Cold Snap

 We have a high today of only 35F.   The wind is pretty bitter, This morning, the temperature in the garden was 32F and there was a dusting of snow on the roof tops.  In preparation for two cold days, I had replaced the shade cloth with a heavy frost cover on top of the insect netting yesterday. This Supreme Frost Cover is supposed to give you 6 to 8 degrees of warmth which is plenty for Cole Crops.  I had already begun lifting the sides of the shade cloth and this frost cover blocks 50% of light, so it handles all of the crucial elements of the hardening off process.

I will have to remove this cover tomorrow afternoon or the next day because we are expecting warmer weather again and this cover does create a greenhouse effect that could cook the transplants.  I may throw the shade cloth back on for a few hours during the afternoons as necessary.  It will depend on how the plants look.

Busy Day

 It amazes me that I can walk out the door with no "To Do List" and still get many things accomplished.  All I have to do is sit down in a chair overlooking the garden and things that need to be done present themselves.  The first row of peas are up.  I planted the third row yesterday morning.

I peered under the shade cloth cover at the cole crops and they could not be happier.

The Pear tree blossoms are opening up.

I got the soil level of the containers by the firepit raised back up.  They have Hosta planted in them,

Rather than "waste" potting mix, I removed the Hosta from the pot and dug out about 8" of potting mix from the top, replacing it with screened top soil that we have left over from last year's septic rework.

Then I put the potting mix back on top and replanted the Hosta clump with starter fertilizer.

I have been very relaxed about getting things planted outside.  After last year's bad turn in May I have not been anxious to start putting things out at all.  Part of that is due to enjoying gardening indoors with my grow lights.  Last year I felt rushed thinking "I have to get these poor plants out of here" and this year everything is growing so well I am satisfied leaving them under the grow lights.  I bumped my Dahlias from seed up from 6 pack cells to 3.5" pots. (Top tray)

Sweet Potato Slips, Zinnias and Volunteer Petunias below

I have a few new Dahilas, one of which is the Gallery Art Deco which I have wanted for awhile.  I have it started in a large pot and today it is showing some sprouts.

I have a few new Pink and Purple Dahlias that arrived and are already sprouting.  I put them in a tray of moist soil to continue waking up.  I checked my stored Dahlia tuberss today and they are still sleeping quietly.

The rest of my baby vegetables are looking good.

The Indeterminate Tomato Plants transplanted on the 11th are off and running.

Later on I checked on the fruit trees again.  The Pear is opening up and the sky is about to...

We certainly have been getting out share of April Showers.

Planting Cole Crops

 The rule of thumb for setting out Cole Crops is to transplant them between 4 and 6 weeks after sowing.  Five weeks, when I usually transplant, would be on Friday.  But they could not look nicer and the weather suits so I put them out today.

Below is a picture of my Cole Crops from 2024 on the same date.  They looked great in the past.  This year, with the Vego LED Grow Lights they look more than great.  I am very happy with those lights.

I had already organized the hoops and insect netting.  I used a power auger to drill the holes in undisturbed soil which hosted Sweetcorn last season.

The placement of plants in this bed is fairly critical.  This is my plan:  The Belstar Broccoli will continue to produce all season, but the Flamestar Cauliflower will not.  So the Broccoli should be in the center where the hoops are highest, and should alternate with Cauliflower because the Cauliflower plants will be cut out leaving more room for the Broccoli to grow.  The Cabbage can go along the edge, alternating Golden Acre and Caraflex because Caraflex shoudl be ready earlier.  The four corners don't really have enough room for Cabbages or Broccolis so I planted Romaine Lettuce.

I used Espoma Bio-Tone Starter Fertilizer in the holes and watered them in well.

The Insect Netting will offer some shelter from both wind and sun.

Because I did not harden them off before setting out, I placed an additional shade cloth to block the sun.  I have used this lazy, non-hardening off, method for years now and it has worked well for me.  The forecast is for warm, cloudy weather which is much better for them than hot sun.

I will still need to mulch the bed with shredded leaves to keep down weeds as I do each year.  And, they don't make much of a picture, but the Peas planted on April 1st are coming up today right on schedule.

My Solitary Bees Have Been Put Out

 Today I put my Mason and Leaf Cutter Bee larvae.  I put the tubes in a box in the fall and keep them with my Dahlia tubers because their wintering requirements are similar.  I finally ordered new bamboo tubes which I placed in the bottom of the box.  Then I placed a piece of corrugated on top of them to divide the new ones from the old ones.   After a length of time when I feel that everything that will hatch has hatched out, I will remove and set aside the old tubes from the top and add more new nesting tubes.

