April Showers Bring...May Showers?

The garden is coming along nicely thus far; we are pleased with its progress.  Two weeks ago we had three days in a row of mild temperatures combined with steady light rain, and our plants loved it.  As I type this we are having another day of light, steady rain.  It's not so helpful for getting yardwork done, but the plants around here are beautifully green.

The recently transplanted rhubarb plant that Nick's mother brought from his grandfather's garden in Vermont has doubled in size.  She also brought quince bush transplants from Vermont, and although we were initially doubtful that they would survive, they have taken to their new soil well and are putting out new leaves.  I absolutely love quinces (remember this adventure?), so would be delighted to have some of my own.

 Happy rhubarb!  I've never seen rhubarb flowers before.
They look a little like cauliflower florets.

We also have some new tomato plants.  Our first batch of  homegrown seedlings did not survive transplantation; we moved them to the garden too early and did not adapt them properly to outdoor temperatures first.  Live and learn, I suppose.  However, Nick is growing a new batch of seedlings and so far they seem happy.  We were also recipients of the generosity of a coworker of mine - her husband grows massive quantities of tomatoes every year.  They supplied us with two giant bags of tomatoes last summer  - this year they offered to give us some of their wonderful young plants, and we weren't about to say no!  So now we have a variety of young tomatoes growing; types like yaqui that I've never even heard of  Nick is a little concerned that our garden isn't going to get quite enough sun to make these plants super-happy and productive, but we'll just have to see how it goes.

Some of our other seedling transplants did not make it either; this was also due to our having transplanted them too early without proper adaptation.  So Nick's growing new jalapenos, cucumbers and bell peppers and we'll try again soon.  The cucumber seedlings are very happy in the mini-greenhouse, though!  We are also using a great cold frame that Nick's mother gave us - he built a wooden frame for the bottom of it and it is keeping many plants happy so far.

Our baby radishes, beets, broccoli, carrots, lettuce and bok choy are growing like gangbusters.  The scallions and leeks, which were planted more recently, are just starting to grow.  Our transplanted bush beans are alive so far but apparently we should have researched them first because you are not supposed to start them indoors.  They are supposed to be direct sown so that they grow thick, sturdy and short stems.  Ours are too tall and a bit spindly, so I don't know how they'll do.  We've sown new seeds though, so even if the transplants don't put out much it ought to work out overall.  The transplants are starting to put up some beautiful purple flowers - I''ll post a photo soon.

Speaking of flowers: imagine my delight and surprise when I discovered that we have peonies!  Scattered in little structures out for most of them.  They're thinking about blooming soon - I'm so excited!  They have been a lovely surprise. and with any luck there will be more good surprises to come. spots in the front and back yard are what are going to be gorgeous  pink peonies.  The one in the above photo also has a clematis friend growing with it; I took this photo only a few days ago and the clematis has now already climbed all the way up the post.  Nick's going to build a lattice for it.  Peonies are beautiful, but they have an unfortunate habit of collapsing under their own weight, so I've got support structures out for most of them. They're thinking about blooming soon - I'm so excited! They have been a lovely surprise. and with any luck there will be more good surprises to come.