Meet Ying and Yang. They are Japanese flowering Yashinto cherry trees. I think they will adore being in these gigantic pots next to my front door. At least I hope they will. We gave them a good mix of compost and soil, and got them situated and they look lovely there. I’ll be planting mint and a few little annuals in the pot at their feet for a little variety, but it’s something I’ve wanted to do since I moved in!

Speaking of flowering trees… the little Alberta peach tree is really growing nicely and has blooms all over it. It’s so pretty. It’s sitting in the middle of our little rock and spring flower garden at the front of the property. All around the bunny rock, the tulips and little hyacinths and daffs are blooming. They are really so pretty.

This morning, Jessy and I did a couple hours in the yard… mostly mowing and trimming for the first time this spring. We also spread 6 large bags of mulch in the front flower beds and around the little apple trees and brought in 5 big bags of composted cow manure for one of the raised beds on the south side. I plan to get a couple yards of compost for all of the beds, but I had gotten 10 bags to dress up the big pots and had 5 left to use up. Also did a little dog pickup… (eeeewwwww) but, hey, with a little space and a good sized dog, it’s just something that has to happen pretty much every day or so or else we suffer!

Tim’s coming over Wednesday to build the last three big beds for us! Yahoo! So exciting. And hopefully he’ll bring his little open trailer so we can go and get a couple yards of composted soil mix from the local lawn place. I found a place right around the corner that has good quality compost mix for $14 a yard! That’s a great price and I don’t have to deal with umpteen hundred plastic bags! Sweet!

I’ve got seedlings doing great in the cold frames!!!

The zinnias, marigolds, cabbage and broccoli are all doing great! They were up in no time flat.

The lettuce is sprouting fairly well, two boxes are doing great and the other three are just starting to get their act together.

FINALLY…. a have actually seen a tomato sprout… but still no peppers. The tomatoes are SO little and delicate. I hope they do well enough, I’m so excited about all my heirloom and unusual tomatoes and peppers! I hope I have several successful seedlings from each group. I planted 9 of each variety in the Jiffy trays. I read in my book that they are both slow to get going, so hopefully we’re doing okay. It’s been about 10 days. But we had a couple really cold nights, three in a row actually and that might have delayed them a bit.

Can you see the teeeny little sprout? It’s very small.

The cold frames are really working nicely. The temps are pretty warm in the day and then it holds in the heat way into the late evening. Even tonight, I went out to peek and the outside was very nippy, cold enough for the furnace to kick on and inside the sunny south frame it was still 65 degrees in there. By morning, it will be down around 50, but will warm up fast as soon as the sun hits it. I mostly worry about the rainy days, when there is not a lot of sunshine to warm up the insides. But it has never gotten down below 40 or so, not that I’ve seen it.

The seedlings can call the cold frame home until they reach about oh, 14-16 inches tall, so they can stay in there a good long time to be honest. I’m in no rush to get them into the big raised beds. I’m hoping tomorrow to get my strawberry bed in good shape and to plant the 25 new plants I have in the cold frame hanging out. I’ve got a big of a weed issue in that bed, so I hope to take a good bit of time and really weed it and then replant some of the big spots that I lost plants last year.

Well, I have a master plan and of course, I hope to spread it out and enjoy the work. I’ve noticed that I’m still pretty tuckered from an hour or two in the yard, so I’m trying to make sure I do some work every day to build up a little more endurance after the cold winter! My shoulders ache from the 40 pound bags and my back is a little tense from weed whacking and of course, the back of my legs are all throbby and sore from bending over and spreading mulch and tucking it in and around all the little plants and flowers coming up. We raked up some dead grass spots and spread a bit of topsoil in preparation of a bit of grass patch to go down. Feels good to lay down at night and feel your body complaining a bit and then relaxing in the nice soft bed. Feels good. Good honest work. I love it.

Well… more to come!!! We’re just getting started!!!