The Walter F. Mondale trail is at Interstate State Park (MN) it runs between the camp ground and the pot holes. It is an fairly easy trail and follows the St. Croix river.

Was a very busy spring so other than potatoes and peas I did not get anything out in the gardens until this weekend! Although with it having froze Saturday morning I am glad I waited! Still enough growing season left for everything to produce but certainly was a lot of work to do over a few days. I still have a ton of mulching to do so that I don't end up spending the entire summer weeding!

Last year word apparently got out, amongst the rabbits, that I was running a five star all you can eat buffet. Peas were decimated and barely got enough for a single meal. I do not mind nature taking some of the garden produce but time for some boundaries. A little bit of reading and I discovered egg shells, coffee grounds, hair, and blood meal all serve as a deterrent. I decided to use all four at once! Here is to hoping the rabbits now give my garden a zero star review!

In previous years, when I prepared and tilled the NE Garden Plot 1, I would get a green blanket of weeds before it was time to plant. Meant I would have to either hoe or re-till the garden! After a bit of research I learned about solarization. This involves putting a layer of plastic down for a few weeks to both heat the soil and kill the weed seeds. Often clear plastic is used but I ended up with black plastic and am just going with it. From my reading you can actually get soil temperatures up to 120 degrees with clear plastic after four to eight weeks.

I have not had great luck with getting peas growing in bales. A big part of the problem is that by the time the bales are conditioned we are also getting hotter temperatures. Peas are a plant that thrive better when its colder, especially during the early growing stages. So going to move back to growing them in soil. In the category of horizontal gardening I am going to plant them next to the bales, that have cattle panels. The peas will grow up them and the cucumbers, to be planted later in the bales, will also grow on them.

The Mad Gardener is buying peas. He plans to plant four rows each 27 feet long. Peas are planted one inch apart and in bands 1.5 inches apart. Essentially each row is two rows. How many peas does he need to buy?

Our mornings have have been on the cold side lately but that has not stopped the microbes from getting to work! Will be at least a month before I start planting but this way there will be plenty of time for them to heat up and then cool back down!

Even though we are in the middle of You Thought I was Done Winter it has not stopped me from getting the gardens ready!