Spring time has arrived in the Midwest!

[Kansas Terri]

I know it has arrived because today I planted the Fava beans: I dare not plant anything ELSE this early but Fava's are so very hardy!

I am trying a new variety, "The Sutton", which is from a seed company that is ALSO new for me: "Seedaholic". I could not find any Fava bean seeds from the American seed companies this year, probably because nobody out here seems to eat them, So, one day when there was a great deal of snow on the ground I decided to spoil myself a bit and order from overseas. I suspect that the seed companies benefit greatly from the heavy snows, as gardeners in the colder climate all get spring fever!

The packet of seeds said there were an average of 30 seeds in the packet and so I did the math: to fill the planned area the seeds needed to be 4 inches apart. Nope! I finished the row and I still had half the packet left and so I went in and I planted the row for a second time, again spacing them 4 inches apart. The row may be a bit crowded but my garden soil is rich, and the rows in my garden are not close together at all! I think the Favas will be fine.

 

[Pat]

Good luck with your beans. Spring has poked it's head out in my area also. It is still a little on the cold side but there is no snow, just rain. April is a rainy month for us so I don't know if I will get anything into the ground before the first of May but I will start a few plants inside so that they will be ready to be transplanted to the outside when it gets warm.

 

[firelily99]

We are slowly getting Spring in Connecticut, its still not consistently warm enough to plant anything but the temps are starting to rise above the gaggingly cold level. I actually only needed two layers of clothes to go walking this morning which is amazing!

 

[Trellum]

Spring just started recently over here, I'm not that happy about it, because this season is my least favorite one. I guess the only good thing about it (for me) is the fact I get to wear my favorite summer/spring outfits! And once I start gardening again... well, will be a great for me as well because the gardening part, but right now not much excitement about it.

 

[claudine]

Spring arrived in Poland, too. Now, when I'm writing this, I sit near an open window, I breathe fresh air and I hear singing birds. It's very relaxing! Crocuses, snowdrops and forsythias are in bloom. My miniature roses produced a few buds

 

[Kansas Terri]

Spring is my favorite time of year! We only get a few lovely days, but some of the flowers are blooming and there are no biting bugs! I hate itchy bug bites.

 

[Becky]

We actually had lunch out in the garden yesterday - it was beautiful! Eating lots of food, while we ignored all the gardening jobs we were meant to be doing

 

[Kansas Terri]

Today I REALLY wanted to go out to the garden and plant some peas, but it is cool and wet and it would be a mistake. I tell myself that it will not kill me to wait another day!

Tomorrow will be a lot of fun unless it rains again. I would never use a tiller on my damp clay soil but hand tools are gentle enough not to leave big clods that will dry into bricks. I can just scatter the pea seeds and then GENTLY stir things with a rake! I can poke any exposed peas with a finger to sink them in and I will be done!

Unless I also plant those cold-hardy corn seeds. I might, it depends on how much energy I have. I usually try to restrict myself to one gardening activity per day, but it is spring and everything needs to be done at once! So the temptation to plant both packets of corn seed AND some of those 2 dozen packets of seed waiting to be planted.

Because of the wet weather today's garden activity was only to pull 3 wintered over onions to chop up for tonight's veggie pizza. I made cheese pizza for my husband and son, but I really like veggies on mine!

I will have a roast beef for dinner tomorrow. That means that I can put the frozen chunk of meat in the oven in the morning and set the timer. That way if I do overdo it in the garden I can just lie down for however long it takes, and dinner will cook itself! Perhaps I should make a salad and scrub potatos before I go outside as well, as just plain beef is a meagre meal! If I know that dinner has been taken care of I can relax and enjoy myself!

 

[Kansas Terri]

The weatherman is making me crazy. It was supposed to storm but the sun is shining. I changed my entire day around because he said is was supposed to storm at 10 AM and here it is 2 PM.

 

[firelily99]

Progress is being made in Connecticut, I have actually seen some green cropping up on the dreary landscape. We have had snow as late as mid-April so I am not going to get too excited until April 15.

 

[Shellyann36]

Spring has arrived for us and all the seedlings we planted got frozen in a freakish last winter storm. We are having to start all over again. I am sorely disappointed to say the least.

I hope your plantings survive!

 

[Kansas Terri]

Dang.

We had a beautiful day yesterday, and today I am as stiff as a board from gardening! Every winter I swear to stay in shape, every winter something happens and I get out of shape. This year I got sick in the early spring for a bit, then the pills they gave me for the illness made me sick, and then it was warm and lovely but I was flabby from spending so many days on the couch!

Ah, well, yesterday was lovely and soul-satisfying, and I am gaining in energy every day. The sweet corn did get planted. By next weekend I think I will be ready to do a lot more gardening! I might not even be stiff the next day!

 

[forextraspecialstuff]

Slow and steady here on the East Coast, lots of rain so far and pleasant temps followed by evening lows that are almost at freezing. I can see my hyacinth and crocus bulbs are peeking out, I hope this weather doesn't ruin them. This weekend is supposed to be quite nice (almost 80) so my Mom and I are planning on some significant garden time.

 

[Shellyann36]

Dang.

We had a beautiful day yesterday, and today I am as stiff as a board from gardening! Every winter I swear to stay in shape, every winter something happens and I get out of shape. This year I got sick in the early spring for a bit, then the pills they gave me for the illness made me sick, and then it was warm and lovely but I was flabby from spending so many days on the couch!

Ah, well, yesterday was lovely and soul-satisfying, and I am gaining in energy every day. The sweet corn did get planted. By next weekend I think I will be ready to do a lot more gardening! I might not even be stiff the next day!

I spoke too soon! The plants survived! I am so grateful that they did. Did a bit of weeding this morning. Can't wait to plant more. I am holding off for a few weeks to get the tomatoes in the ground.

Glad you got your sweet corn planted. How much do you normally plant of sweet corn? We really don't have much room but we try to get a few stalks in. The darn squirrels tore ours up a few years ago.

 

[Kansas Terri]

I almost never plant sweet corn any longer, but this year the guys volenteered to help and so I did get quite a bit in.

Sweet corn is SUCH a space hog! I can get enough food off of a broccoli plant to serve the family twice, but corn in that space will only give me one lone ear of corn. So, a few years ago I decided to mostly buy my sweet corn, and instead raise bell peppers and broccoli and such in the garden.

This year my son wants to sell sweet corn in the Farmer's Market, and so we put in a patch that was 40 feet by 40 feet! It took them 2 days of tilling to get it done as I am not the only one that got soft over winter: then they helped me set up the rows and such while I did most of the seeding. I used two varieties of corn so that it would not all ripen at once.

They will kill me if the corn gets frosted out.