Another spring and summer garden begins!

We are at least a week (or two) later than I wanted to be but we have our early crops in the ground. I have discovered those muscles that I had stopped using over the winter and they are still a little sensitive, even several days later.

We had already planted our Oregon Pea Pods and they are peeking through but aren't too tall yet. We also planted beets -- both golden and red, scarlet radishes, carrots, red and yellow onions, spinach, kale, bok choy, softneck garlic, lettuce and arugula.

With the weather being so warm, I am thinking we probably should get a few of our warm weather seeds in the ground, too. We have places picked out for squash, tomatoes and okra and this year and we hope to plant things like cilantro, basil, garlic, marigolds, alyssum and maybe other herbs to keep the insects at bay throughout the garden.

The hardest thing to do is to rotate each crop. We really must plan ahead because we want at least three years between growing plants in the same area. We are back to the first year for squash which will be planted in the original space on the right side of the garden and tomatoes that will be on the left side of the garden. It is really a bit tough but each year we have to keep better records than before to remember what we did the previous year (or two).

Today we are havesting the rest of of our collards and Brussels sprouts. We are leaving the center stems of the collards because they are flowering. We hope to keep the pollinators and other beneficial insects coming back for more on a daily basis. It really feels good to get the garden started again!