To begin,

While I hope that readers enjoy my successes and learn from my failures (I've had a few already) my main purpose of this blog, other than sharing, is archiving the activities of my garden for future reference. I hope that fellow gardeners in the area, as well as those abroad with more experience will comment their own findings in their gardens. So, where to begin, I suppose with what's in the ground already?

Well as most of this part of the country knows, April has been mean to plant-life. The Easter frost killed off lots of beautiful spring vegetation, and most of the plants are still in recovery. My garden was no exception. The beet sprouts and my foolish attempt at early tomatoes and peppers were destroyed. Not to worry, I was able to replant the beets and they are back in action. I also replaced the peppers and tomatoes. I am keeping my fingers crossed for mild weather until June.

With everything back on the green giddy-up and go let me give a small list of what exactly is planted.

First, Sage, there were 4 or 5 sage plants in the raised bed when we moved in to our little rental. I dug up half of them and trimmed the remaining ones back to the ground. The frost turned their remarkable lime green spring growth into gray withered leaves, but these hardy lads should come back in a week or two. I will trim them back soon.

Onions, I have sweet and red ones. They defied the frost, and actually look promising. I plan on thinning them out in a few weeks to make room for them to grow fat for dry storage.

The Beets are next, red and gold ones. I saw these guys roasted on a competitive cooking television program I am a fan off, and since my only exposure to this root thus far in my life has been in the form of the canned variety, I thought I would give them a try. Like the onions, I will thin them back in a few weeks once they are well established to get some nice big ones for later in the summer.

Lettuce is another one I planted that survived the frost. I planted these in spots instead of just broadcasting them in rows. I think I will go ahead and start more in a container to make up for their lack of numbers. Again, first garden.

The Tomatoes and Peppers, two of each, are just a couple of attempts at getting some nice fresh treats a little earlier. We'll see how they make it.

Last I have potatoes. I was given these from my mother in law. They are performing nicely and have bounced back better than anything from that frigid egg the easter bunny left behind.

In the house I have 9 varieties of heirloom tomatoes. As with the gardening, this is my first attempt at starting any thing from seed. I've made nearly every mistake possible, but at least half should make a somewhat healthy entrance into their own beds we made for them. More on those treasures in the coming week.

The forecast looks good for the garden.