Last Saturday, we made a road trip to Woldhuis Sunrise Nurseries in Grant Park, Illinois. It was a three-hour round trip, but given the pricing and selection, we thought it would be worth it. It was. The pricing is 50% to 75% off what I would pay for plants at our local nurseries. Given how many spring plants I buy, that discount is a big deal.

The nursery has about 9 acres under glass, and the selection is enormous. It was cold outside in the wind, but the nursery is inside. I have seen nothing quite like it. The downside is that all the plants are on a concrete floor rather than on tables. The customers were mostly our age, so it was fun to get plants up and into a cart. The aisles aren’t much wider than a cart, which slows things down. It took us a couple of hours to load up our carts, mostly because we weren’t used to the greenhouse’s organization.

Acquiring these plants is likely going to be way more work than planting them. I did pretty well with my list, but there are some varieties I will need to get at Countryside and Goebbert’s. In addition to the vegetable plants, we bought four hanging baskets and a flat of pansies. I filled up the car; nothing else would have fit in. It was definitely worth the trip.

I was dragging this week with a bad cold, but on Tuesday, I finally got outside around 3:00 and planted the pansies, then spinach and onions. I turned on the front yard water and watered the pansies and hanging baskets. Then I watered everything in the back yard. That little bit of work took everything out of me.

Frost is predicted for Friday night, so I will hold off an any planting until Monday. The weekend is too packed with other commitments and Monday will be in the 70s.

My plan for this week was to move the two planter boxes being replaced by a new steel bin. I hoped to use them to replace the two worst wooden planters. I emptied and moved one of them yesterday, Wednesday, and it fell apart during the move. One of the existing planters was leaning, so I tried to straighten it, but the bottom collapsed, and all the dirt spilled onto the ground. The remaining planters are in poor condition, with rotted dovetail joints at all corners. I went in, checked Amazon, and found steel planters of the same size for $60 each. I ordered four, and they will be here on Friday. The old planters are beyond repair.

Today, on Thursday, I emptied five of the planters and disassembled them. So, my space is clear for the new planters.

I got one of the new planters built on Friday and went to Goebbert’s opening day! I bought Romaine lettuce, Pak Choi, Broccoli, and Red and White Onions. This year, I remembered to check all of the labels.

Saturday was a little on the cool side, but I built another planter and set 12×12 concrete pads to put the four new planters on. I built another planter and got two planters installed, filled with soil, and planted. I worked for about six hours straight and made good progress.

I’ve got a good start on the garden and am on schedule. It is supposed to rain tonight which will be good as I don’t have the water hooked up yet. I am hoping I can get the last two planters built tomorrow. I can do that on the back porch if it is raining.

There is rain in the forecast for most of the week, but we’ll be in the 70s. I haven’t seen RT yet, but they usually start the third week of April. The big job will be getting the three new beds built and installed and filled with dirt.

Sunday was much warmer, with the temperature almost hitting 80°. The rain held off until I put the last shovelful of dirt into the fourth planter. Benedicamus Domino! We had an extremely large wind gust this afternoon. One took the roof off my SunCast shed. I set it back on and am praying for no more wind until I can repair it. In any case, I reached my goal of assembling and installing the last two planters.