April 29, 2029 - With temperatures in the low 60’s and a cloudy do, I planted 6 determinate tomatoes, 4 Amish Paste and 2 Celebrity. It is probably still a bit too early, but I put the plants under black plastic, thus providing some heat to the roots of the tomatoes. I also began preparing a spot for 76 gladiolus bulbs, all yellow, that will go in near my raspberries.

April 28, 2026 - Although the weather was cool, compared to how it was a week ago, I was able to continue doing some prep work, some weeding and some other garden chores in anticipation of warmer weather coming soon. The biggest issue has been keeping the “green worms” off the broccoli and cabbage, despite these vegetables being covered by netting. So far, I have found about 14 of these sneaky worms, as they are the same color as the broccoli leaves. I also spotted two good sized rabbits hopping around the backyard, not at all concerned that I was walking towards them, until the very last moment, when they took off for the pond area. My tomatoes, cukes, pickles, basil and parsley have all been outside during the day, acclimating to the outdoors, so they will not suffer transplant damage. Some of the tomatoes have very strong stems and are beginning to flower. I have prepped the area where they will grow, putting down plastic to keep weeks away and make the soil warmer. Finally, the potatoes are beginning to show leaves. The first ones out of the box, Norland Red, had some frost damage, but new leaves are already coming up again.

April 22, 2026 - I was able to pick up some apples at a reasonable price and make an apple pie from scratch. Except that it takes 1/2 lb of butter for the crust, the pie was nutritionally pretty good with limited sugar and no added chemicals one finds in store bought pies. Everyone enjoyed eating the pie, as it was gone in two days.

I was able to get to the cold crop beds this afternoon and do some much needed weeding. I was surprised by how much the broccoli, collards and cabbage have grown in the last few days. I found two cabbage worms on some broccoli, despite my netting, but all the other plants seem do be doing fine. I also planted 10 Chieftain potatoes and 10 Eva potatoes. This finishes up the potato plantings. I was a bit concerned with the Norland Red potatoes, which had some wilted leaves due to the early morning front on Monday.

Inside I transplanted some peppers as they have come along extremely well. The tomato seedlings are almost a foot tall, basil, parsley, cukes and pickles are all now showing real leaves.

This next week looks to be fairly cool, meaning that the peppers, tomatoes and basil will stay inside for a while longer.

I will be able to do some more weeding and spreading of mulch, in hopes of keeping the weeds under control.