Oh, Hey Spring!

I know its been a while, but we're still here and lots has been happening (as seems to be the case with every spring).

In the veggie garden the spinach that over wintered has been producing for nearly two months and has just begun to bolt. As spinach is not my favorite leafy green, I'm okay with it. The red and green romaines are still doing well, and I've planted more seeds today of my favorite, and VERY easy to grow black seeded Simpson, a leaf lettuce. We've harvested a bunch of radish and planted a bunch more. Potatoes are in the ground and I direct seeded bush beans that I'm anxiously awaiting. I also direct seeded some carrots, and I know they take two or three weeks to germinate but I always worry they won't sprout. Patience, I know.

Many of the perennials Jenny kindly brought us have been moved from the full sun garden to the partial shade of our pond garden and look lovely.

     This spring life caught up to me and I wasn't able to start seeds any where close to the time they should have been started (First week of April). Also, our very small budget prevented us from having a dedicated seedling grow light. The residual light from our aero garden does not suffice for seed starting.

      So, although I started cosmo, sunflower, tomato, cucumber, cantelope, dill, parsley, and st. johnswort seeds three weeks or so ago, I don't foresee many of these making it to the garden. Lack of light led to many etiolated seedlings. Cool, damp, etoilated seedlings are likely to come down with root rot, which the tomatoes and cucumber are slowly succumbing to. I'm reasonably upset because Sungold tomatoes, a golden orange super sweet and wildly delicious cherry, are my favorite tomato in the entire world, and I'm not likely to find a plant at the farmers market.

     The sunflowers, although super lanky, I planted in the garden only to watch a critter promptly munch them down. The cosmos, also starved for late, were lost to animals, only this time it was my kitten who removed their leaves.  I've started another batch of sunflowers which are doing well, and will direct seed cosmos outside and just wait a couple extra weeks for their beautiful blooms. The St. Johnswort, which I'm growing to make infused oils out of, has just begun to germinate, so a bit of hope lingers.

      Since the Norway Maples on the south side of our house have leafed out, all of our sunny south side windows are now shady south side windows. While this is superb for keeping our house cool in the summer months, its meant I've had to move the indoor plants to an east facing window that gets morning sun.

  
       Perhaps the most exciting thing to happen while I was gone is the NATIVE PLANT GARDEN that Land|scape club installed in the front of the EcoHouse property! It is so fantastic it deserves a post all of its own, which will come early this week showing off the beautiful plants native to the Northeast. You should stop by and check out the garden!

Cheers, and Happy Graduation to many! - elizabeth