April Showers

Last weekend we celebrated Batch's bd in the only appropriate way: Croquet!

With the gang.

The course is looking good.

They have the perfect wisteria: in the neighbor's yard, but fully visible.

Catherine planted two tree rings with lovely flowers: lithodora and calibrachoa (cal-ih-bruh-KO-a). Calibrachoa look like little petunias, and this variety is yellow and white striped. The lithodora is a lovely true blue. They should grow and spread around the base of the trees, and provide color all summer long.

We're been seeing lots of these guys. I need to figure out what they are. I *think* they're eating aphids though. There are also tons of ladybugs. The broccoli flowers are covered with aphids, but we've been taking them out a few at a time to feed the chickens. This lets the beneficials fall/fly away and keep finding more food. Hopefully we end up with lots of beneficials.

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Weather Note
It's being a typical April with some spring rains. According to neighbor Ed's rain gauge, we got 0.6 inches both last Saturday and Sunday, and 0.4 Tuesday. The rain is welcome, making the ground easier to dig. It's also substantially warmer now, with nights staying near 50.
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The greens in 6a are coming up strongly. I weeded and thinned/transplanted some, but I'll need to thin some more.

The peas are all doing well, with the peas in rows 4 and 5a (Burpee "Garden Sweet") showing flowers already.

The poppies are blooming also

As is the neighboring dogwood.

It's been warm enough to start thinking about putting tomatoes out in the cold frame, so we got that all set up. I put the first plants out yesterday afternoon.

And it's a good thing because they're busting out all over. Most of the tomatoes are in 4 inch pots now.

They're really big and sturdy. I like this shot because the shadow makes you think you're seeing double.

And look at this crazy tomato. It's ready to bloom!

The red grape is looking great where Delina pruned it.

Ed is wearing his Oriole best for opening day. Happy New Year, he says.

We continue to walk in the park, shooting for three times a week. We always see something neat; this time it was a pair of mallard drakes.

I picked up a pair of new shoes for walking in. Dig those groovy purple laces!

The favas are starting to set beans at 9th Street. Sadly, we're not going to be able to farm that area after all. It's turned out to be too much trouble to rent it while keeping the yard. Also, we're going to allow dogs, and I have no intention of picking up after someone else's dog. So the good news is that I don't have to tend that yard at all. The bad news is no more North 40 to the farm. Wish I'd known this before I spent $200 on irrigation parts... sigh.

So this just means I get to redouble my efforts on our house and the farm. The onions and garlics look great.

And I've dug up a lot of new space. I better get going, because I'm going to have to cram a lot more in this yard than I thought! Notice that the chicken pen is put up behind the gypsy wagon. The raccoon finally finished off my poor pegleg hen. The raccoon actually opened the hook and eye latch and got in the locked pen.

And to end on an upbeat note... I'm not sure what Rick said, but he garnered a rare double bird!