Krumms-O, Mother Nature-1

Well, round one of our garden saga has nearly been a complete failure. The overgrown starts that lined our dining room table for weeks forced our hand to plant too early. The poor little starts hung on through overly wet and chilly conditions but have finally faded back into the dirt (or shall I say mud). Oh, well. We were going to lose them indoors anyway, so it was worth the effort for a chance that they'd be ok outdoors. I was ready to call it quits and plant grass seed but my dear husband laughed and reminded me that to quit before we've experienced the benefits of our hard work would be foolish. And as usual, he's right. So, I guess I'll be planting the remainder of the seeds we held back later this spring when it finally warms up a bit directly into the ground. Next year I will forgo starting the seeds indoors.

We also have a family of bunnies living under our porch (who would have guessed?). The porch floor keeps them warm and dry and the invisible fence that keeps the dogs out of the flower beds also keeps the bunnies safe. So far they've hacked the petunias off at the base in the front beds and have nibbled a bit on the hostas planted at the porch foundation. I've also seen their tracks in the fine, soft soil of the strawberry beds, but, other than that, there hasn't been much else to get into. So for now I wait and mentally prepare my first move when there is more temptation at hand.

The radish seeds we planted in the raised boxes are coming in nicely. Makenna planted them in neat little rows and they don't seem at all intimidated by the cooler than normal temperatures. I haven't seen any action from the carrots in the adjacent box but I can only assume they are not far behind. The boxes have been so successful in the past that I wish we could afford the extra cost to put everything in a raised bed, but that project will have to wait for now. The strawberries are happy in their beds as is the black berry bush. We haven't seen any signs of life from the raspberries; right now they look like two sticks in the mud.

In the meantime we wait for the tomato plants to arrive and dream of that first tomato of the summer, ripened and warmed by the summer sun. I never thought I'd say this in Ohio (where spring seems to leap directly into the hot days of summer), but I can't wait for spring to be over. A little global warming doesn’t sound so bad right now.