Happy Monday dear friends, hope all is well in your part of the world.

This month marks 5 years that I’ve been walking the Earth without my father. Each day has it’s interesting occurrences, at times I think I am at peace with it, at other times my heart aches and I am deeply saddened. The usual rise and fall of emotions that come along with the lovely human experience.

I know he is without pain, without strife, and that helps a great deal, but the selfish part of me wishes he was here to share in the beauty of the gardens, the fun and different plants I am trying this year, and of course his good cooking!

Alas, he is not here, but there are other’s here that still walk this Earth that are ready and willing to share the beauty. Certainly not a replacement, but certainly there is more life to be lived.

The garden is coming along nicely. Joe and I were discussing how odd it is to have so much time to take care of things. Wondering why we don’t have the garden completely planted and ready to go – um…well, it’s only April 20th for starters, technically only five days after our last frost, so we might not be completely out of the woods yet. In addition to that, I’m still trying to work from home and be productive, so it’s been a bit of a tricky situation to schedule time for that, and not feel pressed to do more stuff around the house.

I’ve had great success with the sales at the stand, just about surpassed last years total — for the entire year– already before the plants have even reached three inches high. Sadly, I’ve lost some inventory due to theft, but some times things like that happen. How odd, who knew selling the plants with no blooms or fruit would be more profitable than actually selling the finished product. I should have known all of these DIYer’s here in this county would be more willing to pay for the seedling or seeds than the finished product. This is certainly less time consuming than putting them in the ground, tending to their needs, harvesting, arranging, delivering….but there is also a certain satisfaction of doing all of those things, so I will most definitely still do all of those things. I already have three people signed up for the subscriptions, so hopefully that will increase a few more. I’m thinking I’m still only going to do 10, last years four kept me plenty busy!

This last week I filled in a 9 inch row-approx 163 plants and a partial of the 12 inch row-which typically holds approx 100; I put out two different kinds of Cress, Apple of Peru, several Zinnia’s, Cosmos, Bells of Ireland and yarrow. I’m super excited about all of it, several new to me, and some old favorites. I’m about two weeks earlier than last year, hopefully the temps keep hanging out at 60 or above for a little while longer, I know Zinnia and Cosmos are heat lovers, so I need to be careful with those, but the others will be just fine.

Instead of the 10 rows this year – approx 1,300 plants, I think I will only do 7 approx 900 plants. I was a bit more deliberate this year with my plants, I’ve managed to do more succession planting, chose a wider variety, and am a bit more prepared with supplies. My planting room (the old milk house) has been much more pleasant to work in now that the weather has turned a bit more towards Spring. It was rough out there in February & early March, but the height of the work benches was much nicer than the height of my space last year and the work space was much nicer. Each year it gets better and better. Maybe next year I will find a heater to put in the windowless milk house, just to stand next to while I poke seeds in dirt.

Did I just say next year….yes, already looking forward to next year. I’ve had a lot of people ask me for specific plants or types of plants. I realize each year will be different, but the theme has been the same – do I have things for planters, hanging baskets, and veggies. I remember last year I grew tomatoes, I really don’t eat them, I grew them because I wanted to know if I could – turns out I can! So I sold them, they were good sellers too, so I did them again this year, and yes, they sold well again. Living and learning – living to learn – learning to live. More things I’ve learned this year:

• sweet pea seeds are popular, definitely harvest again this year!!
• sweet pea starts are popular, definitely save some to sell!
• not everybody pays for the products they take-theft happens, some people suck, but most are kind
• voles/mice eat tulip bulbs out in the field, not close to the house though – and they don’t like yellow tulips!! Who knew!

I’ll be sure to post more pictures as time goes on. Until next time, hugs to you and yours, stay safe and have a wonderful week!