A Rainy and Cold April

 

In spite of rain nearly every day, we have also had sun breaks nearly every day. I think it will go on record as the coldest April ever. So the morel mushrooms that normally appear around the first of the month, are a couple of weeks late. I've been finding them in the bark I spread around the raspberry plants. 

In spite of dreary weather, everything is blooming, so it feels like Spring even on cool rainy days. The cherry tree has more blooms than ever, so I'm hoping we can beat the birds to a few cherries this year!

If you look closely, you can see the peas I planted in February on the fence line.  Both onions and garlic are also doing well.

The tilled area on both sides of the garlic is for our renters' gardens. It's fun to see others get excited about growing their own vegetables.

The tiller is back on the tractor, and everything is tilled and ready for planting. The raspberries are looking good, and I have corn planted in the hoop house in the middle.

It hasn't been all about gardening and rain and mushroom gathering around here this month. We painted the big garage during some breaks in the weather.

As soon as we get some dry weather (predicted for later this week!) we'll get back working on the site of our new tool shed/picnic pavilion site.  We're still hoping to get that building done this year.

I've also been preparing to host a plant exchange for the Granite Falls Gardener's club on May 6.  Some of the more invasive plants I have in abundance are desired by some members, so I've been potting up starts of such things as lemon balm, comfrey, raspberries, peppermint, spearmint, rhubarb, sage, and a few seed started annuals.

This afternoon, I'll plant pumpkins in the compost area where I've been throwing weeds I pluck from other sites in the garden. I'm hoping the pumpkin plants will shade out all the volunteer comfrey, grass, trailing buttercup, and other weeds before they find new places to root.

Our normal last day we can expect frost is May 1, so it should be safe to plant everything now. Hoping to have that done today.