Berry Blues

The seed company said the berry bushes would ship in April... but 4 blueberry bushes, 4 raspberry bushes and 4 blackberry bushes arrived on my doorstep last week, covered in bright green stickers that screamed "PLANT AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!!"

So... thinking that being stuck in my garage or basement for a month would be worse than being planted a month too early, into the ground they went yesterday afternoon.  The ground wasn't frozen, and the sun was warm(ish), so I was pretty optimistic.  As we finished up though, the sky started to get that dark "winter isn't over" look; I figured it might rain, which couldn't hurt, right?  

The moment we put down the shovel, my husband got hit with a big, fat snowflake.  5 minutes later, the entire yard was covered in white, and my husband was running around the yard like Superman with plastic dropcloths for a cape trying to get the new bushes covered!  (I wish I had a picture!)

Today it's cold.  Only about 32 degrees.  Hopefully the dropcloths haven't blown away and are providing the berry bushes with enough warmth to keep from freezing.

Stinky old New England winter strikes again.  Hmph.

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Update: 5/4/2009

Berry bushes are all alive and well and growning nicely!  :-)

The Sprout Report

The broccoli, lettuce and spinach have all made appearances!  (This is one of the broccoli plants.)  Still waiting for the peppers, but I have a feeling my kitchen isn't warm enough during the day for them.  I need a lamp.

Now if we could just get a few warm days in a row... The sun is great, but it's been in the 30's all week.

I still don't know what the sprouts in the front yard are...  No sign of flowers, so my guess is daffodils.

Getting there

Broccoli, green peppers, lettuce and spinach are all started and taking up most of my counter space :-)  My daughter has two little pots of her own with strawberries and chives... which should be just fine, if I can manage to keep her fingers out of them!!  We've also decided where to put our blueberries and are thinking about planting some concord grapes too -- woo hoooo!  (Have I mentioned how glad I am to have a YARD?!?!?!?)

The weather was beautiful this weekend -- feels so good to go outside and not brace against the cold!  (Yes, it's snowing again this morning, but it shouldn't last long and it's a pretty snow... big cotton-ball flakes hanging in the air.)

Next week... the tomatoes...