Seedy Saturday - And Let the Planting Begin!

Weather has been really warm. As in early summer warm. Not January.

So Monday and Tuesday, on my days off, I got out in the yard and started on the long list of things which needed to be done. 

I cleaned up the containers I had grown beans and field peas in this past summer.

And I attempted to make a semi-fence around my 4x4 beds to keep Slider out of them, at least until things start growing and he doesn't feel it's a pathway. 

Yes, it really looks like a very sad fence job. But it will be slowly replaced with something a bit more attractive and functional. 

In the bed on the right, which just has rosemary in each corner and some salvia in one 'block', I planted spinach, Swiss chard, two types of kale, and several different kinds of lettuce. While there is a definite chance, and one I anticipate, of frost, I think they will be just fine. At most, I can throw a sheet over them if it really gets cold.

And in two of the tubs, I planted some red potatoes. I had a couple of 'packages' from work where the potatoes were starting to sprout. 'Pre-chitted' potatoes!

One of the 'tips' I have picked up from one of the videos I have been watching is I don't need to 'hill up' my potatoes as they grow, especially in a container. So I have refilled the containers with mainly used soil, loosened up and dumped back into the container on top of the potatoes. Now, whether that will work for me or not, I'll find out in a few weeks. If it does, great. If not, I haven't lost anything since the potatoes were free. And I'll know if for me if it will work or not.

I do have some potatoes I am going to plant in ground in the back yard in a couple of weeks to compare the harvest.

While cleaning out the beds and checking my main rosemary bush, I found a couple of these...

I'm not exactly sure what it is, or isn't, but I think it might be a gall. But it did make me take a couple of steps back and poke at it will a sharp object.

On the other hand, I FINALLY unposted the little pots of calla lilies which I have brought home from the store. I figured after months of neglect I would just be emptying out the pots and putting the soil on the garden and throwing the rest away.

However...

I found out calla lilies grow from rhizomes. And the rhizomes were starting up put out little pointy tips, some of them were very green. So it's growing! 

Gathering up all the rhizomes, they are now all planted into a long cedar planter. If they all come up and bloom for me it will be a beautiful display this spring/summer. And if that's the case, I'll replant them in the fall/winter into a permanent location in the yard.

In the meantime, I have to take a bit of a break. The temperatures will still be in the 60's and 70's, however, we do have some rain moving it and a tiny bit of a drop in temperature before it goes back up again. Hopefully, in the next week I'll start seeing some little green 'heads' poking up in the garden.