Temporarily Out of Mulch

 This week we edged and mulched until we are out of mulch.

Today we will just edge while we wait for another truckload of mulch.

We basically started at the front of the property and did anything visible from the driveway.

We cut the circles around the London Plane trees.

When we got to the bottom of the mulch bunker where the mulch is damp and more rotted, my husband wanted to toss it in the woods.  Wait!  I want that for the bank where I plant odds and ends!  Well rotted, nearly compost is perfect stuff to mix in and plant in.  The conditions have been perfect.  The lawn was dry enough to get the tractor on and moist enough to cut well.  There were only a fraction of the number of weeds we usually deal with.  I don't know if that can be attributed to the dry spring or the infrequency of mowing during last summer's mini-drought.  But I liked it!

  Yesterday morning at 8:00 am it was 66F in the garden.  Perfect weather for sowing.

I planted two rows of Penelope Seeds.  This is my second generation of self saved seeds.  As an experiment I put worm castings in the first row.  I sowed lettuce seeds along side and covered with burlap to keep the birds out.  This has been a very very birdy spring.  They're everywhere.

I also set out Tom Thumb buttercrunch transplants.  I was looking forward to using my new transplant tongs.  The problem with buying sturdy cells that you can use over and over is getting the transplants out without damage.  With a flimsy nursery cell you can squish the plastic, push the seedling out and then toss the mangled cell pack.  These tongs are perfectly sized to work with Gardeners' GrowEase cells.  Maybe at some point I will do a breakdown on the GrowEase system.  They work well for bottom watering seedlings and starting indoors, although I do not like using them out in the cold frame for various reasons.

Twenty Four transplants set out in last year's cabbage bed.  I didn't have to do a thing to this bed.  There was still some shredded leaf mulch on top and it was completely weed free.

I covered them with some Dollar Store baskets to shade them from the sun a little on their first day and topped it off with floating row cover.  These transplants have been hardened off pretty well and this evening I will likely remove their little shade protection going into two or three days of cloudy skies and rain.

This is the prime season for daffodils.  Everywhere you look around here....

Happy little daffys.