Cool spring

The cool weather is keepng up. We had some snow a few days ago, and some of the early potatoes have surfaced and gotten damaged in the night frost. They will make a come back I’m sure.

It seems like the cool weather is unusual, but it is actually quite normal.

And spring moves on.

The weeds are growing, so weeding needs to be done

The grass and dandelions are growing too. The neighbor boy does a good job.

The early lettuce is ready to plant out.

With not much else to do, the garden is getting a lot of attention this year.

Lotsa lettuce

I got about 40 hardy plants of lettuce from a guy at the market. I have plenty of space still unplanted, as well as empty beds where I have already harvested stuff, so with a little sprinkle of chicken manure pellets and some cultivation, I planted them out.

My own starts aren’t ready yet and didn’t germinate well either.

I’d better sow a new tray of lettuce starts too for planting out in late summer.

Oh deer!

This morning I saw some tell tail tracks in the garden, and sure enough, I found they had done some damage. A bed of flowers got their tops niptboff and a bed of spinach got the leaves eaten. I was going to pick them today for the market tommorow.

I covered them and hope they will make a come back for later.

And then there is plenty of mangold and other stuff in the fenced of area and lettuce under cover to pick for the market.

Early start

I’m starting out my starts ealier than last year. My first brassicas, lettuce and herbs.

It seems like every year it gets earlier. The weather is all of a sudden spring like, and I can’t resist.

Mini cages

I probably need a few very small vegetable cages too.

Big enough for 1 large lettuce or 1 small cabbage.

Start sowing starts

The weather keeps reminding me to get busy and begin sowing seeds for earlier plants to plant out later. 

Herbs like basil and oregano need to be started early in this climate as well as lettuce and brassica. To start out they’ll be kept warm indoors until they germinate and grow to a good size for planting out. 

More cages

4 new ones should be enough for now, but I think I will design a new kind  that is not as high, lighter and easier to move around, that would be better for lettuce and strawberries. 

Lettuce

Harvested from the garden before getting destroyed by frost. 

I’ve never had it so good this late in the season with greens, reds and roots. 

There’s nothing better than home grown for an All Saints Day feast. 

Time to sow seeds

The weather is great, but that doesn’t matter, I always start sowing indoors around the 15th of april. It’s time to start sowing seeds and growing small hearty plants to plant out in may and june. 

 
Four trays of different brassicas and lactucas (cabbage and lettuce families). 

They will be in a warm place in the basement until germination, then transfered to a new cold frame out side. 

Early start II

I’ve sown a tray of brassicas and another of lettuces, also a couple of weeks earlier then last year.

  

The herbs from earlier seem to be surviving the cold nights and will probably be ok, but many of the scraggly sprouts most likely won’t make it. 

Now for a few days holiday in Holland.