This week we finally thought that we entered the mild spring period. This proved wrong at the end of the week, but at least for a couple of days we enjoyed the warmth and managed to do a lot of garden and house tasks.

Warm beginning of the week

Tuesday and Wednesday brought us our first 20+°C (68+°F) this year. The south wind and plenty of sunshine woke up nature, and although the Tuesday walks looked like we were still in the middle of January, in just two days, nature started waking up. Trees are getting their first leaves, the grass is starting to grow and the first flowers are all around us.

My orchard is also waking up. The early plum is already showing its first flowers, and although they look very pretty, I’m pretty sure this year we won’t see any fruits. The early flowers usually freeze and we still have almost 2 months of possible frost. I’m almost sure the chances of not having frost in the next 60 days are slim to none.

Seedlings all around us

The warmth was also beneficial to my seedlings which are germinating and growing like crazy. Last week I’ve moved most of my seedlings outside, and I’ve been bringing indoors only tomatoes and peppers. The chili peppers, which I topped last week are now growing new little branches. They still have lots of time to form little bushes, but even this fast growth is great.

Unlike broad beans, chickpeas, and bushy peas, my sugar peas are growing like mad. I will soon need to transplant them into the garden or they will start falling on the floor. This is actually good news since this year I’m planning to make mixed beds and it will be easier to sow the beds with the sugar peas, which will grow in the middle, already planted.

The rest of the seedling is also growing well. I don’t have any sick seedlings. Brassicas are a bit yellow, they should be transplanted, but the weather didn’t allow me to do this.

A new dose of cold air coming

By the end of the week, the beautiful spring weather was swiped away by a strong north wind and a big amount of rain. We actually needed this rain since January and February were quite dry and we didn’t have any real snow, but still, the rain also brought back very low temperatures, so now we’re back to early February mode. All of the tomato and pepper seedlings are back indoors, brassicas are in the garage again, I’m bringing the flowers inside during the night and the rest of the seedlings have been tucked away.

Of course, as it usually happens, I couldn’t find a big enough nylon in my basement, so I had to improvise and cover the trays both with nylon and anti-hail netting so that the north wind doesn’t destroy the cover. The anti-hail did its first job of the year as we got a small hailstorm on Sunday. It lasted a few minutes and the ice was tiny so there was no real danger. It was quite funny to see the netting fighting this first hail.

Plans for next week

During week 12 I’m hoping to finally start my garden sowing. I can’t really wait any longer. Brassicas need to be planted and I’m doing it on Wednesday or Thursday no matter the weather next week. If we get very low temperatures I will find a way to cover them with something. I also need to find a spot for potato planting and start sowing the last seed batch. Also, two orchard beds need to be cleaned up. I didn’t have time to do them earlier. Of course, all of this will be done if the weather allows it.