Porch and Yard Update - 4/1/2012

Apr 1st:    Day length:   12 hrs, 41 min   -   That's 45 minutes longer than 3/15
                      Sunrise:         6:45 AM
                      Sunset:          7:26 PM
                      High Temp:    59 degrees F      Low Temp:    41 degrees F

      These two week updates keep rolling along at a furious pace.  As does the coming out of spring.  Flowers in abundance, and trees about to leaf out.  The gardening season already pushing further behind in plantings that need to be done.

Trex cold frame,  4/1/2012

      The Walla Walla onions started from seed have done well and are begging to be planted out.  The minutina in the bottom right corner is in full seed production mode, and I should harvest some just to try growing new plants from my own seed.  It also amazes me to see what  changes on the Fedco Seed Catalog from year to year due to crop failure.  Keeping one's own seed lines going can make sense.

Wooden cold frame

      The yellow blooms are from the mizuna mustard, a favorite for both the delicious greens and their attractive serrated appearance.  The romaine lettuce at the bottom of the cold frame are the plants from my post: http://fromseedtoscrumptious.blogspot.com/2011/12/plant-rescue-101.html

Fava beans planted 3/30/2012

Transplanted onions and swiss chard

Onions that overwintered and need dividing

Seedlings in busted aquarium

      Many of my starts from seed have been disappointing.  Here in the aquarium, the slugs have crawled in from the broken bottom and decimated most of the cole crop seedlings.  The voles over at the park love my little "micro" greens in my frames.  I cooked a whole flat of cole seedlings in one frame, and have quite a bit of slug damage at the park as well.  Certainly takes some of the fun out of the whole process.

  The tomato and pepper seedlings on the porch are still a high point though.  It will take careful hardening off on trips to the deck to get the plants acclimated to outside sun before they can go into the gardens.  And although the weather has been warm, it is still far too early to think of tomatoes or peppers unprotected this early in the season.