Outdoor sowings and transplantings

Transplanted most of the cabbage, Brussels sprouts, kale, and chard today. They should be well hardened off by now, having been living outside full time since last weekend. Trying some cutworm defence, in the form of paper cups and/or a fort of pencil crayons. For the paper cups, I found it worked a lot better to use two for each plant rather than try to squish one cup around the plant.  Still have a few to decide where they're going to, then get them in the ground.  There are also a few wimpy cabbages inside that haven't thrived.  I tossed two and sure enough, itty bitty root systems.  The bigger I'm giving a chance.










Not transplanted yet:


Sowed more carrots, up to the midway point of the hydro meter, and removed the plastic cage from the already-planted carrots.  No more plastic cages in the garden now.

Finally, sowed all three kinds of lettuce that came in my awesome seed collection.  I wasn't going to grow lettuce this year, because I couldn't think of what to use lettuce for other than salads, and I'm not big on salads without ample mega high fat dressing.  But!  Then I remembered my falafel sandwiches. So, in went the lettuce today, just to be used at the young stage for my falafels... and maybe some tofu tacos too. The lettuce went in the last part of the carrot bed, so once the lettuce is done I'll probably replace them with more carrots.

It's alive! Busy day in the backyard.

(Oh and the "it" in the title of this blog post clearly doesn't refer to my grass! Tee hee!)

Couldn't resist the fantastic weather to spend most of the day in the yard, my first gardening day of the year. Here's the yard after today's activities -- small yard, even smaller gardening area, but amazing how much can grow here!




- Sowed 1 row of beets and 2 or 3 rows of carrots, under plastic dome







- Sowed peas!  Yes that's right, I decided to sow them outside again and take my chances.  Last year's pea seeds were a big failure.  They either rotted, met their end via cutworms, or were plucked out by birds or whatnot.  I suspect all three of those were a factor, no idea why as I had no problems with peas when I last grew them a few years ago.  So, all year I've been saving my toilet paper rolls with the thought of starting them inside this year.  Well, today I decided to get them a shot outside.  Differences over last year:  (1) in a different bed, (2) under plastic cover.  Here's hoping they succeed.  I sure do love sugar snap peas, such a delectable garden treat!







- Sowed spinach, under plastic dome made with garden fence supports




- Planted some multiplier onion bulbs (the ones I planted on February 23rd don't seem to have done much)





- Set out the kale, onions, brussels sprouts, cabbage, and chard (the older plants, not the younger ones) to harden off for a few hours, their first time outside -- although, it was such a nice day I'm not sure how "hard" that was for them!




Charlie the cat enjoyed some good sun time.




It occurred to me that I'm in the process of hardening off not only my veggie plants, but also my little dog who's coming off 8 weeks of cage rest due to a disc issue with his back.  Both the plants and Scooter need to ease themselves into life in the real world!





Charlie had no qualms with Scooter being confined while he was free to roam :D

First outdoor planting of the year: green onions

I figured why not take advantage of this big melt we're in, and get some of last year's leftover green onions into the ground.  Don't think I've ever planted so early in the year before! Some of last year's planted green onions are also trying to get a scraggly head start on 2017.