully got all of our peas in around the edges of one bed, and we scattered carrots seeds throughout the middle. I also got my kale plants out into their bed and started working the soil of the other beds - mixing in all that lovely coffee compost that I hauled in.

Taylor helped me mix up our own potting soil for a few big outdoor containers. I'll be putting a few plants in each that I wanted just for variety. I hope the extra containers won't make my crop rotation & seed saving too complicated. Heh.


Indoors, we have all our tomatoes and pepper seeds set up with heating mats and lights. I'm trying to save a tomato seed that my partner's grandmother brought over from Ukraine during WWII. Hopefully it does well here! I really want to be able to hand it down to Taylor when he gets older.

In-between our indoor seedlings and outdoor transplants, I have a ton of lettuce in containers. We have a wicked slug problem so I want them to get a bit bigger before I put them in the ground. I usually leave them out in the day, cover them at night, and bring them inside when it gets to be in the 30's.

As of this writing, I still need to sow outside our beets, spinach, radishes, and more lettuce (you can never have too much lettuce. Also, slugs). But I'm optimistic that those will get in the ground shortly.

Oh, I almost forgot! We got our "berry patch" ready - I made a new bed for blackberries, and I divided and transplanted our strawberries. I should be getting our blackberry starts and hazelnuts in the mail during the first week or two of April. After that - we'll be building our chicken coop!

How are your gardens coming along? Any exciting additions? Are you as relieved as I am that spring is finally here?!

Happy gardening,
Susan

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