Lettuce take a look around

During a detour in the weekend plans, we found ourselves in Hampden, MA and driving past a number of garden stores and greenhouses. On a recommendation, we stopped at Bilton's, a very fine no-frills garden center. Purchases from Bilton's included a chicken pie, some fantastic large-curd Cabot extra sharp cheddar cheese (those who know me will testify about my recent fascination with and fixation on cheese, and this was one of the best I've had in a while), some potting soil, and the nice looking Romaine Lettuce seedlings shown above. The lettuce made it's way into the ground today. I've never grown any sort of lettuce or salad greens of any sort, so this is a bit of an experiment.

Nearby the location of the new lettuce, the peas are really taking off. The plants all range from about 1/2" to 2" high, and it's only been two weeks since we put them in the ground. It's nice to see some green in the garden, and peas get me excited for the season because they come up from seed. Last year they were the only plants we grew by seed. This year they're joined by the carrots, but those will be a while.

Here's a shot of the two rows of peas, to give a full impression of how good they're looking.

At the opposite end of the garden, in the Onion Family Area, the garlic has grown very well over the last week since we put it in the ground. Each of the cloves has about an inch to an inch and half of new growth shooting up from the dirt.

The chives, which grew up from last year's planting but were transplanted to a new location, are looking strong and healthy.

The onions (and the shallots out beyond) are starting to look like they won't completely fade away and die
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The dill continues to grow, though I haven't been super careful watching out for it. I know we'll lose a lot when we start planting in areas where it's popping up now.

We also bought two tomato plants and some Dill seedlings this weekend, which I have on the back porch. I know we've got all that dill coming up by itself, but we'll need a lot for our pickles. The seedlings will all need to "harden off" over the course of the next week. We'll keep them on the closed-in porch for a few days, then to the screened porch for a few, then outdoors for a couple, and then probably next weekend put them in the ground. The tomatoes will need some protection in case we get any cold nights, but I think for the most part we should be fine.

Flowers in the Yard Tangent One: While the focus for me is really on the vegetables, I think it's important to note, especially early in the season when there's not an exceptional amount of interest in the garden proper, that there are many nice looking flowers in the yard as well. For example, The Peony that we cleaned up last weekend is taking off like mad, happy to be clear of the dead growth. It seems to have doubled in size.

Flowers in the Yard Tangent Two: Besides the two peonies already in the yard, we were just given this Peony by my aunt. It's actually part of a family heirloom of sorts, having been grown on the family farm by my Great-Grandmother and maintained by my grandparents and now by my aunt. This is obviously just a part of the plant that was separated and re-potted. Now we've planted this piece of the plant in our yard, which may be the first time part of this plant has made it's way across the river. Don't quote me on that, though. I need to get some more history on this plant.

It looks a little droopy and sad, but we planted it carefully and gave it some bone meal, at the recommendation of folks at the Hadley Garden Center.

We also got some Holly-Tone fertilizer and spread that around the blueberry bushes to give them an extra boost. Holly-Tone is a fertilizer that is supposed to be specifically for acid-loving plants, which besides blueberries would include things like rhododendrons, azaleas and hollies. When I looked at the packaging, though, I realized it's 4-6-4, not that different from the 4-6-6 generic over-all fertilizer we put in the vegetable garden when we tilled a few weeks back.

Flowers in the Yard Tangent Three: Don't know what this thing is called, but it was also a gift from my Aunt. Supposedly it grows big and swirls around, looking somewhat like an upside down tornado.

These blue flowers are in the yard, scattered throughout the grass. I think it might mean it's time for the first mowing, but for now I'll take them as a reason to put that off even longer. How could you mow over these guys?

A red tulip in the bed along the side of the house.

And ... two yellow tulips on the banking along the garden.

The Hostas on the hill are now 6 to 8 inches tall and looking green green green and healthy.