Author: Yinglan

It appears Mother Nature has heard our prayers.

The snow had ceased as of last Wednesday but I think Mother Nature might had turned the dial on the thermometer a little too much because it was hot this weekend even though it was only 60-degrees-Fahrenheit. It went from 30-degrees on Wednesday to near 60 on Friday. If I feel this hot when it’s 60, how will I get through the days when it’s 90+?

Anyway, the foot of snow in my backyard finally melted on Saturday and I spent the weekend catching up on my planting. I’m so late this year. The peas were supposed to be in the ground in the middle of March and so were the cold-hardy vegetables. I was in panic mode for other reasons as well. As of Saturday, I’m 4 weeks aways from my last frost date. There are many things that should be planted at this point but what? My mind was drawing a blank, which it’s what happens when I’m in panic mode.

I was also in panic mode because not only there’s a crack in the hose splitter, I still haven’t purchased the material to reconnect my drip irrigation system. I had to cut a large chunk of the system because my current design doesn’t fit the 2 new raised beds I installed last fall. With mom wanting to follow me everywhere I go, I might need to take a Thursday off from work, get the material, and install it myself.

Also, with Mother Nature turning up the thermometer, I hope I’m not too late with my tomatoes. I started them indoors on the 2nd of April and they are just now popping up. I’ve grown tomatoes for the last 2 years and I’ve transplanted them just prior to Memorial Day (last weekend in May) in time to let the cold-hardy crops finish up.

Oh, I’m so sore today, definitely overdid it this weekend.

• The Johnny Jump-Ups (viola) began blooming on Saturday. They are such pretty flowers and so cold-hardy.
• Poppy and alyssum seeds scattered in the backyard, in hopes that it’ll create a carpet-like groundcover to deter weeds.
• The soil in my Greenstalk towers are loosened and amended before popping the remaining 6 strawberry plants in there along with some lettuce and spinach seedlings. The seed potatoes I planted before the last freeze still hadn’t come up. I hope they are okay.
• Planted snow peas and shelling peas in the L-Shaped bed and Napa cabbages in the new raised bed next to the broccolis, which miraculously survived the last freeze.
• Planted the remaining seed potatoes in 10-gallon grow bags and placed them in the front yard to take advantage of the southern sun. Getting to plant beneath the southern sun is such a game changer because my front yard gets full sun and facing south, it’s much warmer than the backyard, which at the moment, it’s highly advantageous as I’m in a hurry to play catch up.
• A 15-gallon grow bag was also filled and placed in the front yard, in which I sowed carrots and some Asian greens. I’m looking forward to those.

Now, I just need to locate a couple of blackberry plants to plop in my backyard.