Gardening!

Here's a pic of the starter seedlings I planted a while ago... So long ago, in fact (during an unseasonably warm April) that the big bean stalk (those green leaves taking up most of the frame) has already died, before I could put it in the ground.

Sigh.

Anyways --- gardening season is *almost* here, yet the Chicago weather is still teasing us with it's ups and downs. We had a few days in the 80s mid April, and now it's back down to the 50s. We even had a frost last week!

Several weeks ago I got some seedlings started: beans, tomatoes cilantro, basic, peppers. They all spurted up during the mid April heat wave and have leveled off since then. A few weeks ago I transferred them to larger pots but lost a few plants in the move.... They may or may not make it out doors, but at least i tried!

I also have some Arugula and some beets (cooler weather veggies) that i planted directly from seed in my back yard garden. The arugula is growing great! Although it does look like an insect might be chewing little holes in all the leaves. It still tastes great, tho .. . It's hard to tell how the beets are doing, since they are below ground. They're still looking a little puny, and I don't think they'll be ready for harvest in another few weeks.

In OTHER news, we've been working on getting the Altgeld Sawyer Farm back running. I've been trying to take a back seat this season (what with 2 weddings to plan and all) but I still seem to get sucked back in. I am trying to be less active than last year, but am still relatively involved. It is both rewarding and at times, frustrating... nothing that's worth getting into publicly.

I was at the garden last Saturday for one of the first work days. We dug the compost into our soil and will be planting seedlings next week.

Here's our pix from last Saturday's workday: http://www.flickr.com/photos/altgeldsawyer-cornerfarm/sets/72157623947513465/

Man!! I can't wait for SUMMER.