Seed Planting and Ice-Cold Watermelon Juice

 The greens garden is in the ground and under the warm protection of a log poly tunnel. This is the first row that went in Saturday.

Perfect refresher for a hot day – fresh pressed watermelon juice.

My little garden workspace in our big shed. Those are my paintings on the wall. Seeds trays on the right ready to go.

Trays of newly planted seeds.

Basil seeds sewn and under a big glass cloche. They’ll sprout in the warm shed, then come outdoors to the kitchen potager.

Another awesome, busy weekend. Lots of progress on the gardens, and together, my husband and I built our new deck (he did 97 percent of the work). I left the deck design entirely to him, and it came out beautifully. Our dogs also approve of it. Thank you, love.

The greens garden is in the ground! It took an entire morning to till, prepare the soil, and sow seeds. When it was done, I stood back and admired it like a Christmas tree. So lovely. Always one of the best moments of the year.

We planted the elephant ear bulbs outdoors, hopefully not too early, and hung our new Zen peace sign by the front door. I did a little preliminary cleaning up of last year’s growth in the flower bed. I noticed that the clematis is already coming up and the beach roses are sprouting. We potted up more Italian parsley. I planted more flowers at the foot of the Buddha at our outdoor shrine, then went to the shed to plant summer seeds in the propagator.

The seeds we started this weekend include:

❤ Thai long beans, red

❤ Thai long beans, green

❤ Thai pink egg tomatoes

❤ Thai watermelon

❤ Thai holy basil

❤ Chinese eggplant

❤ Chinese kale

❤ Cucumbers

❤ Summer squash

❤ Catnip (we love our neighbor’s cat)

❤ Zinnias

❤ Cosmos

❤ Sunflowers

In the greens bed, we planted:

❤ Genovese basil

❤ Italian parsley

❤ Wild arugula (rocket)

❤ Cultivated arugula

❤ Kale

❤ Collard greens

❤ Dandelion

❤ Lettuces

We have tenants in our birdhouse! A pair of sweet sparrows are busy building a nest in it, and they were also busy all weekend getting pregnant! With all the warm weather, there’s a growing abundance of food for them, but I might supplement with mealworms for the next two months. Sparrows are great parents: they love their babies so much, and work night and day to ensure they’re safe. Ahimsa.

It reached 85 degrees yesterday – unusually warm for April. We basked in it. Tank tops and shorts, barefoot, and today, sunburns and dirty fingernails. I pressed the juice from a sweet crimson watermelon, chilled it, and sipped it while gardening. So totally refreshing, and a gorgeous coral-pink color. There was some left over, so I blended it with two spotty ripe bananas for a second helping and a dose of potassium. Gotta love those raw vegan vibes.

We’ll till the remaining garden beds soon, and in about a month (today is April 17), baby veggie plants will go in. Then, tending begins. I’m keeping an eye on the weather: the Basjoo banana trees will go outside as soon as the nights are consistently mild (above 50 degrees).

The temps are going to stay in the 60s for now. Better then winter, but not quite summer. Enough to make the perennials stir, but not enough for the beach – yet. We’re getting there. I can already feel the sand under my toes.

Live in peace.