Hallelujah! It’s finally planting time! I mean, it’s still going to rain off and on until mid-April, but it shouldn’t be anything like the deluge of past months. So it’s time.
First the zucchini!
Yesterday I found some aphids on the back of the leaves. Green aphids, which are pretty minor on the aphid scale of badness, but aphids nonetheless. Easy enough to kill them and then spray a little insect soap- but considering the absolute explosion in the ladybug population in the last few weeks- I’d rather have nature take care of my aphids.
Luckily the roots looked pretty good.
Now those are some good roots. The plant itself looked a little pot-bound but the roots were fine. All three squash went into the ground in the bed next to the apple tree.
I’ll be keeping a close eye on them- I’m not sure if all of them will take- but now that it’s warmer I’ll probably plant more via seed- and maybe a few from plants I buy, so I’m not worried about my squash this year.
I’m gonna have so much squash.
The peas also need to go in- their roots are little less well grown.
But the plants are putting out tendrils so they need to be in the ground and staked. One of the peas I put in the ground did sprout, but none of the other did, so that’s what the six-pack of seedlings is for.
Luckily I found some old bamboo stakes inside and I put them up.
It’s a bed that doesn’t get a lot of morning sun, but plenty in the afternoon, so it’s good for peas, and also greens. Not so much for beans or cucumbers. Eventually I’ll put some greens in front of the peas, since only a few of the radishes I planted by seed came up.
But what about my largest sunflowers?
One I put in the bed with the zucchini’s- hopefully the flower will attract more bees to the later squash flowers.
The other I put in a pot by the fog tomatoes.
To attract bees to the future tomato flowers!
I really have to update my garden map- maybe tomorrow after I mow everything. It’s really starting to get busy- There’s even some flower buds on the baby sungold tomato which is crazy! I’m hoping the bees will come in time. Soon I’ll put out the bee house- but I really have to wait until all the rain is gone for that.
But at least I’m not cooped up inside from too much rain.
The Neanderthal Gardens 
You know, i really do not like zucchini much. I just grow it because it is SO productive and SO reliable. I give most of it away. I tried pickling some years ago, and it was not at all good. I canned some too, only to find out why it is known as ‘squash’. Ick! Just because you can can zucchini does not mean than you should.
My mother has an auto-immune disorder that seriously limits her diet- because of this most vegetables make her very sick- zucchini is one of the exceptions. So for my family the incredible fecundity of squash is a huge bonus, and I know the zucchini I’m feeding my mother have the most nutrients. But yeah- it’s reliability can be more curse than blessing in a lot of situations- but in mine it’s a curse I intend to take advantage of!
Oh, I don’t mean to say that the reliability and productivity is necessarily a bad thing. It works out well for those who like zucchini. I just dislike them so. I REALLY dislike carrots; but I grow many of them because everyone else likes them.