Sneaking a few plants outside.

I can not contain my excitement any more. The lowest temperature we've had in weeks is about 3C & if you've never survived an Ottawa winter, I don't expect you to understand. The last two summers have been miserably cold and wet and it's looking like this year is going to be anything but. So I'm gambling and I hope it pays off. We got a nice sunny day today with a few days of rain and warm temperatures expected over the rest of the week it is a perfect time to plant.

Firstly, I replanted a few cauliflowers with seed, apparently my little one doesn't understand why we don't dig up the seedlings, which have surprisingly done very well! The 3 (of 6) that haven't been trampled are going strong; although still very small and only have their first leaves. I would suspect my toddler of sabotaging my cauliflower on purpose, but I'm not sure he's ever eaten it before.

I started on my lettuce garden. The lettuce I'm not too worried about if it does get cold, I can cover it over with plastic if necessary and lettuce thrives on cooler temperatures. I chose varieties of lettuce that specifically do well in cooler temperatures and a spot that gets the most sun; that may come back to bite me if it gets really warm this summer. I've planted:
- Vulcan, a read leaf lettuce for a little colour
- Buttercrunch, a butterhead lettuce I grew last year & harvest for seeds - simply delicious!
- New York Iceberg, also grew last year & harvested the seeds. I don't like iceberg very much, but this one is fairly tasty, I grow it for hubby.
- Viking Spinach, I grew this one last year & harvested. I didn't eat too much but I'm trying hard to incorporate more into our diet; it's so good for you.
- Arugula, my first time planting Arugula, I wanted to try out the spiciness.
- Radicchio, also my first time trying radicchio, I'm really excited to try it freshly grown.
I'm planning a few succession plantings over the course of the summer so I don't get a glut of lettuce, but I will plant extra for the first few plantings so that I can harvest some as baby leaves & still get enough for fully developed heads.

I planted a few germinated strawberry seeds. My germination rate on the temptation strawberries was very low, but I've heard they can be hard to get going. I've buried them in the composted straw the farmer gave us, so that should help keep them warm as well as keep the weeds down. I have to start some more in a few weeks, but if these guys live & bear fruit I may have some early berries. I'm so excited about making fresh strawberry jam, although I suspect I'll be fighting the kids for the strawberries!

There is a 1/2 acre plot beside the house that belongs to the farmer, but it is too small for him to bother with. So, I've decided to throw all our squash into it, hopefully that will reduce the bush-hogging he has to do & it keeps the squash out of my vegetable garden. I did choose a few bush-varieties of squash this year, but they still get quite large & take up a lot of room I'd like to use for other plants. So I went out & dug up at least 2 dozen mounds to plant the squash into, then planted 6 with jack-o-lantern pumpkins & transplanted 2 Atlantic giants that were getting too big for their pots in the house. I've got soda-pop bottle halves at the ready should I need to run out & cover the seedlings to protect them, but tonight we're having a thunderstorm in early April - the weather is so warm and beautiful, I'm not too worried. I will be planting the rest of the mounds with acorn, butternut, small sugar pumpkins, zucchini and watermelons in a few weeks.

I also planted a row of Honey Select corn out in the field. I accidentally ordered the fungicide treated corn seed, but no harm, no foul, it will survive if our temperatures do dip. My row is so crooked though, it's going to be a little funny when the corn does come up. I think I'll throw in some Scarlet-runner beans after the corn starts growing, I'll have a 3-sisters field. The only thing I am worried about with that field is last year the cows got into it over the fence & from what I've heard cows love pumpkins! I may have to man the fence with a large-stick and a flash light towards the end of the summer.

I potted up all my herb seedlings. I really only had success with the sage. The rosemary, and oregano did sprout but they are very small. So I re-seeded and hopefully I'll get some herbs soon. I chose to grow them in a pot this year, so at the end of season I can bring them into the house & keep using the fresh herbs over the winter. Last year I kept a pot of parsley in the window-sill, it was a really nice addition to a few special meals over the winter.

Lastly I grew really brave and threw some peas & beans into the soil. I have lots of extra seeds so if it is too cold and they don't grow it's not the end of the world. However, I am remaining optimistic! I can't wait to see beautiful scarlet runners twirling up my fences again this year, as well the humming birds they bring in.

My garden is sprouting all sorts of name-tags, hopefully soon to be followed by plants!