Sprouts and Seeds

I took advantage of a sun break between wind and rain squalls to spend some time in the garden today.  I seeded brassicas - cabbage, broccoli, kale, raddicchio and broccoli raab, and prepped another bed for carrots, turnips, spinach, lettuce and arugula, which I'll seed tomorrow morning.  

I did a little weeding along bed edges, but mostly just spent some time watching the garden wake from her winter nap. 

The red kale has overwintered nicely. Actually, it overwintered looking pretty wimpy, but just this week has burst out with large, tender, juicy leaves.  I'm always impressed by this plant's ability to thrive in our climate.








I'm perhaps most excited about my garlic patch.  The garlic I planted in the fall of 2011 never sprouted.  Perhaps I didn't select a good variety, or maybe I should blame rodents or my own dear four legged garden menaces, but my last garlic attempt was a failure. Ah, these small garden failures, the heartbreak of unrequited anticipation. I know I'll feel it at some point this year, but it definitely won't be because of my garlic.  The sight of these stout garlic sprouts, already warming up in the soil and getting bigger by the day, gives me a sense of triumph over past years' failures.  I look forward to garlic scapes as a mild precursor to the main show, those  bulbs in the soil slowly multiplying and plumping.  Yum! 




 Perennials are waking too... the raspberry is shyly emerging, a sign of sweet things in July.



And the peas are up!  Tiny but mighty, the first brave annual of the year.



Also, the bees have emerged.  They're hungry for pollen, to feed to their babies, but there is not much pollen out yet.  This lady was attracted to the yellow in this arrangement (for the Bike Works auction).



Lots of signs of spring.