Gave a horse a bath, Bonnie?! It must have been a nice sunny day!

It sounds like things in your neighborhood are just about like here: rhubarb is just showing above the soil, chives are still a week or 2 away from going into a pan full of scrambled eggs . . . I saw my first forsythia bloom yesterday! It must be the only bush with a bloom in 50 miles, tho'.

Five degrees Sunday night!!? Good Heavens that's a turnaround! That was about our "winter low." Another above-zero winter - just amazing to me. Still, those warm winters have not translated into warm springs, so far. We will see what 2013 brings. It is warmer than usual right now.

I started getting a bed ready in the little veggie garden yesterday. Will plant some onion sets, shallots and spinach seed today! (. . . first things in my garden. :o)

Steve

I could plant peas here this week.
Not quite spring,but close!

I have some peas up and growing maybe an inch tall and another small area that hasn't poked through the surface yet.

Sort of a struggle for me to find good areas to plant peas as they are best planted in a long double row and I don't have any long beds. That said I'm scouting around today to figure another place to get some seed in the ground.

Pretty much all the perennials are showing some green here, good to see.

Some of my peas did not like that cold Tuesday night. I thought I had them fairly well protected. Maybe they'll survive yet. Sure looks like they froze hard. I guess that can happen with 5 degree temps in April. The other patch that was covered in snow looks just fine. Even somethings like clover and mint in the ground don't look good.

My peas haven't popped yet, but the garlic and walking onions and rhubarb look unhappy and some leaves have cold damage. Some daffies returning. Some garlic will be affected for sure. Carrots haven't germinated yet so can't tell...

I got my snap peas in yesterday! 2 rows. I will plant another row in a week or two. I drug all my outside pots into the basement for the coldest parts of the last couple days, taking them outside for some sun during the middle of yesterday. Back out they go today!
~Cat

I got my peas and favas in monday, in time for the rain/snow on tues - thus. My onions and leeks and a bazillion garlic chives are ready to plant, but its windy and cold for the next few days.

Irrigation company sez they will turn the water in the ditches next week - with only 75% allocation for the year. Which means they'll shut it off in august....

The greenhouse is filling up with peppers, tomatoes, clematis, basil, geraniums, petunias and its getting hard to walk in there. I need to move out all the containers that can take a frost. Which is a guaranteed way for the weather to drop down in the teens......

Aint that the truth David " Which is a guaranteed way for the weather to drop down in the teens......"

A bazillion sounds like lots of garlic chives.

My onions are ready to go also. Probably try to get them in this weekend after checking the 5 day forecast.

I planted all the 'Candy' onion and "King Richard" leeks today, used a 100 ft hose and tap water to get them soaked in, and agreed (I think) with that 'wild and whacky' group of neighbors that share an irrigation ditch head gate and division box that we lock it down at 80% - which, theoretically, should mean that we have water throughout the summer, into the fall. We should get water next week. Forever optimistic - we are the last head gate on a 15-something mile ditch, and what ever can go wrong, will.

My bazillion garlic chives an' me are having a staring contest.

LOL! I hope all but ONE of your Bazillion are going on The Outskirts or methinks you're gonna wind up in a permanent Staring Contest in your NIGHTMARES!

Happy Dreams,
Skybird

Peas are UP! Can not believe they were not frozen when it hit 7ú early this past week.

Got the beet tapes in the ground yesterday and am prepping a new area for the determinate tomatoes today. Got a new concept for staking. 7' of cow panel, folded in half then staked. Am thinking I can plant two toms per side and maybe even wrap with heavy plastic early in the season for heat savings. Will try to post pic once they are installed.

So the weather was overcast but calm when I got up this morning, so I put some peas in water to soak. Usually they are planted in mid-March, but I thought I'd give them a go anyway. Well, this afternoon , the winds are back up in the 30 - 40 mph range, and I didn't want to waste all those pea seeds, so I got out there to plant them. Dirt was blowing everywhere, moving the seeds around while I was trying to carefully space them out, and covering them up, so that I couldn't tell where I had put them. Planting depth?!? Plant spacing?!? Who knows! I threw some water on them and ran back inside. Chances are, if any of them sprout, they'll be in one big giant cluster.

In other news, the bindweed is already up in the veggie bed, and there's a chance of snow in the forecast for the next 4 days ...

I put in peas, beets, carrots, parsnips when we had some really nice weather serveral days ago. Started snowing last night but not sticking. They are not up yet and hope they wait for at least 5 days because they are forecasting colder weather!

Peas in the coldframe are rather large now. They look about full size to me. They aren't flowering yet. I hope the two flower at the same time so i can cross the purple seeded but spindly Purple Passion to the strong but extra dwarf Mighty Midget pea. That would make for an excellent cross.

All my breeding peas are now up though and about 1" tall right now. Some seedlings are clearly hyper-tendrilled which i like (aka semi-leafless), such as Sugar Magnolia and Canoe/Markana.

As a bonus i saw early starting of teosinte or teosinte-hybrids peeking out of the soil.

It sure is cold today though. But the peas seem fine. I even have some early planted beans growing fine as well. Go figure.