I didn’t do much with the garden in April because as I have mentioned in other blog posts, I just wasn’t feeling it. I decided that I would do a garden but tone down a bit on the pumpkins and maybe plant a few different things.

So, I did get some seeds in the some peat pots - some Jack Be Little Pumpkins and a couple of others as well - but they aren’t very big yet. Some are still popping up so I will wait another week to get those in the ground.

But now that the weather has turned warm here, the ground is getting warm, finally. It was warm in early April, but then turned cool again and the first weeks in May were cool. So, I just waited. I didn’t mind waiting anyway, while my body started to feel better.

I did order some corn seeds and a few other things as well a week or more ago. Mike tilled the ground a few weeks ago.

I got the seeds and such and I started to feel the pressure to get the corn in the ground. Depending on the weather the corn can take longer than predicted. If it is cool - it takes a while. If it is warm with plenty of water, all is fine.

Last year our corn was so delicious, and we had such a good crop after I put the seed under black plastic along with soaker hoses, that I wanted to do it again this year.

I ordered both Golden Bantam seed and a bicolor (yellow/white) super sweet variety - Ramondia. I’ve not had bicolor here in Poland before, that I remember.

I do know that until last year I had never actually taken my own corn off the cob and frozen it. However, last year I had a lot come ripe and even some when Mike was out of town, so I cut it off the cob and froze it. I came across one of those packages a little while ago and used it. It was SOOOOO good. It tasted like candy. I was amazed. I didn’t remember it being THAT sweet last summer. No, I did not add sugar!

So, I quit being afraid of having too much at once.

On Monday, May 20, I went ahead and planted it. Lots of corn!

It has been so very dry, that I first decided on where it would go and then watered the rows. Several times. It has hardly rained here in May and our sandy soil is like powder. I wanted to get the spot where I was going to put the seeds as wet as possible to help the germination of the seeds.

Before dinner/lunch (1 pm), I decided on the rows, put the hoses sort of in position and started watering the channels where I was going to put the seeds.

I got my husband to help me cut the biodegradeable plastic and then I took it over to the garden after lunch when I actually did the planting. We kind of rigged up something to help us pull out the plastic without a problem. We put the roll on a pile and used our stairway banister railing ? to hold it while Mike went and pulled it out to the right length.

Once I stuck the seeds in the ground, I put the plastic on and then had to bury the edges of the plastic with dirt. That all took quite a while. It was over 80F and I’ve not been outside all that much. It was quite a bit of effort and I didn’t realize quite how warm I was until I went inside.

I was going to go back on Tuesday and get some beans planted, both yellow bush and some green pole beans, some sunflowers and zucchini.

But I didn’t make it.

I ended up working on other things and didn’t have time or energy til the late afternoon. I managed to talk myself right out of it.

So Wednesday morning, May 22, I headed back to the garden thinking I would spend another hour on it and get those beans, sunflowers, and zucchini in the ground. It was more like an hour and a half but I got it in. I will check on the corn on Friday.

On Thursday I need to set up the soaker hoses. I mean, they are in place but not all hooked up yet to the water. I tried to soak the rows enough so that it would last for a day or two under the black plastic and get those seeds going. I was trying to make the ground similar to mud, in fact, The problem is, that there is no moisture in the soil…so that was a hard task.

Anyway, I got my yellow bush beans, some green long skinny pole beans, zucchini - two kinds and some sunflower seeds - all planted on Wednesday.

The day you read this - Thursday, I will make it my goal to get the soaker hoses all hooked up to the water. Last year I had some places that didn’t have soaker hoses and I had to keep the water on those places by hand. This year I want to be able to turn on all the spigots and not do that hand watering. Once things grow up tall it is sometimes hard to get in the garden to water individually.

I also have one lone rhubarb plant. I had a couple more but we had some people give me grass clippings in the summer a few years ago and the plant got fried by all the heat from the decaying grass. This much survived. Maybe I’ll actually pick a couple of the stems this year and make something from them. It’s been a while since I’ve actually used it. I probably should fertilize it as well.

And there you are. The beginning. My pumpkins planted in the peat pots aren’t looking totally amazing as they are quite small so far.

But that’s my start.

Even though this year I’ve not been a bundle of energy, I kept telling myself (I would rather be inside sewing), that It is for SURE I won’t get any harvest if I don’t at least try. That reminds me of this quote by BC Forbes

It is only the farmer who faithfully plants seeds in the Spring, who reaps a harvest in the Autumn.

(Sort of like quilting, huh - only people who actually sit down and sew will have a finished quilt - or at least a quilt top!)

And that segways perfectly into a couple of bundle packs Rachael has. You might like them.

She has more as well - just do a search for whatever you are interested in!

Thanks so much for coming along with me on this journey!

Have a great day wherever you are reading this.

Be sure to check out what my sis has for you in the store here!

Feel free to browse the site.