I've been spending the past couple of weeks nurturing what I've put out so far. The snow peas are about 6 inches tall. I'm checking daily for flowers. Not yet, but soon. The lettuce in the shaded back row that I reported had not survived, in fact, did survive. Being a red lettuce, I guess it just blended in with the dirt!
The clover planted in the row for the gardener who doesn't really have time to work her row this year is up. The nice thing about the clover as a cover crop is that the gardener can interplant other vegetables with the clover or simply turn it under if she finds some time to work in her row. Why clover? It's a nitrogen fixer and is used as what's often called a green mulch.
The potatoes have lovely green plants showing, about 4 inches tall so we gently dusted them with straw just yesterday to encourage the green leaves to grow upwards and to give the roots the idea that they could spread out and have more baby potatoes....
As for what to plant now, we're just approaching the official average last day of frost in our area (15 April) so all cool season crops can be out from starts (it's too late really for seeds) and it's time to start thinking about some of the vegetables that can handle a bit of chill but not a frost.
One bold gardener has already put out her tomatoes, basil, and peppers! Since she has been carefully covering the plants during our chilly evenings, they seem to be surviving nicely. With any look (and persistent attention), she'll have a jump on the rest of us once the warm growing months officially start!
