Things are growing

So maybe March 13 wasn't too early to plant my seeds! Things are growing wonderfully this sunny spring and I couldn't be happier that I took the gamble. The previous two years I planted on April 1st and was utterly disappointed. That could partly be attributed to my chickens scratching a lot of things up, though!  The peas look wonderful; they're about 4 inches tall, and I have others, planted later, that just emerged. I've always been bad at succession planting peas, but this year I already have three batches going. I plan on planting another patch in the middle of May and another mid-June to see what happens with fall peas.

The spinach was the first thing to emerge and they're still going strong. This is the first batch, planted 6 weeks ago; batch number two is 3 weeks old and is in cotyledon stage.

I love garlic greens! I planted the garlic on the left in a hoop house in March to eat for greens. On the right is the garlic I planted outdoors in the fall for bulbs.

This is my first year doing turnips. Back in Northern Maine we call them naveau, which is supposed to be French, but when I looked it up just now, it's apparently navet. I guess that's a dialect for you! Anyway, these guys are hardy! After this photo I thinned them out and transplanted the thinnings to an uncovered bed.

Here's an onion from last year's stash. I had buried a bunch in late fall to eat, root cellar-style, in the winter. This one got left behind and is now leaving the newly planted onions behind! I haven't figured out how to get big bulbs yet, but I sure do enjoy eating the greens! The over-wintered kale has new, tender growth. A couple of days ago when I was doing my first round of weeding for the year, I found a fresh, fat, carrot, which was delicious. I definitely am going to plant a large bed of carrots in May to root-cellar in place for winter eating.

And my amphibian project.....it's coming along! I was amazed when I went up to the garden in the pouring rain today to see the stream was going full force! I put in some large flat rocks at the lower end of this and they make a cool little water fall. I need to get some better pictures when it's not pouring, but here's what I could get. I've been doing a lot of natural (wild plants) gardening the past few days.  More on that next time.....