I transplanted my indeterminate tomato seedlings.  They were sown ten days ago on April 1st and were just starting to show their first leaves.

When I checked the tray for water I noticed that one variety, my Amish friend Elsie's Tomatoes, which are very vigorous plants their whole lives, was sending roots through the drain holes.  They were ready to be out of their baby cell.  

They never look like much the first day, but give them three or four days and they will be off and running.  When they are sending out their first leaves they are in a growth spurt and now they have plenty of room to root.  Tomato plants respond very well to transplanting.  In my opinion, it is better to bump them up gradually from small cells to small pots, then maybe a larger pot before they go out to the garden.  I have heard it is true in house plants and am coming to believe it is also true for vegetable plants.  They do not like their container size to change drastically.  They would rather the stages were more gradual.  If I had planted these babies in, let's say 6" wide pots, they would shock and stall their growth.  Because Tomato plants send out little roots along the stem, they can be submerged quite deeply and they will send out more roots along the stem.

I have room in this tray for two more 6 packs.  I plan to use these for Marigolds or maybe Lettuce.  I have a difficult time discarding extra seedlings, so I left some in the seed tray under the light just in case one of the others doesn't thrive.  The Dwarf Eagle Smiley plant was transplanted too.  He has a buddy.  A second seed (on the left) germinated in a much quicker and less dramatic fashion.  

In other News...

I use this blog all of the time to figure out when something happened.  Today will be known as "the day Big Bird flew through the neighbor's upstairs window."  

I was in the house sort of napping when I heard what sounded like a van door slamming shut.  You know, that sliding track sound that comes with UPS and some Amazon trucks.... 1980s minivans... wwrrrroooooshhhCRASH.

I noted it as being very loud and unusual, but we live close to a busy intersection and if I went out and investigated every weird sound I'd neve get any rest.  About 20 minutes later our next door neighbor called in a fairly high state of agitation.  She wanted us to come over and "have a look at the upstairs window.  It's shattered all over the driveway."  We knew her husband was away for the day but the situation wasn't making much sense over the phone and to be fair, it wasn't making much sense to her either.  

The upstairs attic window was shattered.  Below is a photo of the house from back when my husband lived there.  We went over there and surenuf, there was glass on the driveway and the window pane was gone.  She said she had heard a whooshcrash and thought maybe we had cut down a tree nearby.  But it didn't sound right so she looked around the house inside and out. That was when she saw the glass.  We went up in the attic expecting to find a dead bird up there.  There was a lot more glass in the attic, a few drops of blood on the floor right below the window and a dozen or so big, black, breast feathers blowing around.

We cleaned up the mess.  We took pictures with her phone for her insurance agent.  My husband screwed a piece of plywood over the window.  It was a double pane insulated window and there was nothing left of it.  Glass was scattered across the attic in a twelve foot arc and I even picked one shard of it out of a rafter.  But no sign of a bird.  It had to be a BIG bird.  There are only a few Christmas decorations in the attic and we panned a flashlight into every corner.  There was no more blood or bird.

 The feathers were black and wide with a metallic band.  They looked sort of like turkey feathers.  Google Image agreed.  The first thing Google came up with was wild turkey too.  But what the heck would a turkey be doing way up there?  I could imagine that maybe a turkey vulture, which are common here, dove after a song bird that was scoping out the widow and flood light for a nesting spot.  But even that seemed a little far fetched.

Later on, I was outside working on my bee nesting house and the neighbor's husband called me over.  They had gone back over their security camera footage and they believed they had a picture of the culprit.  The camera view didn't go up as high as the attic window, but it did catch a reflection in one of the lower windows of something standing in the driveway along the fence.

That there is a big ole wild turkey.  With a beard.

What the hell was he thinking?

We walked around the driveway again looking for blood or feathers and didn't find a thing.  Apparently Big Bird made it out alive.   That's one lucky bird.  And I think we were lucky too.  No one needs a big, bloody turkey dying in their attic.  It was nice to have photo evidence as an explanation.  Quite frankly, I don't think the insurance agent would have believed the story without it.  I mean how often does some one tell you "A wild turkey flew through my attic window and then disappeared."

What's Going On Outdoors

 Today I planted my second row of peas.  3 ounces of Penelope Peas.

I planted my second grape vine.

It already has a tiny sprout

These are the Tickled Pink variety from Gurney's.

They come bareroot packed in wet straw.

