Week 5: 13 May -- Major sprouts and major progress

Significant progress this week:

1) We have sprouts! Peas and lettuce, both pushing their first leaves through. The lettuce seems to be coming up across the entire area that I planted. The peas are being a little shyer and only about one-half of what I planted has come through. I hope the rest are just pokey and not duds. I was so excited that I couldn't sleep on Saturday morning (it was after dark when we got to the house on Friday night), I was literally up at first light to check on things.

2) The topsoil is now entirely spread! This is a major achievement and has been the hardest part of this whole exercise to date. Jim was up this weekend and really was a great help in getting the last bits done. We also measured and staked the left side of the garden. All that is left to do is throw down some Gardentone, build the beds and straw the paths. Woohoo!

3) Melissa called on Saturday to check up on me. She's been reading my progress here so most of what I had to tell her she already knew (although I was pleased to tell her about the sprouts). From next weekend I have a green light to get most of the rest of the garden planted including beans, tomatoes, zukes and cukes, artichokes (this year's wildcard veggie), herbs and cut flowers. I may push them out to the following weekend although I'm keen to get things from the garden stores before the other Weekend Warriors have their way with what's available. I'll see how I'm feeling next week. Melissa also suggested planting rows of Morning Glories around the perimeter of the garden to make their way up the fence and add some visual excitement. Speaking of excitement, she made my weekend when she told me that I won't have to do the topsoil thing again next year.

For those keeping track, this was also the first weekend that I didn't have to spend a dime on the garden. Also, I set the sprinkler timer to 30 minutes at 8am every 48 hours. We've had a good bit of rain over the past week which I'm sure has helped my little sproutlings to no end. Of course, I forgot my camera so no pictures this week (again) so you'll have to take my word for it (would I lie to you???).

Lots of other doings this week at the house ex-garden but you'll have to wait for another post to hear about it.