All the seeds that say “Plant in early spring as soon as soil can be worked,” can be planted now. Lettuce can be planted under a tobacco cloth to protect it from frosty temperatures.

The first row has scallions, both red and white, and radishes. The radishes will be up and pulled before the scallions are ready. The next row was planted with Summer Glory Lettuce and Buttercrunch. There’s a kale plant that lasted all winter marking the place between the two lettuces. The next row had Mesclun and Green Ice.

A friend told me to mix lettuce seeds in cornmeal before planting so the seeds are spaced better. The last planted row is after an application of compost under the raised black plastic. In that row is Bright Lights Swiss Chard. The green plants in the back of the space are chervil that grew all winter long. To the left is another rhubarb plant emerging.

Peas are planted in a shallow trench, then covered. These are the Sugar Sprint.

After they are covered once, more soil can be added to give a better root system and control weeds as the peas grow. The sticks and rocks at the back are placed on mulching plastic and newspaper to control weeds. The board is across each space so I don’t compact the soil.

Now there is also a row of plastic covered compost.

Touchstone Gold and Chioggia beets are planted on this side of the plastic.

Finally, three spaces have replaced timbers! There’s one more to go, but that one doesn’t have to be done before it’s planted.

These three are rototilled, raked and ready for planting. The first space has rosemary that made it through the winter. The next has a few onions left from last year. The next to the last space has rhubarb coming up.

Rhubarb is usually the first plant I pick in the spring. It is so prolific that it can be shared with friends.

The turnip greens are still growing, and a few mustard greens.

All the Park’s seeds finally came up in the Bio-Dome. The Bush Delicata was so slow,

but did pop up just last week.

Next year I won’t plant the other squash until March. They are growing so fast.

Thanks to Raymond, Lissa, Kent and my son there is lots of wood stacked for this year and next winter. With the price of heating oil, this is a blessing!

Some garden jobs I really hate. And this is one of them. I think things should last forever, but of course they don’t. So replacing my landscape timbers in my garden is a necessary chore.

First the rotted timbers have to be removed. The most difficult task is getting the old nails out. The long timber nails seem to hold onto the wood with all their might. Then a space has to be cleared for the new timbers.

Once the six new timbers are in place, two of them have to be sawed off so the others can overlap.

Next the holes for the nails are drilled, one at each end of the top three timbers.

The last step is nailing the timbers together. Now the space is ready to be rototilled.

Only three more spaces to do this year.

The Biodome was an effective greenhouse. The tomatoes and squash are growing well except for the Bush Delicata. Different varieties came up at different times, so hopefully they will still sprout. The squash will need to be put in bigger pots soon like the ones below.

These are Cilantro and Parsley that needed to be potted up. The basil will need it next. The last plant on the right is some catnip dug from the garden to give to a friend.