The Fickleness of Early Spring

Early April is a busy time for many gardeners. Many cold-loving crops get sown in the ground and lots of plants can be started under cover. The days are now more light than dark, and the promising green sprouts of lettuce, broccoli, and other seedlings embolden the winter weary to believe that warmer weather is soon to come.

Hold fast to that belief, fellow gardeners. The current chill winds and gray days of torrents will not last forever. They might make those early plantings a little less comfortable, but they'll also keep spring progressing at a slow and steady pace, which is a good thing for most of the natural world.

Early April is also the time when many well-intentioned sowers of peppers, tomatoes, eggplant, peas, fava beans, and spinach realize they need help to pull off these sowings in a timely manner. Our friend and neighbor and former farmer extraordinaire Linda-Brook Guenther is ready and willing to help you make your self-sufficiency dreams a reality with her new company, Back to Basics. Got a plot of land, a pile of seed packets, and a bit of uncertainty about how to get food on the plate? Call Back to Basics at 845-626-2317.  In addition to vegetable garden installations and instructional services, Back to Basics is also available for construction of compost piles and chicken coops, designs and plantings of edible perennials, trees, and shrubs, and more. Her services are available to those in Ulster County. If interested, give her a call! (She doesn't do e-mail.)

Here are some pics of growing greenness in the hoop house. Even on a day as chilly and brisk as today, the hoop house stayed pretty warm and moist, protecting the many plants perking upward inside. It won't be long...

Stay seedy! --Doug

Piracicaba Broccoli

Lettuce--I think this is Prizehead

Eggplant cotyledons opening to the sky.