I planted tomatoes!!!! It was a very joyful experience. If you live around here you may be wondering: temperatures at night are still occasionally dipping below freezing. Tomatoes will freeze out in the garden and it’s not time to plant for at least another three weeks. But that’s if you are not being tricky. I used a common “trick” that enabled me to plant around four week early.

I grew my own transplants this year, and had several Roma plants ready for planting. I knew I seeded them a little early, but I was planning on doing some season extension. I used what are generally referred to as walls of water. It forms a mini-greenhouse around the plant and keeps them very well insulated from cold temperatures. They have been planted for a few days, and there’s no sign of any cold injury. (Of course, temperatures for those days haven’t gotten below freezing either, so the real test is yet to come.)

To plant them out, I first put down a layer of black plastic to warm the soil. Ideally, this should have been done several days before planting. (I just did it right before I planted, and so far it seems okay.) I cut holes in the black plastic and planted my tomato plants. I took off the bottom couple of leaves and buried the stem. (Very useful on the slightly leggy transplants.) The walls of water are filled with (surprise) water. I actually filled them with warm water: you could also leave them outside for a few days before planting. It should help in creating the warm conditions I want faster.

Now I can’t wait until my first harvest! Most of my seedlings are also coming up in the garden: the radish were first followed by lettuce and now peas. We planted leeks last week, and I’m planning on doing potatoes and onions this week. Great time of year right now.

I planted a couple of rows of beets out in the garden, and decided everything else could use a drink. It’s time for all the cool season crops to get planted. I planted a lot of mine a couple weeks ago, and the first seedling to pop up are the radishes. My coral bells have lots of new growth, and I planted some Asclepias to start filling out my rear flower bed.

Flowering plants I’ve seen right now include Dicentra, flowering cherries, Callery Pear, flowering quince, Mahonia, currant, the mid-season tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, and some quite pretty phlox. It’s a wonderful time of year to see everything start to green up. The flowering quince are particularly lovely: but come summer they almost always get iron chlorosis. It’s a great time to add chelated iron or elemental sulfur so they don’t. (As a side  note–other susceptible plants are berries, red and silver maples, and spireas. I saw some silver maples completely yellow in the summer. It was actually very pretty, but then the plant starts to die.)

I need to start mowing regularly this week. It’s been not too bad, but the grass is starting to get too long.  I put in a picture of a lawn overran with clover. I would actually seed clover and wild violets into a lawn. Most people think of them as weeds, but to me they just enhance the grass. I love to pick the wild violets and enjoy the subtle, sweet flower scent. There’s lots of projects I’d like to start on in the landscape–but I think I’ll hold off for a week because my husband has finals right now. Still working on basic spring clean-up, picking up old leaves and branches from the winter.

Plus I’ve got several design projects going on. Design is a lot of fun though, and perfect to do during nap time.

Previous to now (even in the winter), I try to go hiking once a week. But lately I just haven’t made it up into the mountains. Yesterday I went on a bike ride that started up a canyon and went down into the city.  Up in the canyon is a lot of dormant plants, mud, and even snow. Down in the valley the cherries and apircots are starting to bloom, along with forsythias, currants,  mahonia and bulbs. All the new spring leaves are making there first appearance, and the lawn is green and growing. I’ve also been busy working on starting my garden up this year, along with starting the maintenance for the landscape and several landscape designs.

So why am I not out hiking? I’m busy with garden tasks and besides that, it’s prettier here. I’ll go after my tomatoes are in and the weather starts to heat up more, demanding a break for the cool mountain air. Right now, I’m enjoying mowing lawns, adding compost, planting spring crops, and cleaning up the outside. Everything is still exciting after the long winter break. Gardening easily puts all other recreational tasks on hold, and I’m okay with that.

Also, today I transplanted my tomato seedling right when I should have. They weren’t huge like all the previous ones I’ve done. I also decided in future years to go ahead and double my lights. The plants are doing okay with just one light above them, but a little leggier than I would like them.