April 2022 – Becoming A Gardener

Planting Herbs

I’m almost done planting seeds for the summer season.

Getting the Dahlia Tubers in the Ground

In addition to getting the tomatoes planted last weekend, I also planted all the dahlia tubers.

Just Start: Planting the Tomatoes

The weather was beautiful yesterday: sunny and in the 60s. I was excited to get the tomatoes in the ground. I was ready to go by 7 in the morning, but I stalled inside…cleaning my room….doing laundry. Planting the tomatoes was a daunting task.

They were leggy, tangled, and there are just too many plants for the amount of space I have.

I finally convinced myself to just start. All I had to do was put on my shoes and walk outside. That’s it. And after that, I can turn around and walk inside and tell myself, “I’ll plant the tomatoes tomorrow.”

But…as these things often go…one thing leads to another, and before you know it, you’re on a roll!

It took less than an hour so, start to finish. I have twelve tomato plants in the ground I even set up the tomato cages!

It feels so good to have that done.

Preparing to Plant Dahlias

The dahlia tubers have been sitting in the basement, drying out, since mid-February. It wasn’t my intention to leave them in this state, but it was just never a priority to clean them up, separate them, and pack them in wood shavings.

And now it’s time to plant them.

Some Garden Updates

The deck is gone!

We’re waiting on lumber and then the porch will be reframed and then it can be put back together.

It’s been interesting not having the porch for a little while, but I definitely want it back.

In other news, the bok choy that I’m growing for the first time had excellent germination and weathered last weeks snow with no problems.

The onions on the other hand are hanging in there, but looking pretty sad.

Especially the walla wall onions:

But they’re not dead yet!

The tomatoes are also looking sad. They’re getting leggy, and I need to get them into the ground this week, but I took them inside when the porch came down and due to the cold weather have kept them inside, so now I need to re-acclimate them to the outdoors, which will take more days. Oy!

They just need to get in the ground

Another Weekend in Seattle: Cleaning, Cooking, and Drawing

I’m in Seattle again this weekend, which means not much gardening is happening. Last time I was up here, we cleaned off the deck. Soon enough we’ll be able to eat out here.

Here was the before:

The Snowstorm of April 2022

I missed posting on Tuesday because….

…snow!

Rhubarb Season

There are some small rhubarb plants sending up their shoots in the backyard raised beds. I believe these were planted by the previous owner of the house, so they’re well over 20 years old by now.

They haven’t been growing very big in the last few years (or ever in my memory, to be honest). I really love rhubarb at this time of year – what other “fruit” is in season in April? So, I’d really like to see if I can bring these plants back into production.

Are they just too old? Time to get new rhubarb?