Outside

Sun in Spring Willows

I love the green-gold color that dusts the trees in early spring.

Just a Dusting

Here's what the world looked like in my neck of the woods at 8:00 on this blustery and cold Saturday morning. I hope things are better in your neck of the woods!

Seed Order 2008

Here's the list of everything I ordered this year. It's a long list because I had to start from scratch - somehow I managed to lose (or throw away) my seeds from past years.

Suppliers
Fedco Seeds
Johnny's Selected Seeds
Pinetree Garden Seeds
Seed Savers Exchange
Seeds of Change
Territorial Seed Company
Tomato Bob's Heirloom Tomatoes

Salad Greens & Stuff
Merlot loose leaf lettuce: Territorial
Black Seeded Simpson lettuce: Fedco
Space Spinach: Pinetree
Fordhook Giant Swiss Chard: Johnny's
Tendersweet green cabbage: Johnny's
Super Red 80 red cabbage: Johnny's
Cherry Belle radish: Pinetree
Purple Plum radish: Pinetree

Snap Peas
Sugar Ann: Johnny's
Sugar Snap: Johnny's

Potatoes
Rose Finn Apple fingerlings: Seed Savers
Carola main crop storage: Seed Savers

Tomatoes
Sungold orange cherry: Fedco
Sweet Chelsea red cherry: Fedco
Yellow Pear yellow cherry: Seed Savers
Principe Borghese red drying: Fedco
Green Zebra green salad: Seed Savers
Gregori Altai red main crop: Tomato Bob's
Mule Team red main crop: Tomato Bob's
Pruden's Purple purple main crop: Fedco

Beans
Bush Blue Lake: Pinetree
Kentucky Blue Pole: Pinetree
Pete's Romano Pole: Saved from 2007
Purple Podded Pole: Saved from 2007

Peppers
Hungarian Hot Wax: Fedco
Ancho/Poblano: Seeds of Change
Paprika Alma: Seeds of Change

Curcubit Family
Marketmore 97 Cucumber: Territorial
Raven Zucchini: Fedco
Sunburst Scallop: Pinetree
Sugar Baby Watermelon: Pinetree

Ground Cherry
Aunt Molly's: Territorial

 Asparagus
Jersey Supreme: Johnny's

Garlic
Chrysalis Purple: Seed Savers
Music: Seed Savers
Siberian: Seed Savers

First Planting 2008

I was finally able to get into the garden this weekend. On Sunday, Spouse spent some quality time with the leaf blower, while I got going with the vegetable garden. The weather was beautiful - mid-70's and sunny.

Here's the upper bed after a few hours of work. I did some weeding, then spread compost over the two long beds and the triangular bed in the back. I strung the trellis with twine, so it's ready for climbing snap peas (I'm using bamboo teepees for pole beans this year.)

Once that was done, I planted Sugar Snap Peas under the trellis, Space Spinach* next to the trellised peas, Sugar Ann Snap Peas in half the far long bed, and radishes (Cherry Belle* and Purple Plum*) and lettuce (Merlot and Black Seeded Simpson) in the far triangular bed.

Meanwhile, in the lower garden, nothing much got done from a gardening perspective (although Spouse blew out all the leaves). However, some plants are starting to come up. Below you'll see the chives and the garden oregano. The season has begun!

* I got the seed for Space Spinach, Cherry Belle Radish and Purple Plum Radish from Pinetree Garden Seeds, on the web at www.superseeds.com. Right now I can't connect to their website so can't provide links.

Turning the Corner - Pond Ice Out 2008

We've turned the corner, from winter to spring, just like that.

The official 2008 ice out date for the pond was yesterday, April 14, 2008. In 2007, the ice out date was March 27th and in 2006 it was April 5th.

Finally, the weather is suddenly beautiful, and it now seems possible that the gardening season is here. Spring!

April Fool's Day Snow

The big April Fool's Day joke here in Minnesota was last night's snow storm. As Spouse and I watched the Twins beat the Angels 3-2 in the home opener, the snow raged outside the windows. This morning, this is what we saw.

The front yard

The vegetable garden

Two deer in our neighbor's yard

One of the deer in a close-up