sowing seeds and a good storm

i sowed this year's first round of seeds about 10 days ago (some herbs, some flowers for the pollinators, and some tomatoes for staal).  the germination rate was quite good and the seedlings are looking happy and i think are feeling quite cozy in the greenhouse.  i sowed lettuces and greens three days ago and i'm starting to see signs of life there too.

i use tweezers to sow small seeds

kale seeds

basil

i'm trying out some new varieties and new plants this year.  i haven't ever had much luck growing true tarragon (the french stuff that only grows from cuttings) so i'm trying out mexican tarragon this year---the seeds germinated really fast and the seedlings are looking good.  i'm also growing tithonia (a sort of a bushy sunflower) and borage (an herby flowering plant) for the first time---both of them are supposed to be great plants for attracting and feeding pollinators.

borage seeds are really neat looking

borage seedlings

we had a bit of a wet weekend.  it had been quite a long stretch since the last rain and with the warm weather we've been having things were starting to get a bit thirsty---all the plants and animals (humans included) were ready for some rain.  

the chickens enjoyed foraging in the wet leaf litter...

we got a couple of days of light, occasional rain showers with some good downpours sunday afternoon and then sunday night things got kind of wild.  around 10-10:30pm we started getting some powerful wind gusts accompanied by very heavy rainfall.  the volume of water coming down was far more than the gutters could handle and the ground couldn't soak it up fast enough so we ended up with a pond in the kitchen garden and around the greenhouse.  fortunately the storm blew over before the water could get too high so we didn't get any flooding indoors and no leaks in the roof either.  the ground percolates really well here---when we got up the next morning there wasn't a puddle in sight, just a bunch of really happy trees and vegetable plants.

outside the east door of the greenhouse during sunday night's storm---water about 4" deep and just below the threshold

beautiful blue sky monday morning after the previous night's wild deluge.

and more signs of spring in the garden...

peach blossom buds (dog on deer duty)

lots of earthworm activity

happy plants in the kitchen garden