More seeding

The arrival of summer this past week meant a flurry of activity in the yard this weekend. During the week we finished seeding the beds behind the garage with three kinds of carrots (nantes, yellowstone and dragon) as well as some rutabagas. Amazingly, some of the carrots have already germinated and poked some wispy leaves through the soil. I think the sun bounce off the garage wall is the key.

The early rhubarb has really jumped up in the heat. And some of the peas (below), garlic and onions we planted a couple of weeks back are pushing up. No sign of the beets but I recall being similarly concerned last year and they showed up eventually. So far there has been no difference between the store-bought and the saved peas in terms of germination rate or speed.

The garlic in the cold frames is tall enough now that I have put the glass away. I've kept the glass on the kale (which has now produced true leaves) to keep them warmer at night.

We're also starting to see some bulb action, pretty much the exact same day as last year. The daffodils are out along the side of the house. We've started adding to the herb garden beside them with some mint. We also dropped in a bunch of marigolds in between the stepping stones in the back bed.

The tulip tarda (tardia?) is also flowering. These are lovely little flower our gardening guru Alan gave us several years back. They have survived construction, several unearthings during bed digging, and being unceremoniously jammed back in between stepping stones. That is the kind of plant I like. Oddly the squirrels have no interest in them and each year they come back stronger.

Out front we have dealt with the raspberry canes and I've loosened the soil for more peas and green beans (maybe we'll seed tomorrow night). We also planted yellow and purple wax beans in the new hugel kultur bed out front. We have two more big beds in the back to seed and some tomatoes to buy and plant.

Then I made a pie (strawberry-rhubarb). Whew! Now I need a shower and a beer. With the warm weather continuing, I'm hoping we'll get a nice jump on the season and maybe even see a few potato plants pop up.