I have to film at St. Anne’s at 1:00 today which left me about an hour and a half to get some planting done. The soil is prepared, so I was hoping to get a lot done as there are severe Thunderstorms predicted from mid-afternoon into the evening.

In the bed with the Shishitos I planted six Sweet Cherry peppers from Goebbert’s along with three Gypsy peppers. In the next be I planted six Melrose peppers and six Lady Bell all from Goebbert’s.

The Fava beans in that bed were slow to germinate, but more Bluebells had popped up and were about 8 inches tall. I pulled one up that was where I wanted to plant my last row of Lady Bell peppers and discovered it was a Fava Bean plant. They look very similar to Bluebells. Lesson learned. The Fava beans next to the side of the bed are eight inches or so, while the ones inside the bed are just popping out. Strange.

At the front of the westernmost old beds, I planted three hot banana plants and six jalapenos, again, all from Goebbert’s. I then planted four eggplants from Countryside, A purple Hansel, a white Gretel, a long purple Italian and a White Star. I fenced them immediately based on past experience with the local little woodland creatures. I’ll fill out that bed with 15 Roma tomatoes later in the week. The eggplant is a couple of weeks earlier than last year.

In the easternmost bed I set two hills of three plants of Zucchini, I think from Home Depot, and planted some Cocozelle seeds from Terroir Seeds in the third hill. This filled up half of that bed, which leaves me with the other half for any odds and ends. The planting is almost a month earlier than last year.

In the cucumber bed I planted three Summer Dance plants from Countryside on the eastern trellis. I skipped the next trellis and will plant there later, and then Planted True Lemon Cucumber seeds from Terroir on the two western trellises. Then I planted Cucamelon seeds from Terroir below the wood trellis. That rounds out the cucumber bed and the planting is almost a month earlier than last year.

I didn’t get to the tomato bed, so that will have to be done next week.

So, the first of the peppers are going in about two weeks earlier than last year. Checking online, Countryside and Goebbert’s weren’t growing Shishitos, so I was stuck trying to find them at home depot. Izabella found eight plants for me in the city, and I found the last four at the Home Depot in Crystal Lake. I picked those up from Jared yesterday and gave him the two Carolina Reapers I got for him at Countryside. On the way back from the city, I stopped at Goebbert’s to pick up the rest of my peppers and found that they had both Shishitos and Carolina Reapers, even though they didn’t have them listed on the website! Oh, well!?!

So, I planted the 12 Shishitos this afternoon in the easternmost of the three new beds. I also planted three Bounty heirloom sweet banana peppers from Countryside. I planted some of the container plants, also, but I’ll lump all of those together in another post since there are quite a few this year.

I picked enough spinach and lettuce last night to make a dinner salad or Natalie and I. I also picked some green onions to spice it up a bit. I have cherry tomatoes to plant but ran out of time and rain is coming for the next couple of days. I’m a few days behind in planting, but the weather should clear up by Tuesday and they are predicting sunny and warm into the weekend. Unfortunately, there are three inches of rain forecast for this afternoon. That’s after 4 inches of rain last Thursday.

The fava beans haven’t come up. Possibly the frost did them in. I haven’t had any luck finding Shishito peppers yet. Jared and Izabella have been checking at Home Depot, also, but nothing. Bonnie Plants also sells to Jewel and Walmart, so I guess I’ll check there, too. Today might be a good day to do that with the rain — it will minimize my exposure to Covid-19.

I had RT, my landscaper, finish rototilling my raised beds and the heirloom tomato bed yesterday. I prepared the cucumber bed by hand and finished raking the raised beds. Rain is coming in over the next few days along with higher temperatures, so I am hoping I can get some planting done between raindrops.

We had a frost and freeze last night. I brought all of the potted flowers in and covered the herbs and vegetables. The temperature dipped to 27° last night. Everything survived.

I cleaned up the herb garden around the deck today and planted parsley, rosemary and tarragon. I got rid of a clump of garlic chives in the chive bed and moved a new clump of regular chives into it’s place. Last year’s sage plants are leafing out so I trimmed out the dead branches. The chocolate mint is coming up, so I need to find someplace to put the plants that I bought. Maybe in a pot in the herb garden. The oregano is coming up also, but I’m not sure of its flavor. Some crept in last year that had almost no flavor.

I planted four short rows of Fava beans today. These are cool weather beans which I have never grown before. They might need support later on. I guess I’ll find out.

Goebbert’s opened on Friday for curbside pickup, but it had snowed a couple of inches which melted quickly, but I waited yesterday to order pansies and lettuce and a few herbs. They didn’t have red romaine or spinach available yet so I got a flat of gourmet mix and planted 4 rows in the garden and and 1 large pot on the deck. I got the pansies into the front and back deck planters also. I am still planning where I will put the herb garden, so the herbs remain in their pots.

I’ve had a busy week videoing the Holy Week services at St. Anne’s. We are 3-4 days ahead so I have time to edit and post before the Triduum. All churches are still closed because of the Corona Virus as well as everyone has stay-at-home orders.

But I did get a little break today and planted a wide row of Arugula and a row of Pak Choi. Temps were in the upper 70’s and rain is coming, so I was glad to get that in. If I have time tomorrow and it’s not too wet, I’ll put in some Fava beans.

The chives are all about 6-8 inches high and there is enough for all of my needs. We picked some today to add to our mac and cheese dinner and I used some on potatoes the other night. It is nice to have fresh herbs again. There isn’t really much that survived the winter. One of the sage plants has a few green leaves popping out and the dried leaves are still hanging on and they are quite aromatic. And some of the green onions are popping up, but not many.

I am not sure if any of the oregano made it or not. Nothing visible yet.