Planting Time! (4/4/26)

Finally! 

I've been waiting impatiently for it to be time to start sowing outside. Because I'm a newish gardener, I follow the seed packet instructions as closely as possible. I looked up our average last frost date, and counted back to make sure I wasn't planting too early. Now, this winter has been ... let's say, mild ... so I probably would have been fine planting even earlier than the seed packets suggested, but I didn't want to risk it.

My original plan had been to use our old slow-feed net as a trellis for my peas to climb, but I decided not to cannibalize it so that Jay and I still had two feeders and nets for when we travel. We can put two round bales out, and then we shouldn't need anyone to replenish the hay supply while we're gone. With the slow-feed net out of the running, I had to come up with something else.

Luckily, L.E. had an old day bed in storage that she was looking to get rid of, so I scrounged up a piece of that and planted it in the pea patch. Because our winds are so brutal at times, I secured it with four pieces of rebar: two taller pieces on the north side of the trellis, where the wind typically comes from; and two smaller pieces on the south side of the trellis, in an effort to provide some structure when the wind inevitably kicks up. I like the end result - it looks like it's free-standing.

I'll admit, I rattle canned the rebar white so that it wouldn't
stick out like a sore thumb.

Because I don't have a ton of confidence in my newly greenish thumb, I do everything in my power to increase the odds of germination, including soaking my peas prior to planting. I planted three different varieties of snap peas: traditional green, one with purple flowers and green pods, and a third with purple flowers and purple pods (they're my favorite). I tried alternating them as I planted, but I think I didn't do a very good job in the middle, not that it'll matter once they start growing. 

Jelly jars did double duty as pea-soaking jars.

Last year, I planted my seeds on the south side of my trellis, and the wind really beat them up, so this year, I planted on the north (far) side so that when the wind kicks up (are you sensing a theme?) it'll blow the vines into the trellis, not away from it. I then woke up in the middle of the night in a panic that I planted the peas in the shade of the trellis and convinced myself that they weren't going to grow, because I put them in the shade. I couldn't very well go out in the middle of the night to make sure they weren't in the shade; I had to wait until the sun actually came up. (Good news: the peas get sun throughout the day.)

Some of my struggles last year were because of watering. In an effort not to run up a big water bill, I tried watering "just enough" and stunted my garden because of it. This year, I decided to copy L.E. and install soaker hoses in all of my beds. I only accomplished installing three of the six that I need, but I'll get the rest put in when we return from Scotland.

I'm attempting to grow broccolini this year. It's one of my favorite veggies, and it never occurred to me to try to grow it until I saw an ad for seeds. They were stupid expensive as far as seeds go (over $5 for 20 seeds), so they'd better grow! L.E. warned me that members of the broccoli family are prone to pests, so I decided to cover our old chicken tractor with insect mesh to protect the broccolini. I didn't have quite enough netting to completely cover it, so I ordered more. The broccolini will be protected before they begin to sprout. Additionally, I read that onions are a good pest deterrent and companion plant, so I put some onion in with the broccolini.

This chicken tractor frame has been so useful!

My gothic garden has to go in in stages, but I did get to plant the poppies. And, under Maggie's new sweet pea trellis, I planted some creeping thyme seeds. Those seeds are so microscopic that I was afraid they'd blow away, so I covered them with greenhouse plastic and weighed them down with heavy old window anchors.

Inside the cinder blocks, I planted sweet peas.

I've done what I can as far as planting before we leave, and I'm hopeful I'll come back to some babies peeking up through the soil.