40 days and 40 nights

It looks like it's going to be another week before there are two days of sunshine strung together.  I hope that's enough to dry up the soil to plant, because I've got seedlings I've been growing that aren't seedlings any more and need to go in the ground.

But worrying about the garden is better than worrying about the coronavirus, isn't it?

So...

We already had a lot of snow, so the ground was wet going into March.  But then March arrived with sun, and the ground was perfect for planting.  It was too early yet to plant anything but peas and the salad greens.  Unfortunately, it was too windy to try to surface sew the greens, but I did get the peas planted into nicely composted beds.  It was lovely.

I couldn't get my favorite peas - 'Improved Maestro' - this year, so I'm trying three other varieties: 'Lincoln', 'Little Marvel', and 'Maxigolt' in hopes of finding a comparable replacement.

'Maxigolt', unlike the others, requires a trellis, so I created one from some plastic mesh.

This is not the proper way to compost, but it's what I've got, and it eventually produces composted soil.

I got my little fairy ring of mushrooms (and one little alien) out...

The rhubarb, being one of the earliest plants out of the ground, is coming along.  I was concerned the recent night we had that got down to 28° would damage them, but it didn't.

And then came the deluge.  And it's been raining or cloud-covered every day for nearly three weeks.

As is obvious from the rhubarb picture, I need to hoe out the weeds.  And I would if I could walk through the garden with this happening:

My new tulip garden is sending up tulips, grape hyacinths and daffodils.  Last year's bed of three types of tulips is worrisome, because there's only one tulip plant coming up.  Deer ate one variety last spring, so I won't be surprised if they can't come back, but I hope the others are just late.

Last summer I planted crimson clover in two of the beds for its nitrogen fixating properties as a cover crop and green manure.  I've left it to grow along with the flower bulbs.  I don't know if I like that aesthetically or not, though.

You can see water standing behind that tree, as it is in several places.  The tulip beds are on built-up ground, but it slopes down to the beds where the peas are planted.  I'm worried that the saturated ground and cold weather will prevent the peas from growing.  They are germinating, and then just lying there in the mud.  My neighbors say not to worry yet.  But I can't help it.

The 'Cassata' daffodils, the earliest variety I have, are already blooming despite the weather, and aren't they beautiful?

Meanwhile, over in the perennial bed, the allium bulbs I planted last fall are all going (or coming) along well.  This variety is called 'Jade Eyes'.  I like the way it spins its leaves.

And here's a look at my seedlings on a day where there was actually some sunshine:

I'm not sure these craspedia can wait another week in the pots they're in.  They'll be rootbound for sure. 

I'm also waiting on some shipments of live plants, which I hope will not be held up because of the coronavirus issue, but which I can't plant until it stops raining anyway.

Stay safe. Wash, wash, wash those hands.