When you propagate seedless grapes, you have to root cuttings of vine.  These sections were cut in the winter of 2024-25 and rooted in a year ago.  They are allowed to grow and then trimmed back in autumn and sent out before they break dormancy.

The Vitis Himrod White Seedless Grape arrived almost two weeks ago and has already begun to send out some growth tips.

Right now it looks like I have planted a small selection of sticks.

Triple Crown Thornless Blackberries

The thornless blackberries in the other bed are putting out some green leaves.

The Bushel and Berry Raspberry Shortcake Bush I got last year has put out a lot of green leaves.  I kept it in this warm sunny spot on the deck and it loves it.  Soon I will move it back out to the raised bed garden.

The fruit trees are breaking dormancy.  I could almost sit and watch the apple buds turn from fuzzy little silver tips to the promise of flowers, but the pear tree is ahead of them.

It has been a really fruity day.

Unhappy Tomato Seedlings

 I have three unhappy Dwarf Adelaide Festival tomato seedlings.  You can see that the six pack beyond them are as happy as can be.  They were all seeded on March 1st, and have been side by side every day with the same lights, fan and water.  The thriving Tomato plants behind are actually Orange Hat Micro Dwarf Tomatoes which will start producing at 6" tall and may grow as tall as twelve inches if put into a larger pot.  So... the Dwarf Adelaide Festivals, which mature around 36" should be at least as tall as they are at this point.  They act like they are burning, so it may be the light or the fan.

To rescue them, I transplanted them into 3.5" pots with a little Biotone Fertilizer.  They are well rooted, yet nowhere near root bound,  The soil was dry, but they have never wilted even once, so they have had enough water.

I made room for them under the florescent light where they still have a fan, but the fan is further away.  We will see how they react to this change.  Every other seedling is as happy as can be.

Edited to add:  Look who made it out today!  Welcome to the world little tomato plant.  Very tiny as expected, but green and healthy looking.

Happy Easter

 I am enjoying some Easter flowers.  My volunteer Petunias are blooming.  There are a few other things of note.

My pinched Dahlias are already starting to produce side shoots.

Some of the Zinnia plants may be ready for pinching.  You can see that they are already sending out side shoots.  I'm going to watch them and see if any really need pinching or if these will bush out well on their own.

Some of the Cabbage leaves are beginning to burn.  I dropped the tray down 2 inches.  You have to be careful with LED lights.  You need at least 10-12 inches between the leaves and the lights because they are stronger than the florescent bulbs we used to use.  So as the plants get taller, the tray needs to move down.

The indeterminate Tomato seedlings began popping out yesterday (day 4).

The Dwarf Eagle Smiley seedling is making slow progress.  

You can't really tell unless you take a photo and zoom way in...

But there are eeny weeny little leaves showing below the seed coat.  I just keep dripping one drop of water on it each day to keep the seed coat flexible.

If it doesn't make it I will just buy a Sun Sugar plant at the nursery in May.

Shifting Things

 I have dug up and removed a lot of my Daylilies just because they take so much effort to protect from the deer.  I have saved a few of my favorites.  I saved four of these "Big Smile" daylilies up near the house.  They are one of the last varieties to bloom and they are right along the driveway so the protection season for them is long and strenuous.  But they are worth it.

The easiest way to protect them is to keep a couple of these "Pest Guard" mesh plant covers on them.  In the evening I go out and cover the plants, securing the cover with an Earth Staple or two.  In the morning I collect them up and stack them in a dark corner nearby.  Easy peasy.

But one of the Daylilies was too close to this Bird's Nest Alberta shrub.  I had a note in my spring to-do-list to shift it over.  This is an easy job when the plant is dormant and the ground is soft.

I just dig out the soil where I want the clump slid to, dumping the soil in a trug.

Then I cut the roots around in a large circle to avoid disturbing them too much and use the spade to leverage the whole thing to the right tight against the edge of the new hole.   If your plant has any deep tap roots it may even move over without breaking them.   Then I dump the soil out of the trug and firm it in.  Done.  Plant shifted.  And if you do this on a rainy day, you don't even have to go get any water to water them in.  We had almost an inch of rain the evening after I moved this.

The wet spring is also a great time to pull grass or weeds out of your ground cover.  Dandelions and grass are always weeks ahead of most perennials.  Its the perfect time to spot them and remove them before they get lost in the plants.  If you accidentally pull up any of your ground cover you just replant it right there.

Rye grass was starting to take over the Snow on the Mountain.

Soon the Snow on the Mountain will fill in and the grass would have been inaccessible.

Here is a look at some of my spring flowers.