From summer to spring again

The weather has changed again.  Our 80's are gone and we are cool and rainy today.  This is a relief to me as I was going to have to water the raised veggie beds tonight if it didn't rain.  The cool weather crops of lettuce, radicchio, cabbage, chard, spinach, and peas are sprouted from the heat but enjoying a long cool drink that has been falling most of the day.  I took a quick walk after work to find most of these crops pushing the row cover up a bit.  I like to leave the row cover on so the bug problems are minimized and weather damage is greatly reduced.  The leafy crops are so much nicer growing under a sheet of row cloth.  It is a small investment that is easily recouped with better crops and less use of bug control products.

I moved the tomatoes, peppers, impatiens, and the younger seedlings in for the night.  It is best to not chill these plants and have their growth set back.  They really like it warmer, so I won't put them in the ground for another couple weeks.  I wait until at least the first full week of June to set their roots in the soil.

The lilacs are in full bloom this week and smell wonderful.  The crab apples are on the down hill slide and had a shower of petals falling on the ground this morning.  That is always a pretty sight to watch.  

The forsythia put on a good show this year.  The park has a large hedge row of them that had grown over with weeds and brush.  A former homeowner concerned about security in his yard had the park cut everything to the ground over three years ago.  The forsythia responded to the renewal cut with a very profuse bloom this year.

My husband is getting ready to set the posts for the kiwi trellis.  We are going to use a T-bar and wire support system.  I also want to espalier and apple tree, so he will set a third post and tie into one of the kiwi post for both applications.  I am looking forward to the new challenge.

The asparagus which I just covered is now 8" over the new soil that I just added to the trench.  I should be able to completely level the bed this weekend.  The purple passion stalks are different from the usual green.

The last of the seedlings are up.  I should be able to move more of the basement plants out to the outdoors this weekend.  Lights will be going out on multiple levels.  I will probably dismantle the light and shelf system over the kitchen sink and just go outdoors with most everything at this time.  I may still start one more crop of summer lettuce to put seedlings in between pepper plants and under beans.  It is nice to have them all space out when they go into the garden.

Big planting weekend coming up with Memorial Day giving us a long weekend.  Get out to the garden center these last couple days before the mob hits the garden centers.