Today it was really warm and beautiful out!  We planted a lot of seeds both in our beds and in the house under the grow light.  I'm so excited for them all to grow-the yard is going to be gorgeous with our roses, the climbing lily and the honeysuckle along with all the vegetables.

Heirloom yellow wax bush bean seeds and purple bush bean seeds went in the large bed along with our Gloriosa climbing lily and my tomatillo and some leeks that we'd been growing in the house.  Radishes, broccoli rabe, and  walla walla sweet onion starts went in the small bed.  Cilantro starts and beet seeds in the blue pot on the porch and pickling cucumbers, more leeks, more cherry tomatoes, kohlrabi, basil and more tomatillo seeds are starting inside.

We have been talking about which squash to buy, we don't have seeds for those.  I think we're getting yellow squash, zucchini, spaghetti squash and possibly some sunburst.  We didn't have a lot of luck with the sunburst last year though so I'm not sure if we'll try again.  Here's more pictures of the garden:

strawberries:

cabbage and brussel sprout starts:

 planting the tomatillo:

blue pot, cat helper, potting bench and cute boots:

I forgot to mention. I have already killed more than a dozen spaghetti squash starts, and as many oregano and thyme. RIP... I didn't bother to take photos of that carnage. Appearantly you can't plant starts in late February and expect good results.

Here are the blueberry plants we got from the West Seattle Nursery last month. They have a lot of cute little buds on them. Mmmmmm... blueberries... I probably won't get to eat any though.... someone around here is addicted to them.

Observe the mess. It means we were working hard! Those little black containers on top have cherry tomatoes being burnt by the sun. They weren't too happy that I left them outside last night.

Here I am, hands dirty, in my very sexy apron and new gardening boots. Those are cabbages and brussell sprouts I have just given a home to.

Lacy, standing next to the yellow plum tree that she hacked to bits. Doesn't she look proud? She says now is the time to prune them. I hope it doesn't die...

This is a brussell sprouts planted in between the rows of cabbages. I figured cabbages grow out and the brussell sprouts grow up so they should be happy together... well thats the thought at least.
I picked these little plants up a couple weeks ago at Truevalue Hardware. They weren't looking so good because the first day they spent outside it snowed!!?! In March! They did recover though.

This is the newly planted Purple Cabbage purchased at Rite Aid! It was bought today and was getting a little wilt-y sitting in the sun (it was a really nice day out!) So I planted all of them, about a dozen, in the taller raised bed.

Spring is here!

Today is the first "official" day of my spring break and the first day I've seriously gotten out into the garden beyond short little 15 minute spurts.  Jen & I pulled out blackberries and knotweed that are trying to creep back in thru the mulch.  It's amazing how they are so resilient!   if even a tiny piece is left it starts to root up.  ug.

the italian plum tree that I was able to prune earlier this year is looking good, leafing out and I'm interested to see if it grows a lot of fruit this year or not.  I don't feel really confident in pruning fruit trees yet so I'm just not sure.  I dug up the yellow plum that had volunteered on the fence-line behind the italian plum and planted it in a more ideal location.  I broke some of the roots (1 was under the fence & into the neighbors property and the other ran down the ravine somewhere) so I'm a little nervous about it's ability to survive.  It's early spring though so it should be fine.  I also did some pruning on it that I'm  really nervous about, I followed my book exactly but we'll see.  Poor little tree looks a bit butchered!

While I was doing that Jen planted purple cabbage and brussel sprout starts in the deep planter bed.  I'm excited to start planting!  It's almost warm enough out to start transplanting our little seedlings we've been growing all winter.  The cherry tomato seedlings are outside enjoying the sun and we will hopefully be planting them in soon too but I'm worried that it is still to cold at night. I don't know-it is warmer than usual out so hopefully it's OK.