Garden News April 1

Good Morning Gardeners,

“April, come she will.” My favorite first line of a song, this one from Simon and Garfunkel that covers the best time of year, in my opinion, April through September, all in under 2 minute.

http://youtu.be/Smp9dwVUuls

But what a March for the record books! A wholly different take on March Madness for sure. And although some have worried that we might have April or even May snow to pay us back for such an early spring, I keep thinking that every warm day gets us closer to the time when winter will be too far gone to come back.

The asparagus poked up these last couple of warm weeks…and then was frozen off. Nothing sadder than mushy asparagus spears in the garden when you’ve waited so long since last spring!

The peas I planted weeks ago are still not up. Or more likely were up and then snacked upon by resident rodents or birds. Looks like I’ll be replanting those and trying to figure out how to protect them.

I have seedlings I started of cauliflower and Brussels sprouts (minus a few that my cats decided made an excellent salad course!), plus red romaine, ready to put in as soon as I harden them off. Between the sporadic freezing nights and the lack of a fence to keep out predators, we’ll probably start them under row cover. The celeriac and celery seedlings are still tiny, and the peppers are just poking up through the soil. Today I will start fennel and some herbs.

This weekend is the PermaBlitz (Saturday from 10 to 4), and the weather looks like it is going to be fantastic: sunny but not too hot or too cold. If you’re interested in helping, let me know. It should be both educational and fun. I need to hear from you because I’ll be making lunch. It would be cook if we were to get enough asparagus to include in the menu. I’m definitely going to grind up some corn from last year and make cornbread. I have dried beans left too. Maybe a corn and bean dish.

That day will also be the first indoor market of the season, down at Old Gregg School, just in time to pick up fresh greens for Easter. More about that later this week.

So what’s happening in your yard and garden?