Seedling Update - Inside & Outside

Here are the March 24 planted tomatoes, anise hyssop, and spicy globe basil. As cute as they are, today is the day the baby tomatoes were potted up and moved out to the garage. What low temperature do you think they'll tolerate? They lean too much in the window and I'd rather they stay under the lights in the garage.
Big brother tomatoes here, were started March 3. They've been in the house ever since their purple screams, but I hope they'll now get comfortable in the garage under the light. As a side note, see the stone semi-circle and pipe out the window? The pipe is 4 feet, same as my beds. The stones are currently somewhere I don't want them so I'm considering using them as end caps for the garden beds. As they are, it has been a struggle keeping a clear line between the end of the bed and the grass. Straight ends would be more practical for grass trimming, but I think I'd like the curves.
The outside winter sowing experiment has had some good results. (I do take the caps off on the sunnier days.) They do get more light being outside. They are also should be better adjusted to the temperature patterns outside.
Lettuce seedlings and my first Swiss chard (Bright Lights). All my other lettuce seedlings were planted out in the garden last weekend, so these will be the next wave.
Spinach and broccoli here. My earlier seeding (inside) of spinach didn't sprout so I'm glad to have some here. Earlier seedlings of broccoli were also planted out in the garden last weekend.

The other seedlings now up in the milk jugs are nasturtiums. So far, the older seeds of catnip, chamomile and columbine haven't sprouted.

Inside today, I did plant some more seeds to go in the "oven." Hyssop, spicy globe basil, fennel and more nasturtiums.

So now I'm going to go curl up with a blanket. I've been cold all day. Hopefully, tomorrow won't have such a cold wind blowing and I can play a little in the newly rototilled space.

Expansion!

Finally, I'm back online! Here's Dear Husband (in MY boots, Yolanda & Libby) tilling up the 2 and a halfish new beds in the garden. Our nice neighbors let us borrow their tiller if we promise to go easy on the number of zucchini left on their doorstep. If it stops raining, maybe by Sunday I can lay out the beds and paths and add some compost.

This is adds to the other 4 beds + herb bed in the main garden. Last fall, I spread grass cuttings in this area and then put down burlap green coffee bags (see above). I thought I would go back later and also put sheets of newspapers under the bags to kill out the grass, but I never did. The dirt pile above is where I did a little digging to see if the soil was dry enough to till.
Above, as I removed the bags for tilling, I pulled back this bag on a pathway. I had put newspaper down first in the paths. It is now deteriorating and the worms seem to like this environment. It really did help discourage growth in the paths.
In the photo above, I've removed the bags before tilling. They did discourage grass, but not dandelions! That's ok, I'll take whatever help I can get. After I form the new beds, I'll put the coffee bags down again to prevent weeds before I'm ready to plant beans and other warmer weather vegetables. As I dig in the compost, I'll remove some of those dandelion roots.

Garden Depth

All of the bunnies hopping around the blogs lately made me think of this one. She greets you by our front door and is currently in the company of bleeding hearts. This bunny was given to my parents by a neighbor when I was born. The neighbor sold garden statuary items. No, she's not an antique yet! She is one of the things I remember always being around in my childhood room. My garden is like my house. Many of the things & plants in it are more than what they might first appear to be. I'll bet your garden is like this too.

Eastershine

Here's a little Eastershine for those you with Eastersnow. Just keep in mind that the sun was gone by 3pm, and we'll soon be back in the 30's at night. Above, you see the cold frames (with their end windows laying against the sides due to the warm temps).

I lost a few windows during the December wind storms. So, rather than use my original set-up from last year (see this link and this one), I decided to set them up directly in the garden. This way, some plants can actually go in the ground rather than hanging out longer in pots while they benefit from some protection. Some of these windows won't last much longer so next year, I'll move on to some sort of tunnel/hoop cloche for 1 or 2 beds.

Left, front A-frame above has volunteer chives and a few lettuce seedlings planted Saturday. Next right has large pea seedlings hardening off before being planted. Next right has just seeded beets and 2 broccoli seedlings just planted out. Far right A-frame has many lettuce seedlings and 2 more broccoli seedlings planted out on Saturday. I'll have some of the lettuce cleared out and the A-frame gone before the broccoli plants need all of the space.
My new (used) Easter (garden) basket. I don't know if the dividers are to separate wine bottles or something else, but they really work to keep tools in place, hold seed packets and to separate the camera from the tools. I've not been a big glove wearer, but now I wear these most of the time. Before the sun moved on, it was just a beautiful time for puttering around in the herb bed, pulling some young grass and dandelions and checking everything out. And these are the little "Easter eggs" I found digging around in the herb bed. I'm also happy to see the bee balm / Monarda sending up shoots. The wonderful rosemary, sorry to say, did not make it though the snow and ice this winter. It was the trailing type and I've found it to be more sensitive to cold winters than the upright rosemary.

Easter Blossoms

Happy Easter!

Evening shot of the Rainier cherry tree.

Romancing Ms. Frog

Tonight might be Frog's lucky night. See how he's filled the pond with romantic flower petals? The water should be warm and cozy under the clear, starry night. He's singing his best song and has a lovely bug breakfast planned for the morning. Now the frog you see above is the ceramic floating frog used as singing Frog's lily pad before the real ones have sprouted. In this link you can see him sitting on it. He is the little (with a big voice) brown Pacific Tree Frog, vs. the bright green ones also around.
Tonight a little after 7pm. But I don't think it will stick around for long.

How warm?

Just a quick note tonight. If you stop by on Friday, note the temperature (to the right) and post it in a comment. It's going to be an usually warm one, and I'll be inside, so you can help me re-live it later. Saturday should be a nice gardening day too.

In the winter sowing experiment on March 24, I'm seeing little lettuce, spinach and broccoli when I peek in through the top. The inside seedlings in that same post have sprouted tomatoes, basil, spicy globe basil, and anise hyssop.

In the garage, the lettuce and peas are growing roots out the bottom of the pots so they can walk themselves to the garden.

In the garden, I'm seeing volunteer borage seedlings throughout. There may be also some bachelor button seedlings.

Oh, yes. After a few cold and quiet nights, frog and friends are singing again.

Birds be Warned: Sunflower Seed Plans

Sorry, birds. You cannot have these jumbo sunflower seeds! And you might not get to harvest all you can eat from the garden either. A Chinese friend from work has been sharing these around the office and they've been quite a hit. When she first showed them to me, I was amazed by the size (they are large, but note that they're on a quite small saucer above). We couldn't decide what flavor they had so she brought the bag in to show us.
The ingredients?: Sunflower seeds, salt (but light), LICORICE and FENNEL, artificial sweetener. The seeds are soaked and boiled with the ingredients and then dried. They aren't messy in the hand and what a nice flavor!

Do you think I can make them from my sunflowers? I have fennel seedlings and anise hyssop seedlings which are supposed to have nice licorice-flavored leaves. I can feel an experiment coming this summer! Thanks for sharing, L!

Need Spring Chicks?

What will I do with all these chicks? The flock has been very happy in this old wheel barrow, but some must now find new homes or everyone will be too crowded. Let me know if you have room for a few. They really are some of the happiest plants in the garden and always make me smile. After all, no early morning crowing or feedings. No passports either, but they should survive interstate mailings.

Pinked Peas

The new and exotic pinked snow peas are growing! The decorative pea pods with scalloped edges will just be a delight in salads, I'm sure. I'll save seeds, so let me know if you want some. And welcome to April (April 1st, that is)!

...So the real question is who do you think has been eating these peas? A slug would have finished the whole leaf. Who would only be eating in such a decorative manner?