hot

We had some freakishly warm weather last week. Temps were in the low seventies- my stepson was playing outside shirtless and my youngest came back indoors complaining it was too hot to play outside! My husband got bit by a mosquito - in March! I've had to keep a close eye on the coldframe house, temps in there go up quickly which is nice for some plants but trouble for others. The borage seedlings collapsed - most of them recovered when I noticed and aired out the plastic house. Echinacea seedlings also suffered some leaf damage- it looks like sun scald to me, but also could be from cold at night. Regardless of cause, I brought those babies back indoors to live on the windowsill a while longer.

I turned my compost pile- wasn't expecting much of it because it was mostly unshredded leaves which tend to mat up. But at the bottom there was enough decent 'black gold' to cover my two new garden beds in an inch of rich material. In a few days I will dig up the rest and see if I can layer the older, larger bed as well. Need to plant out the lettuces- or I will get none at all- they will bolt so quickly in the heat. I think lettuce, broccoli and other cool-season crops will have to be for fall plantings perhaps- something I've never been very good at doing.