The garden did great through the two nights of hard frost. I forgot about the potatoes and the squash from last weekend, so those all got hard pruned back today but they’ll live. I am concerned about all the seeds from the other week germinating, so I started a few new seedling trays in the greenhouse. Today’s plantings include marigolds, dill, rainbow chard, basil, nasturtiums, pasta squash, zucchini, cucumbers, corn and peas. I also scattered seeds for alyssum in the peppers and parsley in the tomatoes - it’s what happens when I’m feeling lazy but know I need more companions in the garden beds.

New seedlings coming soon.

Chives.

Bringing peppers and currant tomatoes to the market for the first time this season, so I thought I’d make some labels. 

Plant labels.

Aww… baby grew up and grew a set of horns.

Not a fan of night watering, except of days when freezes are coming (ah yes, a practical application of latent heat and phase changes… thank you chemistry!) So, I made sure to give everything a good water before tucking the garden in for the night. Before that, I installed 16 new t posts which will eventually be used for trellises. 

T posts and freeze protection. 

Columbine.

Watermelon and dasies.

Laser engraved bamboo.

Daisy.

 

I haven’t been diligent in telling the progress our newest building. It’s a roll off roof observatory! My husband has been hard at work building it, but I pitched in today to help design and cut the trusses for the roof. It’s going to be fabulous once it’s completed! I’m super proud of my husbands skills.

Gusset plates, wood.

Gusset plates, wood.

Beams.

Beams.

The observatory before installing the trusses.

Freezing temps are coming back this week. Glad I just planted all those tomatoes, eggplants and peppers. Never fear… this is something so can deal with. Took the freeze protection off the brassicas (this was a plant saver while we were in Iceland) and put it over the more sensitive nightshades. Then, put the bug netting over the brassicas. We’ll see how this week turns out.

Brassicas with bug protection row covers.

Look at this giant mushroom I found!

Ever transplant a cactus that’s about 14-15 years old? Well, there’s a first for everything. I think I did alright. This root bound baby can start stretching her toes out again.

Gloves, glasses, carpet and cardboard…

Happy cacti. 

The swallows have returned.

Hanging out at the farmers market.

Laser engraved wood.

Tomatoes and eggplants.

 

I planted 32 tomatoes, 12 peppers, 4 eggplants, and two squash in beds today. Hope they enjoy their new homes!

Laying out the spacing.

Planted.

Thankful for sunshine!

Guess what I’m making today? More plant signs!

Laser engraved wood.

Beautiful peppers.

Ugly dogs are ugly, even with bows in their hair. But sunrises… those are always beautiful!

Graphite on paper.

Dawn.

Good morning beautiful world!

Graphite on paper.

Sunrise on the way to work.

 

Tomato plants… they’re my jam vegetable.

Graphite on paper.

Dawn.

Made some more bookmarks today and set up some trellises in the garden.

Laser engraved wood.

Bamboo trellises.

It’s the first day of the farmers market for me! All in all, it was a pretty good day. People loved the book marks and plant tags too! Will need to make some more this week.

Saturdays at the farmers market.

Saturdays at the farmers market.

Saturdays at the farmers market.

Hey… what’s this picture? Yep… it’s dirt. I often joke about dirt farming and how when you sell plants, what you really are selling is soil. It’s that important! Anyways, I seeded three beds today. Zucchini and peas are in 1 bed, beans and cucumber are in another, corn, acorn squash, yellow squash and beans (the 3 sisters) are in the third. Also, I’m very happy to see all the cole crops doing well after their planting a few weeks ago.

Sown seeds.

Brussels.

Pruning tomatoes before they get a little unwieldy. Also check out the beautiful garlic beds. 

Happy, healthy tomatoes.

Tomatoes and more tomatoes.

Garlic.

 Do go bacon my heart…

Laser engraved wood.

Forget me nots.

So good to be home.

Laser engraved wood.

Blooming iris.

Craters, tours to geothermal energy plants and hopping on plane…