Buckets of rain

It's been a wet Spring.......Buckets and buckets of rain!

We really do need to add gutters and rain barrels to the house ... but for now, I catch it with random buckets and watering cans and use it to water the starts in the greenhouse.

Do you ever notice how much your plants love rainwater?

Here's why : Rain Water vrs. Ground Water

There's a buzz!

The daffodils opened up yesterday and the bees had no trouble finding the blossoms right away. 

Rainbows

Count your Rainbows, not your thunderstorms!  -Alyssa Knight

Driving home from work, I was lucky enough to catch and enjoy this beautiful rainbow and reflection. I could have stayed out for hours taking pictures... If only rainbows lasted for hours (sigh)

Second Season Asparagus

The Asparagus has sprung! 

This will be the second season since it has been planted....sadly, we will not be harvesting and enjoying any shoots from this bed until next year. 

Oh.... the wait!!!! 

Spring Flowers & April Showers

With so much rain this past month,

the Spring flowers are finally starting to pop up... 

Sunday is yard day around here and I managed to get my nails dirty in between rain storms by planting out the Lettuce, Spinach, Broccoli and Cabbage starts as well as direct planting the Sunflower and Radish seeds. 

I am patiently waiting for the Daffodils that were planted in the Fall to unfurl....They are so close and should be opening within a day or two.

The main garden still pretty much looks like a big dirt patch, with the exception of a few weeds that have already started to break ground. I am determined to stay on top of it this year!

I did notice last year's Sunflowers, Calendula, and Dill has all reseeded naturally.

With a little digging, five new Peony rhizomes were planted throughout the yard.

Pushing on up...

It's finally happened...the Rhubarb has finally stretched up to the light! The tightly bound, rumpled leaves are beginning to open unfurl and welcome Spring!

Looking forward to the new daffodils that were planted in the Fall.

Easter Bunny sighting in North Idaho

I spied the Easter Bunny this evening ;-)

Leggy

Jumping the gun, I planted my tomatoes a little early. The house is warm and my tomatoes really shot up and tried to get leggy. 

This week  I was able to move them out to the unheated greenhouse during the day with a fan blowing on them and it has really helped slow the rapid growth and start to thicken and firm up those stalks.

Setting out onions

It's time to set out these little whippersnappers!

 A great day to be outside...planting and listening to the birds chirp!

Playing in the dirt

"Gardening: the fine art of soul to soil" -Jan Bills

I have decided not to till up the garden this Spring.

Let me tell ya...It's a hard habit for me to break!
There's a part of me that loves seeing a clean slate every year.

I have decided to leave well enough alone, and just rake it into more uniform raised rows and tamped down walkways. The soil was easily worked and solidified my decision not to till.

I used Troy's Lute rake as my width guide for each row and a regular garden rake as a width guide between the rows.

The garden measures approximately 30 x 60 and will have approximately 28 rows in various sizes.  I've made it about 3/4 of the way through the rows and will finish up this weekend.