Week 5

Seeds a-poppin'

The week ending with March 19 & 20 was all about growth.  There were a bunch of sunny days and the greenhouse stayed warm.  Everything has popped out of the soil except for some of last potted seeds, cayenne peppers and spearmint. 

Park Early Hybrid 'Maters

Lettuces and some of these tomatoes are really ready to go in the ground, but the almanac says that April 6 is the last possible frost date.  We're not going to wait until then, but it's still a bit too early to move these guys out of the greenhouse.  We do plan to put some of the seeds that can stand a little cold direct into the ground this week...broccolli, radishes, lettuce, turnips, green onion, and more.

Romaine above, leaf lettuce below.

It was a busy weekend.  I took the tiller on a road trip to Aunt Sharon's and tilled her a garden plot about 3 times the size of her old garden.  She gave us moonflower seeds, which Angel potted today.  They are huge seeds, the size of a kernel of corn but more rounded.  Sharon's instructions were to soak them in water overnight and then keep them moist in potting soil.  The flowers bloom in the moonlight, close during the day.  Pretty cool.

Angel and I went to Wal-Mart on Sunday and picked out flowering plants, Blue Lithodora to be a ground cover in the bed next to the greenhouse, and Hyacinths to go in another bed.  That afternoon, while I tilled, Angel and Jacob planted and weeded in those flowerbeds.

After second tilling, ready to rock and roll

I took the wheels off the tiller and did a second, final, and very deep till.  And I mean deep.  Afterwards, I raked and evened it out, and everywhere I stepped my feet sank in 2 or 3 inches.  It rained that night and the next morning.  Soil prep is over.  It's time to get seed in the ground.