It is time again for some garden projects and updates. Isn’t this time of year exciting?

Hardening off seedlings is very important. and, though I don’t follow all of the rules completely, it is necessary to do some sort of acclimation for your seedlings (the ones you start, not the ones from a nursery) before they can be planted outside. Here are the brassicas as well as peppers and tomatoes (the latter went back downstairs to the basement set up).

One thing we did this year that hasn’t been done completely in years past is to mark each row before anything is planted. Some seeds or plants are early- others are later. And they rarely line up in a straight line. So, by looking at my hand drawn garden plan, measuring and marking rows, we set ourselves up for success in getting early plants in and still having places for the remaining later crops.

Here I marked two rows, very close together, and planted onion plants. This variety, Patterson, did amazing for us last year and, though I don’t eat a lot of onions, they go into many things I can or our weekly broth. In the end, we planted between 50-70 plants.

This year we had enough room to plant 6 rows of shell peas. I love having shell peas onhand. This variety, Dual, is supposed to be an excellent freezer pea. Once they sprout, we will add t-posts and twine to help trellis the peas.

After the tilling Sweet Husband did for us this spring, these have to be the straightest potato rows I have ever hoed. Ha! We have 4 rows of Kennebek A potatoes (these are from Maine through Berlin Seed Co). I spaced these approximately18″ apart.

Even though we planted some lettuce with carrots in a raised bed, this row is half lettuce and half spinach(Bloomsdale). I hope to use the spinach for super greens powder! My 12 year old helped hoe this row.

In years past when I did not cover my brassicas right away, rabbits came in and demolished them. So this year, as soon as I got the cauliflower(Cheddar), cabbage(Red Express), and broccoli(Imperial) planted, I covered the rows (with the help of my 14 year old). Stay away, rabbits!

This year is strawberry planting year- yahoo! We planted 4 rows of Brunswick variety, June bearing, berries. I ordered 100 plants and had about 5 left over. We spaced them about 14″ apart. Praying these guys take off and produce some yummy berries for us in the future.

Lastly, this is the carrot/lettuce (carrot- Danvers Half Long/lettuce- Winter Density) bed I got planted several weeks ago. Carrots like to stay wet and sometimes do not germinate for several weeks. I was tickled that the rain was forecasted after I planted these and they sprouted fairly quickly, staying damp for days on end. Hoping for a good harvest. I plan to thin the carrots once they are bigger.

What does April look like for you in the garden? Adding anything to your planting plans this spring?