One of the buttercup squash I started for Cathy sprouted Friday. We brought several plants up to Crooked Lake this weekend. I helped Cathy transplant several plants while Al, Dad, Terry, and Larry built a greenhouse instead of fishing Saturday. Temperatures there were in the high 20s/low 30s with snow and lots of wind.

Next year I'll start marigolds as Cathy did. She started almost a whole package of seeds in one small tray and then we transplanted them. It's a huge savings on seed starting mix and space under the grow lights.

We brought back a whole black tray of plants back home. A few of the tomatoes will be experiments in indoor gardening because they're too small to put in the garden and actually have them produce anything before frost. There's also a rosemary that's almost dead that I'll try to nurse back to health.

One of the sugar baby watermelons sprouted over the weekend. I went out to check the garden and found that several of the peas, black seeded simpson, and arugula are coming up. Some of the onion sets are sprouting. 3 of the CDs came off of the posts so I retied them. The rhubarb is really taking off and some of the asparagus is growing well. Some animal, probably a squirrel, dug up a bunch of the new strawberry plants so I replanted them. Several others look like they're thriving and have leaves now.

Cathy gave us lots of landscaping fabric, so I'll use that in the walkways with wood chips instead of newspapers.

It's supposed to be about 70 today, 93 tomorrow, and in the 70s the rest of the week, so the soil should warm up enough to plant peppers and tomatoes soon.

New garden cart, compost etc

We bought a new garden cart at Home Depot for only $20. It's WAY better than the old one! It's much smoother to push, it holds more weight, and it fits between the rows of raised beds.

The new garden cart

Saturday morning I finished unloading the compost and filled in dirt in the strawberry pyramid. Al and Kaitlyn helped me move cinder blocks to the front flower bed by the tulips and put them along the edge of the bed. They also cleared leaves and weeds out of the flower bed.

Compost on the beds closest to the house

Filling the strawberry pyramid

Strawberries in the new pyramid planter

Tulip bed with cinder block edging

Yesterday I planted new strawberry plants in the pyramid. I also loosened the soil and mixed compost in 5 raised beds. I planted the onion sets and found out they didn't take up as much room as I had planned for them, so I planted extra bunching onions and carrots. I also planted garlic, beets, arugula, romaine and kale. (I only planted about half of the kale so there's room to start the rest the end of June.)

Apparently we need to raise the fence along the back of the garden because there were deer tracks through the garden and it looks like it got in at the back by the onions. After fixing the places where the deer stomped today, I planted cauliflower, broccoli, a marigold, buttercruch lettuce, and more romaine. Some animal dug up a few of the new strawberry plants so I replanted those too. I put up some CDs around the garden to deter the animals from going in there any more.  We'll see if it helps.

The squash and pumpkins sprouted yesterday so I brought them downstairs under the lights when I brought up the broccoli and cauliflower. Hopefully the weather will cooperate so we can plant the tomatoes on time because on the top shelf I moved the chain up as far as it will go and the tomatoes are right up to the light.  We got another shop light from Sue on Saturday too, so when we get new full spectrum bulbs we'll be able to use that for plants also.  The squash I started for Cathy and the watermelon haven't sprouted yet.

Cauliflower growing inside

Garlic

Cauliflower and beets

Broccoli

Marigold by the back fence

Animal dug up a strawberry plant

Strawberry Planter, Planting Templates, Garden Repair

Yesterday Al built a pyramid planter for strawberry plants that we'll put by the sinkhole and he cut boards for my hole planting templates. I bought some 1/4" dowels at Michael's and Al cut them to 1" lengths for the pegs that will make the planting holes. I measured and marked the placement of the dowels and Al glued them in place. Today the glue was dry so he attached the handles that I got at Home Depot. I also picked up some 6' bamboo poles for the pole beans.

Al with the 2nd layer of the pyramid

Al with the finished pyramid

Top side of finished planting templates

Bottom side of planting templates

Al and I teamed up to repair some of the garden beds today. On some of the black plastic edging he drilled holes and we attached the corner pieces with cable ties. We put stakes in to support a few other beds as well. The one that had bricks and plastic edging that the deer knocked over last fall we took apart and made a wood box support instead.

The new wood box support

I had to move the light above the cauliflower up since it's gotten so big. I'll probably have to move the lights up above the tomatoes soon too.

Buttercrunch Lettuce

Cauliflower, Broccoli, Basil

Chives & Strawberries

I went out to check and yes, one of the chives is coming up. It looks like an animal was tunneling in the bed where the salsify will go so I'll have to add some garlic or onions on the edge there to deter the animals from digging there.

Some of the strawberries along the south side of the house are coming up.

Strawberry plant