Productive Saturday

The garden April 20th. Lots of digging going on.

We finally had a couple days without rain, so I was able to get in the garden on Saturday.

Do you know what that is? It's an asparagus sprout! I only saw one, but that was enough for me.

I planted a 15 foot row of peas. I've had peas in the past, but never this many, so this year I decided to try two different varieties. I planted Laxton's Progress No. 9 and Little Marvel, which is what I grew last year. We'll see if one does any better than the other, or if I can even tell them apart. The other thing I did differently was to inoculate. Most seed catalogs suggest it, so I figured it couldn't hurt.

pea planting tools

And, of course, I used my tape measure. How else would I know the row was 15 feet long and that I planted the peas four inches apart? The screwdriver is my pea-planting-hole maker.

I also planted potatoes, six red Pontiac. I've never planted potatoes before, so this is a whole new experience. I tried to follow the directions. I've heard of using straw to cover the potatoes instead of hilling with soil, and I wouldn't mind trying it, but I haven't yet figured out where I can get straw. Oh, I could buy 25 bales from a farmer 40 miles away, but that's not really what I had in mind.

The last thing that went into the ground Saturday was garlic. I know that spring is not the best time of year to plant garlic, but I wanted to try anyway. I only planted six feet of it, and I had many more cloves than I needed, so I was able to pick the biggest and best looking ones to plant. I might end up sticking some more in the garden somewhere.

The last thing I did in the garden Saturday was install a couple pavers in the gate. It still has the janky plywood door, but now the door has something to stand on. The idea is to make a real gate, and having the pavers in place might help.

Saturday's birds: grackle, robin, cardinal, chickadee, starling, house finch, house sparrow, blue jay, junco, song sparrow (a brand new bird for me).