It was a good day

Today was nice weather, a nice temperature and not too much wind.  I worked in the cornfield, which is the big garden, hauling away all of the garden trash that had been previously piled on the grass.  Once those piles were gone I mowed for the first time this year, mowing the area surrounding the garden.  I started mowing the nearby road ditch as well but it is going to need to be raked in places as there are lots of cornstalks that will need to be removed before mowing. 

The peas and potatoes are needing to be watered.  There is rain forecast for tonight and tomorrow but I was wanting to see if the water line survived our couple of colder nights so I set up a sprinkler and ran it for an hour or so and it was working great.  I have a somewhat complicated watering system that I started last year allowing me to avoid moving the hoses and damaging plants.  It consists of sprinklers set on the posts that divide the north half (the field) from the south half (the permanent rows).  So far I have one sprinkler set up and it is able to reach both the peas and the potatoes.  Between the posts I have planted some asparagus and some raspberry canes.  I am still in the process and will finish this year  The asparagus is not up yet but I weeded two of the rows.  I also weeded two sections of raspberries.  They are just starting to leaf out so I will soon know which ones survived the winter and where I will need to put replacements.  I have been digging up and transplanting the wild black raspberries that grow along the edge of the grove and last year the first row that I planted near the potager had a nice crop on it.  I am hopeful that as these new ones get established that there will be lots and lots of berries.   

I took the stirrup hoe and did some weeding on the rows that are ready to plant.  I was able to do 15 rows fairly quickly, there were  only a few small weeds and the hoe took care of them.  Tomorrow, weather permitting I will do the other rows that are ready and then keep getting more rows ready.  It is early yet much of the garden won't go in for at least a month so I am really pleased with how far along we are.  Having a work day with the kids at Easter really made a difference. 

It was a little comical, both Elke and Manny were surprised by the mower and the sprinkler and I was wishing I had been able to catch some video of them getting reacquainted.  Elke came to live here at the end of fall, so i think that I was done mowing and sprinkling and Manny was a house cat who now goes outside some. 

The greenhouse is doing well.  The fan that was added has made a difference.  Last year we got to the point that we had to move everything outside as it was way to hot.  I am hoping to avoid that this year.  I am still seeding in the house, with Brussels sprouts, cucumbers and squashes going in this week.  All of the tomatoes and peppers are potted up and are moved out to the greenhouse.  The kohlrabi is potted up and some are in the greenhouse.  The eggplant is potted up and is in the greenhouse.  I was afraid that i had moved it too soon as we had a cold night last night and it was looking pretty sick first thing this morning but by this afternoon it appeared to have fully recovered.  I did  have the heater on part time during the night and the thermometer listed a low of 45 for the space but they were on the suspended shelf an maybe too close to the glazing. 

Lots more to do.  I love this time of year.