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.

Soil can now be worked

Guess who's soil can now be worked?
You guessed it....My garden is completely melted out and planting is under way!

Trying a "new to us" Open Pollinated Seed from Turtle Tree Seeds. You can click over to their link here: Turtle Tree Seeds Schweizer Riesen Snow Peas

and the peas that I had neglected to harvest last fall, have already begun to reseed and sprout themselves.

A bonus for me!!!

Inside the garden Gate

Oh..... the joy of opening my garden gate after the longest Winter ever!

I took advantage of this Sunday afternoon to plant some Poppy seeds and pull some spuds from the mini root cellar.

If you remember last fall...

I decided to try and store the potatoes in the ground through the Winter. You can read more about that here: Always something to be thankful for!

We never did get around to that piece of plywood covering before the snow came....We improvised and threw and old saucer sled on for a make-shift lid and a bag of leaves for insulation and good measure.

I am happy to report...It worked like a charm!

The spuds are perfect, ready to eat and exactly the way I left them last fall.

I also found a few surprises in the garden that have just freshly melted from under the snow...Turnips...Peas...and Onions!

2017 Gardening has officially started!

Melting

We are FINALLY showing signs of this yucky old snow starting to melt...

 Good riddance!

 A corner of the garden is peaking out and the chickens are just as happy as their gardener.

With plenty of rain in the forecast, the snow is sure to disappear.

Couldn't stand it any longer

 Glorious sunshine.... Oh, how I've missed you!

I just couldn't stand it any longer and had to shovel my way out to the cold frames. Although the snow is still knee deep, it was so worth the 30 minutes of shoveling!!!

I worked up enough of a sweat to take my hoodie off and soak up some much-needed vitamin D.

For me this marks the first sign of Spring...I look forward to cracking them open after a long Winter.

Worth the effort... I was rewarded with green things, beautiful green things... 

The quintessential color of March!

Four Seasons Lettuce

Tom Thumb Lettuce

Golden Acre Cabbage

 monstrueux de viroflay Spinach

and loads of tiny Mache'