Spring is here...

The frost free date here in USDA Zone 6 is supposed to be approximately the middle of  April. Its still in the 30s at night but I hope the snow is done for the season. The local weathermen who said there would me more snow as a April fools joke really were not all that funny (there was more than one who tried to pull this off!). I am done with the snow... anyhow...

These are the sprouted grocery store garlic that I stuck in the ground... considering it snowed at least once since I put them in the ground and they still seem to be growing I think they will be fine.  (Sorry its not in focus). Definitely want to put in some more grocery store garlic in the next few weeks to supplement the german red toch garlic.

I've liked peonies for a long time but never thought to grow them ....Last year I took the plunge and bought two plants. This one is white (which I think is a herbaceous one)... the other one is red (and appears to be a woody variety). Jury is still out on whether the red one is going to grow (I won't blame it if it didn't come back this year  I left it in the nursery container till October and didn't water it as frequently as I should have)

Chives are seriously one of the easiest herbs to grow... so low maintenance...

Last year my father gave me a few strawberry plants (I don't know what cultivar they are)... hoping to get some good strawberries this year. The strawberries they produced last year were not all that sweet (or tasty... I'm hoping its because it was the first year). Eventually I want to expand my berry patch. ( ignore the newpaper... trying to kill weeds.. need to throw mulch on that ).

Sage is growing back... Right now I really use sage for one main purpose... Thanksgiving turkey. I bought this plant at the end of last year when all the greenhouse plants were being marked down. (Same price as grocery store sage and if it keeps coming back as a perennial then its a bonus). There are still a few of the large leaves from last season that survived (which got cut off in the picture.I should try and find some more uses for this.

I worked on these garden beds over Easter weekend. The raised bed on the left is a new one I set up this weekend with lassagna layers. [This one is layered with  (from bottom to top): cardboard, peatmoss, kitchen scraps from the winter that are half decomposed, fall leaves (which at this point are leaf mold... leaf mold is partially decomposed leaves), peatmoss, thin layer of wood chips, and coffee grounds (from starbucks) I need to add vermiculite but I am out at the moment].  On the right is my old garden bed I started last year... these are lifetime raised beds I bought from Amazon (they are also available from Sam's club I think). They came with a neat frame and plastic cover, but I found that the plastic cover didn't allow for enough ventillation (at least thats what I think) and a lot of the seedlings last year died.  This year I am using the frame and trying a floating row cover.  I sowed spinach, lettuce, kohlrabi, hakurei turnips (YUM! I'm hoping these grow), and snow peas to harvest as shoots.  I also threw cucumber seeds in there to see if I can start them.