Honey Do is Honey Done!

So I am proud to say that I can cross every thing off of this list. Well, not exactly, I didn't gluten the back yard. There were so many bare spots that I reseeded instead. If I put down the corn gluten it is something like 6 weeks before I can reseed. The gluten kills all germinating seeds and does not discriminate between good and bad. Hence no gluten in the back. I also didn't have to do the nasty poop run!! My landlord, aka my mom (who is retired) did it sometime last week.
After tilling the garden I planted 3 types of peas - Snowbird, Avalanche and Sugar Snap. Allegedly they will be ready in 51, 68 and 71 days respectfully. Heres hoping! I also put down some lettuce, carrots and started dill, basil, Chinese cabbage and Brussels Sprouts inside. The seeds I started two weeks ago are looking pretty good. I already have my first true set of leaves on the Sungold and Chocolate Cherry tomatoes. The Bitonto are having a rough time of it. Only two have come up. I really only need four and two of those are supposed to go to my sister for her birthday. I may just not have them for myself : (
I ran out of barrels and bags for all the yard waste so ended up dumping all the thatch and a ton of leaves into the empty compost bin. When I ordered the second bin last year Garden's Alive sent along this free activator and who am I to not accept a free gift! I added this in the bin, followed the instructions and need to re-water tomorrow. I am not sure if it really works, but it really can't hurt. For a little extra boost I added in some of Neptune's seaweed fertilizer too (there was a lot of brown added to this particular bin).
My first daffodil bloomed today and if the weather holds the rest should be opening up by the end of this week. Spring is officially here....well, at least for now!
Tomorrow I will go over the delicious potato quesadilla I had for lunch (and dinner) today.

The peas have arrived - FINALLY

So this year I didn't pull them out because apparently tomatoes and peas make good neighbors. I left the peas in and they have finally started producing. Not nearly in the abundance that they did in years past but I guess that is what I get for using gajillion year old seeds!
And do you remember this is what the raspberries looked like on April 11 and here they are today.

And they are already producing berries. Still pink but in a few days they will definitely be ready to pick!
The heavy rain over the past week definitely killed some of the seedlings but I have dropped seeds in the same spots so hopefully everything turns out ok.
Something is nibbling on my eggplant leaves so I need to mix up a concoction of some sorts to ward away the pests. I am thinking hot pepper, garlic, water and dish soap should do the trick no matter what pesky pest it may be.

Finally - the peas have risen!

I guess I should be thankful that they are coming up at all after all that rain, but I planted the seeds back on March 21 and just this week I can see them popping up. Pity though, they will need to be pulled out to make room for the tomatoes on Memorial Day weekend. I think the only ones that I will see a harvest from are the dwarf grays. They are only 58 days. The 75 days ones - hasta la vista baby - peas or no peas.
I planted some Fordhook Giant chard yesterday. It is my first time attempting to grow chard I also have Northern Lights but those are for containers. Tomorrow the weather forecast is 85! Holy heat. The poor peas, spinach and lettuce. They are all just peaking out an tomorrow will be a huge slap in the face for these cool loving crops.
I definitely need to load some pictures. My tomatoes are looking really good - well at least I think they are - I have never grown them from seed before. The seedlings are all starting to grow their first set of true leaves and it has only been a few weeks. Good, right? I am attempting for the third and final year to get Garlic Chives going from seed. Half of them have started to emerge but that is as far as I usually get. Once they are 3-4" high I set them out near my rose bushes and them POW - nothing. So, pictures will be coming so you can see the progress....

Spring Garden Update

So here is a picture of the peas that I am waiting patiently to harvest. These are Dwarf Gray Sugar and according to the package take 65 days till maturity. Behind them, supposedly growing on the trellis are Snowbird and Sugar Snap 58 and 68 days respectively. Well, I planted ALL of these on March 28th. June 1st will be 58 days and those Snowbirds aren't doing too much right now. I think I have maybe 10 blooms?!? I used pea inoculant on them, watered when necessary and in my humble opinion gave them a darn good place to grow. The tomato plants I bought a few weeks ago were growing fabulously in the green house. So fabulously that they started to bloom and the roots were growing out of the cocoa pots. I couldn't wait any longer for the peas so I just interplanted them in between the trellis and the bamboo hoops. According to my Organic Gardening Companion Planting Guide peas like tomatoes so fingers crossed that everyone gets along till the end!
Last weekend all the remaining seeds went into the Victory Garden across the street - corn, edamame, and beans, along with some, actually A LOT of tomato plants - early girl, big boy, and sweet 100 and a few pepper plants for added measure. We still have a good amount of space left over so Tom and I were talking tonite about putting in carrots, radishes and lettuce. The Valmaine I ordered is vert heat tolerant so I figure, why not! We were also talking about parsnips but from everything I read they don't do well in really rich soil and with all the compost we put down that soil is RICH. I guess parsnips will go on the list for next year. I am heading over there tomorrow to check on everything to make sure the critters haven't gotten through the chicken wire and will get some 'before the show' types of pictures to share.