1st week of May 2008

Pleasant temperatures gave us many days in the garden this week and then the rains came over the weekend - what a blessing. More lettuce transplants are in, the onion beds are overflowing, and I started putting out snapdragon plants. The beans, zucchini and cucumbers under the coldframes are starting to emerge and I'm curious how early they will come with a bit of protection. The tomatoes in water walls are peeking out the tops and a few have blooms, early tomatoes will be a wonderful treat too.

Rooting new plants Indoors I am trying to root some herb plants; lemon verbena, pineapple sage, tarragon and stevia. I snipped 4" stems off the mother plants and put them in sand in my recycled "greenhouses" about a month ago. I started off watering them with water from the vase of pussy willow branches to try to stimulate root growth. It's amazing how many roots they have developed and I transplanted some to pots with soil to continue growing. We're especially excited about having more lemon verbena plants around, one of our favorite teas.

Fort Garden I am unwilling to share my peas with the resident bunnies so the electric fence went up this week. The kids noticed that some of the lettuces in their garden plots were getting nibbled. I came home one day to find their wildlife exclusion system in place - all the crates, jugs, and fences they could find for protecting their valuable crops. The chickens sometimes still wander the garden direction but are quickly shooed when we see them.

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