Thinning out our sprouts

Our sprouts are up and it was time to thin them out. Trimming off every other sprout will give the survivors more space to grow. Here Farmer No. 1 thins out the swiss chard. You can see the red stalks taking shape.
The lettuce mix has been doing very well and deserves the landscaping.
And then, we used all of the clippings in a super salad. There is swiss chard, beet greens, salad mix, arugula and assorted herbs.

Morning Sprinkle

A Big Bee

More gifts from Nick the Farmer

Nick the Farmer gifted us seeds from the crop of italian long beans he grew last year. That other suspicious package are sunflower seeds that he also gave us. Thanks Nick!

Sprouts

Seeds we planted a week ago are up. 

And even though it is a little late we are going to try growing tomatillos this year.

Filling the Pots

Over the weekend we dumped out all our pots on a tarp to mix in fresh new potting mix.
Farm friend Charlene stopped by to help out with labeling.
For now we are keeping the herbs in pots. This keeps them closer to the door for easy access when we are cooking.
We are starting to address the eyesore of a neighbor by working on a border beautification project.

Seeding

Soaking sugar snap pea seeds in milk overnight is supposed to help them germinate easier. Who knows, apparently it is the lactic acid in milk that breaks down the seed coating. Farmer No. 2 is lactose intolerant and remains skeptic.
Beets!

Pepper Box

Farm Boxes No. 3 and No. 4 are ready for their plants.
We had really good luck with peppers last year and have designated Farm Box No. 4 as the Pepper Box.
Farm Box No. 3 (left) got three eggplant plants and some lima bean seeds.

Iris blooming

The iris bulbs that the Colorado branch gifted us last year are blooming. One reason the iris is interesting is the design; side pedals are used as landing pads for pollinating insects.

Nick the Farmer's Baby Basil

Our friendly neighbor Nick the Farmer gifted us basil sprouts yesterday. He's got an interesting operation next door and we'll try to go more in-depth soon.

It's been near constant rain the past week but we managed to get those basil sprouts in. Our first planting of this season.