Sowing corn, melons, squash in pots & garden

This week, I have tried to beat the rain to sow seeds and till the garden. I am struggling planting anything because of the rainfall and the birds! The birds are eating the seed right from out of the ground within the hour that I sow it. And it's constant! I'll keep sowing the seed, and then the bird will eat them immediately--like the birds are watching me.

I have 50 garden pots that I'm sowing veggie seed. I sowed cantaloupe, yellow squash, and zucchini in the pots. I have done this 3 times and every time, a bird is eating the seeds...so, I'm at a loss except to sow the seeds again and cover them with plastic sheeting and garden canvas.

Even when I covered the pots with plastic sheeting, something got into them...maybe not a bird, but a mole!

The rain is just as limiting because I cannot till the garden to plant beans and corn. But, I tilled some of the garden wet...finally! I was able to till a patch of my big garden. Then I hoed rows of soil to plant seed. I planted 3 and a half rows of cushaw, 1 row of cucumbers, 1 row of watermelon, 1 and half rows of corn, and a row of transplanted tomatoes.

Then today I transplanted more tomato plants in my grandparents porch garden bed.

Not only have I been focusing on the veggie garden, I am making flower beds. I have started one flower bed at my grandparent's around a tree, which I am decorating with turtles and frogs. The other flower garden is where I planted gladiolus bulbs and decorated with my grandmothers angel figurines, which you can see below.

Despite the mess, there is some beauty in all of this...the blackberry patch...the thyme...the strawberries...are all very lush, green and vibrant...

Blackberry patch

Lettuce...with some weeds

Thyme

Arugula flowering

Strawberries

Garden harvest & Tulip photography in April

Last week I posted pictures of covering my garden and fruit trees for frost protection. The good news is, the blueberry fruits are still growing, and veggies are very hardy; the bad news is, all the fruit trees are not so hardy. You can see small black fruit dangling from the pear trees, the grape vines are wilted, the mulberry leaves died, the pineapple sage died, the plums that speckled the sky all turned shriveled and black.

I'm not sure if any of the fruit from the peaches and nectarines survived, but I still see some hanging on for life.

Still, I harvest food everyday. I have so many radishes and little greens to prepare salads, vegan seaweed rolls, garnish for ramen, salad wraps, and other pasta dishes loaded with garden food.

I have also been delivering garden food to elders that are social distancing, and to coworkers as well.

Garden veg out for delivery

Spinach & arugula used for tomato pasta dish

Potatoes in grow bags

French breakfast radishes poking out from the soil

Yesterday I planted more pockets of seed around these strawberry plants and other bare spots in the garden beds. I sowed spinach and basil seed which are supposed to be companion plants to strawberries. I sowed the spinach and basil seed around additional bare spots in other garden beds.

Strawberry plants and lettuces

Cilantro bed

Arugula and spinach bed

And the tulips rise, regardless of the frost. However, as of tonight, there's not a petal in sight. The Irises will be taking their place in the upcoming weeks--once again brightening the landscape.

Aronia berry plant blossoms

Tulip garden & veggie gardens

Tulips are an essential in the garden. They are a wondering eye, they speckle their charm, and wrinkle their noses. I claim my infatuation with them. Day by day, I relish the colors of the rainbow out my backdoor, something I created, planted, forged and carved onto this Earth. These flowers do not waver, they have no uncertainty, they know what they're supposed to do and when to do it, just as I know when and how to care for these darlings.

I lined up the grow bags against a garden bed. Every year I use these grow bags for planting potatoes. To prep, I cut the eyes of the potatoes and laid them on cardboard overnight to dry. I counted out how many potato eyes I need per bag for how many bags I had full of mulch and soil, then planted. 

Growing greens

Radishes, arugula, and lettuce

Cilantro 

Spinach

Mulching garden beds, fruit trees and flowers

As the spring proceeds, I am continuing to garden prep. On saturday, I bought a truck load of mulch and mulched around all the vegetables that are growing in the garden beds.

Additionally, I used the remaining mulch to put around the 5 Peach and nectarine trees. I expanded the surface area of the mulch around the trees and created a rock boarder to contain the mulch.

Then the last bit of mulch went around some of the flowers that were in desperate need and hadn't been mulched in awhile.

I'm excited to see the tulips blooming, as I have planted more out in the beds. Sadly, I have noticed many tulips are dying off. I caught wind of some information about growing tulips that is useful: to dig them up, separate them and store somewhere cool and dry until next Spring. Tulips die out in damp environments, and I believe this is happening here but I also speculate that animals are eating the bulbs. 

I will keep you posted of all the upcoming beautiful flora and fauna.

Garden beds planted and covered with swiss chard, spinach, lettuces, radishes, and arugula

Plum flowering

Peach trees blooming