We haven’t had such a rainy spring in a very long time. The rain has now become a regular event every Monday and Tuesday. Temperatures are a bit higher now, but still a bit lower than usual. The rain woke up nature and there’s grass, flowers, and plants everywhere.

A lot of rain

The past week has been one of those stormy weeks. The only dry days were Friday and Saturday, which of course means that I didn’t do much work in the main garden. The soil was just too wet to do any work or even enter the garden.

Still, the already planted peas, brassicas, and beans seem to enjoy the warmer and rainy weather. Most of them are growing really well. Peas, which I’ve sown directly are starting to germinate, and the ones that were planted have doubled in size. Carrots and parsley, on the other hand, are still not germinating. The low morning temperatures are just too low for the carrots to grow.

Time for the side garden

The rainy weather made me give up the main garden work, but it was perfect for cleaning and planting in the side garden. I can say now that the side garden is 95% planted. The past week I’ve sown pole and bush beans, and planted zucchinis and cucumbers.

The cucumbers were planted outside in the herb area, and the beans were sown on the only empty bed. The idea is to let them climb the small fence around the garden. Also, here they should be protected from the wind since this area is a bit lower than the garden itself.

I’ve also cleaned the little covered onion bed. It now also has an additional area with a couple of brassicas and radishes. I want to test if they will like it here. The covered bed needs to be watered daily since it doesn’t get any moisture from the rain.

The seedlings are still here

When it comes to seedlings, they are still all around the yard. The temperatures are still too low for any real garden transplanting, so I’m keeping everything in the front and side garden.

The front yard area first got a protective netting, due to the storms which we had two weeks ago, but since there are lots of showers I’ve decided to add nylon also. I’m honestly afraid that, if the tomatoes keep on getting daily showers followed by bright sun, the early blight will activate. I decided to cover the tomatoes to make sure that the rain doesn’t get to them. They still have enough air since the cover is only above the seedlings, but it should still work as a protection against excessive showers.

The side terrace is also full of seedlings and seedling trays. This week I’ve transplanted most of the peppers and eggplants that will grow in pots and moved them to the side terrace where they will grow during the summer. This year I’ll arrange things a bit differently. The gravel terrace will be for plants and decking chairs, and the concrete upper terraces will be used for a swimming pool and outdoor table.

Now, while it’s still early, I’m keeping the seedlings in the pool place. There is plenty of trays that should already be in the garden, but the weather is keeping me from transplanting. Maybe next week we’ll have more luck.

Plans for this week

This week, if the weather allows it, I’ll finish transplanting the annual flowers, and transplant the seedling trays in the main garden. I also need to clean the already planted beds, finish sowing the beans and dig the orchard beds. Potatoes still haven’t been planted, so I also need to do that too. The rest of the jobs will depend on the number of sunny days, which judging by the forecast will be just a couple. At least the drought is now behind us.