April – the month where it’s planting and seeding time, yet it’s still cold and chilly – and even snows
Yet it’s time to start dreaming and buying.
The tiniest tomato seedlings struggling. But soon they will be huge.
I have no aversion to also buying tomato and pepper starts, and the tiny starts are very affordable. A month or two in the greenhouse and they are huge.
Growing happily.
Pepper plants must be protected here. They need heat and a lot of light to grow in the PNW.
Onion starts, which went into the ground in April. They are growing happily now.
Weeding beds. I didn’t tarp them last fall and well….that just means weeding.
And yet more weeds.
Currant opening up into blooms.
And then it snowed in late April.
But the snow was gone within hours and the plant starts kept humming along.
First wild strawberry blooms.
Peach tree just opening up.
Currants in further bloom.
Forgotten potatoes? Just toss them in the ground to grow.
Kale starts. The chickens will be happy.
Celery starts.
The boys getting the bed ready.
First of the asparagus coming up for spring. This is the year we can start harvesting.
Pepper plants moved up.
Moving up small tomato starts to 1 gallon pots.
Rhubarb starts hanging out happily in the garden.
Getting a set of red raspberry starts ready for a friend to take home.
Clancy Potatoes, grown from seed.
Quintay potatoes, grown from true seed.
Cherry tree in bloom finally, and looking beautiful this year. Our irrigation last year has paid off for the trees in the orchard.
As the tomatoes were potted up from 4″ pots to 1 gallon pots the shelves start filling up in the greenhouse.
We were weeding beds we created a year ago, when I noticed all the fungi in the wood chips we had layed. And yes, they were morels.
I counted so many, at least 100, that had popped up.
Last fall my oldest child swore up and down “you planted all the garlic” that we held back from the harvest. Yeah….no. Found an entire tray of garlic ready to go. Hundreds and hundreds of cloves. He hadn’t even looked down there, and it was in plain sight in our cellar. But at least it won’t be wasted, you can spring plant garlic easily.
My youngest using the dibbler to plant it in the rows next to the (meager) fall garlic that is coming up strong.
April was wet, and cooler. But everything started growing on schedule, so it was a good month.
~Sarah