We had close to 80 deg in February. But I was a good girl, I waited until the end of March when it teased with warm days but chilly nights, then all through April with cool, damp days, and finally well into May when it hovered in the high 40’s/low 50’s and we had hard freezes followed by days and days and days of misty rain interspersed with deluges of the biblical variety.

As pictured in Gardener’s Supply

Dammit! I shoulda just planted stuff in February. At least I might have lucked out with lettuce, spinach and peas. The VegTrug has a frame and a plastic cover that turns it into a greenhouse. We didn’t erect it since we were having gale force winds and it was just too doggone early. Le sigh.

Now I’m hustling like crazy to get stuff planted. I have raised planters from Gardener’s Supply (love, love, love them—terrific customer support, excellent products, lots of great sales and the occasional free shipping) and those potato grow bags that worked a treat last year, producing an abundant crop of achingly delish red-skinned potatoes.

I am so enamored of the bags that I ordered two of their tomato grow bags that come with an integral support system, plastic dish base optional, but I got a couple of those since it seemed like a good idea.

Over the weekend we hit the nurseries and returned home with 12 tomato plants (yellow & red cherry, Roma, and Best Boy slicers), 1 eggplant, 1 oregano, 4 basil, a flat of astors, marigolds and petunias, plus 3 humungous hanging baskets with mixed petunias and other lovely wee flowers in a riot of color (sorry, no clue what they are—I only pay attention to the stuff I can eat, the rest I look at but don’t “invest”).

I have two muck tubs (15 gal size) into which I poured bags of potting soil and peat moss, stirred to mix, then filled planter after planter, added a top layer of fertilizer and happily inserted my treasures.

Oh alright, the ring is crooked, I’ll fix it!

The tomato bags required me finding my reading glasses so I could follow the directions and get the plastic ring support system right prior to filling the bag with the soil mix. It was actually easy and I really like how you can position the rings to adjust as the tomato plant grows. The bags are red, which is supposed to encourage growth.

I’m so impressed I plan to buy more in the fall when they go on sale.

Right now, the movable pots are on the back deck/concrete slab until we can set up a spot in an area with full sun throughout the day. We have some rubber stall mats we’ll put down to control the weeds, plus they’ll reflect heat and keep the plants warm overnight.

The raised bed dedicated to salad greens has sprouts already: spinach, arugula, mixed leaf lettuce and scallions.

I had a space available so I added oregano which is a lovely plant, as well as a fragrant addition to the bed.

And lest I forget, we have strawberries on the upper deck, along with the posies:

Now Deere John is whispering my name, but my aching back is saying, “Shut the *^~* up,” so I think I’ll pour a glass of iced tea, take some Tylenol extra strength and head into the writing cave.

Peace. And a few sunny days. We deserve it!