A Frabjous Day!

What a wonderful warm day we had today!  I was able to get into my high tunnel greenhouse and do some real work!  As I walked into it the first thing that came to my mind was the poem by Lewis  Carroll called the Jabberwocky, and the line: 
 

"O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!" 

That's about how I felt today - glad that I could get out and enjoy my passion in life, gardening! It did indeed feel like a "frabjous day", a day for singing. 
There were off and on showers, but that didn't bother me inside the greenhouse.  That's the joy of having a high tunnel greenhouse - you can work in the garden even in the rain!  Harold helped me get the hay bales and most of the straw out of the aisles and the straw covering the garlic.  I left some straw in the walkways because the soil is still fairly wet in there, and I didn't need to be slopping around in mud.   I was delighted to discover that the garlic I planted last fall is up and growing nicely.  Since it was an extremely cold winter I had my doubts that the garlic would survive the cold.   But it did!   
     I spent an enjoyable day in the greenhouse which I affectionately call "Patty's Playhouse".   I need to get a sign made for the front that says this!

The first thing I needed to do was turn over the soil and pick out weeds that were already growing!   I also think I need a new thermometer because it was not 100 degrees in there!

The soil was tilled up and nicely raked smooth, ready for planting.

Gardening is indeed my therapy!  I bought this ceramic rock decoration at a friend's garage sale a couple years ago.

Getting ready to plant some buttercrunch lettuce.

By the end of the afternoon I had planted up three 26 foot rows of lettuce, spinach, and salad greens,  and a few rows of snow peas.

In a few days I will plant these seedlings of leeks after they get a chance to harden up a bit.

Two nice shoots of garlic coming up.   I planted the garlic last October before Halloween.  It needs to be planted in the fall, and grow in the spring and early summer.   I harvest the garlic shortly after the 4th of July.   Fresh garlic is wonderful for cooking summer veggies, and is a great seller at the market booth.

As you can see, we had considerable mouse damage to outdoor plants this winter.   The little rascals chewed up everything they could find under the deep snow.   My farm cats couldn't get to them in the 4 foot deep snow, but the mice were able to get around and chew everything.  They chewed up our Nanking cherries, chokecherries, roses, and gooseberries.   Fortunately they did not chew up the grapes.   Perhaps grape vines are not very tasty to them?   We learned a lesson that everything must have wire cages around the bottoms of fruit bushes and trees to deter the mice.

And so my busy outdoor season begins!  I just love growing things and being outdoors.   I can listen to the birds, the trumpeter swans, the woodpeckers, and later on, the loons as they fly from pond to pond.   There are lots of "sounds of nature" out there to listen to!  This is so relaxing and enjoyable!  Yes, indeed -

O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!