I was outside a little after 9:00 AM and pulled out the tomato cages, rototilled, raked and planted the the tomatoes today before the rain. As far as varieties, I got everything I wanted, but Countryside had no Oxhearts. I substituted Black from Tula.

I also tilled up the bed for the tomatillos and planted those. I had a little time left before exercise , so I planted the Okra, I chased out the rabbit who was eating all of my Romaine. Wascally Wabbit!

I seem to be a couple weeks ahead in my planting this year. The container garden is essentially done, I need to plant basil and cilantro seeds, but I’ll wait until the weather dries out a little.

I drove up to Countryside today and got the last tomato plant for the container garden, a yellow grape tomato. I also got a dozen Okra plants. They are very small and I likely won’t plant them until next week, after the rain is over. I also picked up three zucchini.

I planted the eggplant over the past weekend and installed the rabbit protection immediately. The eggplant was from Goebbert’s as were all of the peppers. I put the peppers in today. Three banana peppers and a dozen Shishitos fill the second bed from the front. The third bed has three Melrose peppers, and three Gypsy peppers. The Okra will fill out the rest of that bed.

I planted the three Zucchini in the furthest bed at the south end. Rain is in the forecast for every day until Friday. I’ll plant the Lady Bell peppers that I already bought at Goebbert’s then, and try to get the tomatoes in. I am happy with my progress so far.

I made another Goebbert’s run and got the rest of the spring vegetables. Today I planted the parsley, rosemary, spinach, and broccoli. I didn’t get the beets in, but that can wait.

There has been lots of rain in the forecast, but most of it missed us. We’ve had some frost and a frost and freeze are predicted for the next few days. It will be a week or two before I can get to tomatoes and peppers. I need to be sure that the danger of frost is over.

Goebbert’s opened on last Friday, April 12th. Natalie and I stopped in and I was able to get all of my spring greens; 9 Romaine, 6 Bok Choy. and 6 Chinese cabbage. I also picked up a Purple Sage, a flat of Pansies, a couple packets of Italian Parsley seed, and two packets of Genovese Basil seeds. We had a nice conversation with Lee Goebbert.

I planted the spring greens on Monday, in 75° weather. RT showed up around 10:30 and I was able to get him to rototill the bed for the greens. as well as the two beds next to the firepit. In addition to the spring greens I planted peas from some old seeds. I planted them quite densely in case the germination rate is low and will then them, once they germinate. I weeded that bed and it is ready for 8 Broccoli plants. I am hoping I can get them in the morning before the rain starts, assuming they are available at Goebbert’s. I also seeded the herb garden with Italian Parsley.

We have many rabbits in the yard, so I hope my greens survive. Natalie picked up some Irish Spring soap which we can shave into the garden. It is supposed to repel rabbits.

Natalie and I cleaned up the deck yesterday, and I filled the pots with pansies. We were able to have dinner on the deck after I finished planting. The yard is looking good since RT picked up and mowed the lawn.

We have had an unusually warm winter. There has been no snow in over a month. I picked my first chives a week ago, they were at 6 inches already. The thyme stayed green all winter, and I have picked that several times.

I’ve been busy on home projects, getting my studio and workshops back in order, so I haven’t thought much about the garden. It is almost time to plant peas and parsley, so I decided I had better order the rest of the seeds for the year so that they are here when I need them.

Here is my 2004 order:

3 – Slow Bolting Cilantro
1 – Lazy Housewife Pole beans
2 – Cocozelle Zucchini
1 – True Lemon Cucumber
1 – Crystal Apple Cucumber
1 – Cucamelon/Mouse

I Plan on planting the Cilantro in succession pots on the lower deck where it will be out of the hot sun. Hoping that will work. I will add more cucumber trellises along the south side of the yard in front of the mock orange.

I didn’t do any fall clean-up or prep, so I have my work cut out for me.

The key to a good garden is good preparation in the fall. Spring weather can be erratic and if the ground isn’t prepared ahead of planting, the plantings will be late or not happen.

Maybe hit thistle and other hard to kill weeds with RoundUp in the fall, that way the residual amount will be negligible in the Spring. The beds need to be tilled and then top-dressed with mulch in the fall to keep the spring weeds down.

The Early Girl II tomatoes have been producing since mid-June, and the Champion II plants are producing as well. These are both winners for early tomatoes, and kept producing well into October until the daytime temperatures dropped into the 50s.

The okra is not growing well, and that needs to get in earlier.

The basil in pots is doing well, and I probably need at least 3 pots and should seed every three weeks.

There is no reason to plant mustard greens.

8 romaine plants are enough. It bolts too fast to plant any more than that. Parsley should be seeded early, like before May 1.

It looks like the Malabar spinach is doing very well in the pot. I’ll definitely do it that way next year.

My eggplant did very well, all though most of it went to waste as we didn’t use it. We’ll need to prepare better for it’s usage. With the kids here we didn’t make as much pasta with vegetables as we used to and they were no completely content eating mostly vegetables.

There were a few pole beans in October, but not enough to use. I planted them July 15th, which is way too late. Also, some critter chewed through the stems after the plants were a couple feet high. It might not work as a follow up to peas.

I think I want to get the cucumbers closer to the house so that I can water them more. I think that they would have produced longer with more water.

We had a couple of hard freezes the past couple of nights and a heavy layer of snow last night which is now mostly gone, but the garden is pretty much over, other than kale, a few beets and some herbs.

I picked what was left before the frost and got an eggplant, zucchini, and a bunch of peppers.

The garden itself did quite well this summer, my use of it didn’t. I mostly gave up after Labor Day. I jammed my little toe on Labor Day and somehow messed up my back and that took the wind out of my sails. All is better now, so I am hoping to get the cleanup done and be prepared for next spring.

I was up early and saw this sunrise through the window and had to go out and capture it. RT mowed yesterday so the lawn was looking nice, too. I also had my first heirloom tomatoes on my toast this morning. What a treat.

The Heirlooms all decided to ripen today. Above is a sampling. Everything else is coming in except the cucumber which have slowed down. I need to weed the two back beds. It has been hard to keep up with everything going on.

We are nearing the peak of garden production. I picked the first Cocozelle zucchini today.

The Container Garden is in full production with Jalapeno peppers, Serrano peppers, Basil, various cherry tomatoes, and a pot of Malabar Spinach off to the side.