We had another wonderful weekend of weather. Today wasn't as warm as it was yesterday but it's still be wonderful and dry...great weather for working outside. The kids ate lunch outside yesterday.
Last year was a very hard year for my garden. We had awful weather and we traveled a lot. I eventually gave up on my garden and let it grow into a wild meadow of sorts. I had a hard time getting excited about this year's garden because of it. This weekend I was finally ready to get to work in the dirt. 
Look what I found in one bed.... a Swiss Chard plant that started to grow from the leftover stump of last year's plant! I didn't know that Swiss Chard could overwinter that well.
She helped to plant the sugar snap pea seeds. They're large seeds and easy to push into the dirt. I planted lettuce, broccoli, kholrabi, cauliflower, spinach, and carrot seeds. Charlotte helped me cover the seeds and pat down the dirt.
I started off by turning over the dirt in each bed with a shovel. The dirt was pretty compacted. After turning the soil, I topped each bed with leaf mulch leftover from last year. I worked it in with my hands and smoothed each bed. I did 5 beds Saturday and finished the rest today. It was hard work and my back is pretty tired. I was careful and only got one blister on my hands. Not bad for 4-5 hours with a shovel.
Look what I found in one bed.... a Swiss Chard plant that started to grow from the leftover stump of last year's plant! I didn't know that Swiss Chard could overwinter that well. After preparing all of the beds, it was time to plant. I luckily had plenty of seeds leftover from last year. Charlotte was my assistant. She started by scratching in some organic fertilizer I had leftover from last year.
She helped to plant the sugar snap pea seeds. They're large seeds and easy to push into the dirt. I planted lettuce, broccoli, kholrabi, cauliflower, spinach, and carrot seeds. Charlotte helped me cover the seeds and pat down the dirt. 
Charlotte helped me water all of the planted beds.
We draped 4 beds with row cover to help keep the seeds moist while they germinate. I didn't have enough row cover to do every bed so I had to prioritize. Carrot seeds are tough to get to germinate so I made sure they were covered and then I covered the snap peas.
I think Charlotte's doing her scarecrow impression. She was a great assistant. It took us about an hour and a half to get everything planted and watered and she enjoyed every minute of it. It's nice that she's getting old enough now to really be a help. I was so tired from all the digging that I was grateful for her company and help.I am so glad to get my Spring seeds planted. It's great timing that it also happens to be the first day of Spring. My fingers are crossed that this year's garden is a better success then last year. Now I get to go rest my back. It won't be long before those seeds are starting to sprout. One of my favorite things about gardening is searching for and finding those very first sprouts. It never gets old.
