Spring has stalled a bit around here. Still frosts at night & only barely adequate daytime temperatures. Ground still too cold to try and plant beans, etc. & Way too chilly to set out the tomatoes. At least the carrots have started to germinate although only barely visible at the moment. Got to try & hold back all this stuff for a while more yet. BeetBear has been trying to tidy the greenhouse & has planted up some basil seed in pots.
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#Gardening
#NewEngland
#Allotment
#Zone6b

We got the new trellis materials in place today. We're using a jute netting with 6 inch square openings tied to the old metal frame with garden twine. Now we'll be ready to plant the beans when the soil warms up some more. BeetBear says "Don't talk to me about jute netting ever again..."
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#NewEngland
#Zone6b
#Beans
#RunnerBeans
#BeetBear

OK, back to work. Since it's nearly apple-blossom time AND a nice day, we got busy and seeded up the "Pot-O-Carrots" for the season. It's a large planter, about 19 inches in diameter and 15 inches deep, holding about 12 gallons (43 liters) of potting mix. We use pelleted seed and plant in concentric circles with about ½ inch spacing. Pictures are an attempt to show what we do and what the scale is.
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#Gardening
#Allotment
#NewEngland
#Zone6b
#carrots
#Spring

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood! Won't you be my neighbor? It's 75F / 24C degrees this morning with a clear, blue sky. BeetBear is luxuriating on the "lawn" with our friends, the dandelions and violets. Also to be seen are the peonies and lillies. Back to work later, but for now... BLISS!
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#Gardening
#Allotment
#NewEngland
#Zone6b
#BloomScrolling
#Spring

Hurray! The mailman just delivered our onion plants (Ailsa Craig) so BeetBear and I got busy & planted them out. I didn't buy any extras this year due to costs, but we still managed 140 plants in the ground with about 18 spares in pots in the greenhouse. Picture shows how a board is used to mark the plant spacing. Board is 4 in. (10cm) wide and the black lines are 6 in. (15cm). Now if it will just stay warm & rain a little bit.
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#Allotment
#NewEngland
#BeetBear
#Zone6b
#Onions

A couple of warmish days and bright sun have warmed things up considerably. Soil temp is good, 10-day forecast looks "acceptable" and I have been notified that my onion plants have shipped. BeetBear and I prepped a small section of the garden today and got the lettuce (3 types), beets (Boro), and cabbage (2 types of mini pointed) set out. We have officially started gardening! Now if it wasn't always so damned windy...
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#Gardening
#Allotment
#NewEngland
#Zone6b

Had 28F/-2C again this morning with frozen water (I'm never going to refer to it as ice ever again) in rain barrels. Will check on plants in greenhouse soon. Heater was on in there all night so we should be good. BeetBear is looking at the long-range forecast & has good news (it's warming up) & bad news (it's going to rain for a week). BeetBear's question is: "What do April Showers bring?" He suggests:"Muddy Feet" Anyone else have ideas?
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#Gardening
#Allotment
#NewEngland
#Zone6b

BeetBear says we must soldier on in spite of the missing spring and get the tomatoes potted on. We use 110 mm square plastic pots that we have had for more years than I can remember and we got the first dozen done this morning after the other chores were done. Only 4 dozen more to go...😀
#BeetBear
#Gardening
#Allotment
#NewEngland
#Zone6b
#Tomatoes