April Rains

Soaking rains have been almost a daily event for the last few weeks, and the garden has benefited immensely with nearly everything planted showing significant growth.

Peas growing- so far the Amish Snap are outdistancing the Green Arrow, but everything is growing well.

I started bean seeds directly in the ground under old plastic soda bottles. This is the first time I've tried this, but so far so good.

The melons and squashes that I started in milk jugs are all looking quite good. The only thing that has shown no signs of life thus far is the strawberries.

Trying something a little different with the tomatoes this year. Typically at this point I would transplant them into individual plastic cups and let them grow inside on the windowsill for a few weeks. This year I am instead going to transplant the seedling directly into milk jugs similar to the way I did the squash and melon seeds. If this technique works than it would be a lot less fussy as once I plant the stuff into jugs it usually remains pretty self-sufficient until its time to put it in the ground. If this works maybe next year I could try planting the tomato seeds directly into the jugs, but lets not get ahead of ourselves.

jugs galore.

I have gone a little crazy with the bamboo structures this year. I already have climbing space for peas, beans, melons and squash, and I still have to put in the giant tomato stakes. It's starting to look like a swiss family robinson garden.