Dear Garden,

You have so many seeds nestled in the soil. It’s time to do your part. I haven’t heard anything from you in the last few days so I am going to assume your are happy and busy getting things germinated.

Some notes and comments

• The red wigglers are alive! Last fall I dumped them in several compost piles. I have been digging into one of the piles and spreading it on flower beds. About ½ way down into the pile, I found a thriving colony of red wigglers. They nestled deep to keep warm this winter and did a great job of breaking things down. The upper layer is still a bit crunchy but I flipped it over and it can cook more this summer. It will be great for a fall layer.
•  After cleaning up the beds and raking, they were ready for planting….no tilling.
• I planted corn for the first time ever. Looking forward to the results.
• Delphiniums do really well here and come back early
• My coneflower  is really trying to come back. It’s a bit weak looking
• Sunflowers self-seeded but I am not sure if they will come back as before, so replanting them
• The greens in the hay bale planter are germinating
• Marigolds in a pot self-seeded and are coming back nicely in the pot
• I discovered a new seed company (actually I used them before in a pinch but never read the packet). Lake Seed company is based in Boulder. At the very bottom of the packet the fine print says something like, “No GMO and treatment free” I found this brand at ACE in Wheatland, WY and at Great Gardens in Torrington, WY
• Last year I did eggplants in containers, with moderate results. This year I have them out in the garden soil. I put 3 different kinds (Regular, Ichiban, Little Fingers) in different locations, hoping one will be really well-suited to eggplant. I haven’t nailed their cultural requirements yet.
• As I have done before, I planted my tomato seed directly in the soil. I have had great success this way with large cherry tomatoes. This year I also direct-seeded San Marzano.
• I put fast-growing spinach (Bordeaux) and radish (White Icicle) in row with tomatoes
• Chilies went back into aluminum containers

Not much to see right now until the seeds germinate, then I will have lots of photos.