Hi there....

Wow, it has been some time since my last post, and I was hoping to get out in the garden today and snap a few pictures for an update....but it is raining.  Again.  I am quite behind out there, and there have been some recent hiccups along the way.  My potted seedlings are beginning to take on yellow hues thanks to one of my four-legged children.  See, she likes to eat my seedlings, and if there has been a recent fish feed she will break down all barriers to get a chance at the stinky soil and crops within.  I have lost quite a few plants to this destruction already, but most have just been re potted and pampered after their ordeal with the damn dog.

The other major set-back has been the mass destruction of my Red Sails Lettuce.  Some creature has eaten them all, one by one over the last month.  I tried encasing them with a plastic cover (thinking maybe it was cutworms) but it was not a deterrent.  This perplexes me since it is ONLY the red leaf lettuce that is being chewed off, nothing else.  I am really bummed about this, I have been looking forward to freshly picked red leaf lettuce all Winter.

The rhubarb crowns I received in the mail recently do not appear to be doing well.  They seemed to arrive in rough shape and things have not improved.  I will give them another few days to show some signs of life before giving Johnny's a call.  The leek and cipolini onion sets also FINALLY arrived this week (an absolute mess thanks to the USPS, a long story but they were originally delivered to the wrong house and were all beat up), so I am now waiting on their replacements. On a brighter note, my many pounds of Wildflower seeds from Vermont arrived this weekend, and I am really hoping they take, and provide lots of gorgeous blooms for us and all the bugs, birds, and bees in the coming years.

Sowings in the month of April have included carrots, lettuce mix, more Asian greens, cilantro and broccoli.  All of them appear to have germinated and are growing well out in the garden.  May will bring the early sowing of melon seeds to be planted out under cover in June...which will hopefully yield a summer melon or two.  I am all about those melons!

Garden To Do List:

• Transplant remaining strawberries into whiskey barrels
• Mulch blackberry canes
• Plant remaining potato seeds
• Plant blueberry and currant
• Draw up sowing/landscaping plans for the wildflower seeds
• Plant out 2 super early tomatoes under Wall O Waters first week of May
• Build permanent beds for Rhubarb crowns

We have been having quite a time with our fellow homeschoolers, the weekly activities have been so plentiful this time of year- hard to resist being out in Nature when she is out there propagating for the world to see.  Unfortunately we have not been doing much else so the outdoor (and indoor) chores are really piling up.  I did recently rediscover my dislike of radishes, yet I insist on growing them.  I think it is the immediate gratification you get with those fast maturing 'Easter Eggs'.  I guess I will think of them as growing 'compost' for the garden, lol. 

Today was going to be a volunteer day at a local greenhouse facility that grows herbs and salad greens for restaurants in MA and RI, but the rain has put us off until tomorrow.  I must remember to bring the camera and buy a new memory card before we go, there will be so many cool things to see and share at Eva's.  (Oh, and one last note- the hard drive on my newish Mac died a few days ago, we really do have bad karma with anything that plugs in.)  Happy gardening y'all!