C'mon Let's Grow

I got to the end of my To Do List this weekend for the first time in weeks.  Because the weather was quite nice.  That must mean I'm caught up right?  Is any gardener ever caught up in May?

Six eggplants to the right and 4 borage to the left

My eggplant plants went out to the cold frame.  I'm pretty proud of these little guys.  They've put on quite a growth spurt of recent, and as soon as they are adjusted they can go out in their "big boy pots".  I'm trying them in containers this year for two reasons  #1 I am trying to avoid the flea beetles, and #2 all of my patio pots will hold edibles instead of merely ornamentals.  That actually gives me quite a range of ideas because a lot of vegetable plants are very attractive and have nice flowers.  My list includes eggplants, okra, herbs (Thai Basil is my choice) and Nasturtiums.

The cold frame is full of dwarf dahlias, repotted herbs and tomato and eggplants.  Our current weather pattern of warm and cloudy is perfect for the cold frame.  The weather forecast has increasing warmth all week and the zone 5 milestone of Memorial Day is approaching.

My strawberries are growing again and there are even a few flowers.

They need to be mulched now.

Yup, that looks exciting.  Lots of dirt.
This area will now be mulched with shredded bark mulch.

I brought my Dinnerplate Dahlias out of storage and got them planted.  

The tubers looked great and were already putting out tiny sprouts.

The first row of lettuce was transplanted. 

I always stagger my lettuce plantings using the largest plants first.

I spread my pea plantings over 4 weeks, but the awful weather has put the first ones behind and the later plantings are catching up.

All of our landscape beds are freshly edged and mulched.

The spring flowers, daffodils and primrose are beginning to fade, and the summer plants are growing by leaps and bounds.

Other happenings in the garden:

All garden beds have been aerated and amended in preparation for planting.

The first bed is being prepared for sweet corn with polycarbonate panels to warm the soil.

Potatoes are chitting in the chicken coop windows

Cauliflowers, compared to last spring, are behind in growth, but perhaps the fact that they survived that nasty polar vortex at all is a good sign.

The apple trees are blossoming.  Thankfully they didn't do that last weekend!

Chores for this week:

Filling containers for tomatoes, eggplants, and potatoes

A trip to the nursery for some fun extras

Fertilizing perennials

Still to come as the weather improves:

Setting out herbs

Starting cucumbers and summer squash seeds in the cold frame

Planting lima beans