Storms.

Over the past few days, we've had so many thunderstorms. Friday into Friday night, they seemed to roll in, one after the other: lighting, thunder, rain & repeat. We went to bed last night, knowing a complex of storms was working its leisurely way northeast. The lightning woke me up around 4:30. The thunder woke the dogs up a bit later. Judging by the frequency of lightning lighting up the room, I was waiting for the weather radio to go off. But, as dawn broke, the storm seemed to lose its umph, and I got out of bed to a lovely, steady rain. In fact, we haven't had any severe weather in a good bit. I know eventually we'll get some storms that verge on the scary. And, since I've become a trained weather spotter, I haven't been able to use my training. But that is something to be glad about. Anyway, here are some pictures of a storm building just north of the barn this afternoon, as I walked the dogs around, drinking a lovely apple vodka cocktail!

Some Days It Really Feels Like A Garden

Rushing home from work to try and get in as much work in the Seed Room as possible before leaving for "Godspell"rehearsal, I walked into the positively steamingly hot seed room to find a veritable garden growing. Sometimes it seems like I should plant more, but then I look around me... Hundreds of tomatoes and peppers. 40 eggplant. At least 40 celery. 25 cabbages. Basil, oregano, lovage, anise hyssop, one onion all growing on the shelves Rich built. Outside in the garden proper, after several inches of rain over the weekend, the green is creeping over the tilled soil. Soon I'll be back out in the garden... But not on the same schedule as I'd planned for the season. I started a new job at the local university's HR department for the summer... An exciting prospect to do some rewarding work outside of the garden, and limiting the hours available to till and toil is providing a  focus I think I lacked last summer. As I type this, the cast and band prepares for rehearsal. I'd love for everyone to see the Charleston Community Thrust Theatre's production of "Godspell"this weekend... And eat some of my fresh veggies...

Picture of the Day

An evening walk with the dogs & Rich as the sun set. I realize once again what a beautiful place we live in. Woke to thunderstorms followed by hours of rain, sunset brought a brief reprieve... Before more severe weather predicted for tomorrow night...

Freeze Warning

Just as sunset began this evening.

The garden... it looks drier than it is.

Well, after an extended nearly summer-like late winter, now that it's spring, we're finally getting some calendar-appropriate weather. There's a freeze warning for tonight and tomorrow night. I don't really have much to bring in, and am going to hope that the perennials can tough it out...

The seedlings growing in the garage are all doing very well. In fact, I think they've all grown about an inch just today! I'm out of room for more flats, but need to get more started over the next few days... I still haven't started all the varieties of peppers and tomatoes I'm growing. I'm close to being finished, but not quite. (That last sentence is a lot like saying "I'm close to being crazy, but just haven't realized it yet.")

The garden looks very dry. I watered it this morning, and realized it's just the clay soil that makes it seem so dry. Underneath, it's pretty good still, and by the end of the day, a lot more peas and lettuce and radish had poked through the soil. I put in another row of seeds this afternoon. Peas, lettuces, radishes, carrots. Two of the four varieties of radish I planted are from seed I saved from last year. They were very delicious types: French Breakfast and Easter Egg... you'll have to try them sometime. While I was puttering in the garden today, the neighbor across the road was planting their corn. Three tractors working for hours. I worked for hours too, and got one whole row planted, on my hands and knees... But I know everything I harvest from my garden is going to be Delicious. Capital D Delicious.

And with that, I shall go. Time to put away the dog treats I made this evening, and then time to start dinner for us...

The garden getting tilled.

The garden this evening.

 It's Friday, April 6. The sun is setting on what has been a cool and gorgeous day. Everything looks so lush outside: the grass that already needs mowing, the lilacs, the tulips,  and the trees are nearly fully in leaf. The forecast calls for a week of cool, dry weather.

Well, this week, I finally did some planting directly in the garden. Tuesday was gorgeous, and I went out into the sunny day and started working the soil. It felt fantastic. (Working in the garden again, and the soil.) My neighbor, Frank, did a wonderful job tilling the garden this year. The soil is deeply tilled, and feels alive in your hands. I've put in three rows, each about 42 feet long and about two feet wide. Two of them are planted with a variety of peas, radishes and greens. One row of peas are standard shelling peas, and the other a variety called Desiree Dwarf Blauwschokker. They're supposed to have "stunning violet-blue pods produced on lovely little bush plants that do not require staking" according to the Baker Creek seed catalog. The peas were violet colored!
Radishes I planted are long red ones called Cincinnati Market, Round Black and White. As for greens, I've planted red romaine, crisp mint lettuce, arugula, and mustard greens. I've got more varieties of everything to go in once the ground is dry enough to work... We got about an inch and a half of rain mid-week, so am currently waiting for it to all soak in.

The first peas are up! (& a crawdad has made a home among the radishes!

And inside, the garden is going along too... In the seed room in our garage, I've got eggplants, celery, cabbage, onions, tomatoes, peppers, spinach,  and herbs growing. The tomatoes, spinach and cabbage all seem to be doing very well. It's almost time to start transplanting the seedlings out of the flats they're growing in into larger pots. I'm going to make these pots, starting tonight, out of newspaper. That way they can go right into the ground and I don't have to buy anything else. There's been a lot going on this week, and some of it may affect my time in the garden this week... I'll let ya'll know once it's official. Until then, take care, and enjoy this spring weather!

Tomatoes, eggplants & spinach.