The weather warmed up this week and my starts are much happier!

Except for the brassicas (cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage), they are tiny and look terrible and I'm not sure what is wrong with them. It's time to plant them out though, so I will see if they do better outside. I will also put a few seeds directly in the ground and see how those do.We eat a lot of broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage, so I hope I can get them going in time!

My potatoes went in this week, the peas are almost a foot tall, and I actually have some lettuce with true leaves on it! I will know not to plant lettuce outside next year until the ground dries up more and the slugs go away. I will just start it inside or I was thinking of putting together a good cold frame so I can keep lettuce going in there most of the year.

My pumpkins are growing fast!

So is my corn. I definitely learned a lesson there. Don't start it inside more than two weeks before the last frost date - it grows so big so fast! The forecast looks good for awhile, so I am going to try to plant it out today or tomorrow and hope for the best. (I'll also have some caning jars ready to cover them up if a frost hits!)

We did have a few freezes this week and a very light frost on the cars. I'm hoping that was the last of it - we are still two weeks away from our usual "safe" date - the last week of May.

My melons - Sakata's Sweet and Emerald Gem, have started to come up (inside).

I planted all of my storage carrots (St. Valery) and covered them with boards. I've been having very poor germination with my other carrots and was reading online about how to improve it. I came across a number of references about covering your soil to retain the moisture - which makes perfect sense. Seeds die if they dry out and it dries out here quickly. With carrot seeds so close to the surface I couldn't water them often enough. So, I watered them thoroughly and laid boards on top of the soil. I watered this morning and they stayed moist all day - and it was a very dry, warm day!

My husband and I got most of the irrigation system set up today, but we ran out of sprinklers/drippers, so we'll have to finish later this week once we get into town for more parts.

I also started a trashbin of alfalfa tea to fertilize my starts once they are transplanted - I'm hoping it helps rejuvenate the brassicas. It should be ready by the weekend.

A warm night is forecast tonight - 40s, so my little starts are spending the night outside for the first time. I am really hoping tonight is not the night a rogue bunny breaks into the garden! I'll have to send the dog to do a fence circuit just before bed to scare any adventurous critters away. (The bear he saw a few days ago scared the crap out of him! He was brave and stood his post by the house alerting us, but once we responded he ran inside and stayed there.)

And my strawberries are flowering!