The vernal equinox of March 20th was supposed to mark the beginning of spring. Somebody forgot to let Wisconsin know.  It’s the end of April, and we are just beginning to see weather that in any way lends itself to gardening. Indecent weather and the fact that I missed March totally while on a vacation in Texas have put me behind in the garden, but I’m working to make up for time lost.

I direct seeded onions and leeks into a hoop tunnel.  They are sprouting and I’ll transplant them to beds as soon as they are large enough, but I’m pretty sure the daylight-sensitive onions will be smaller than they could be because of the late start.  Better small onions than none at all.  The leeks won’t matter, they can continue to grow well into the fall.

I’ve just seeded tomatoes, peppers and eggplant and I’ll continue to get more seeds started indoors in the coming days.  I should have started brassicas in late February, but I’ll probably buy some live plants to make sure we’ve got some early cabbage and broccoli.

I’m actually ahead on a few things.  The trellises here are my pea bed, all planted. In between each trellis I’ve worked in a heavy layer of lettuce seeds.  The lettuce is all saved seed, which is great – it’s free. Around the sloped edges of the pea bed, I’ve worked in cilantro seed, again saved from plants I let bolt on purpose.  The garlic poking through the straw is doing great and as it warms up, I’ll pull back the straw and plant more lettuce and small greens in the rows and slopes.

I’ve got two beds shaped and ready to plant corn, which I’ll do as soon as it gets just a little warmer and I’m working on two beds for potatoes.  The potato seeds will arrive today or tomorrow.

Here are some asparagus shoots in the new bed which I planted last year. I ripped out the old asparagus bed which was totally overgrown.  I probably could have separated and replanted a lot of it, but I thought a fresh start was an easier approach.

Part of our natural garden, our colony of ramps is taking off.  I originally planted seven plants and that clump is now about 25 plants. I got 50 plants last year from Henry Homeyer, the New England garden writer, who has developed a huge ramp colony on his property.  They appear to have survived the winter well.  I think next year we’ll actually harvest some.

When I was a child in Michigan, a lady named Rose Martin gardened about a quarter-acre plot next door to our house,  We were just outside the Detroit city limits and she took a bus most days from her Detroit home to come out and work her garden. She said once that it’s never too late to start a garden and you could plant your first seed on the Fourth of July and still harvest a lot of great food.  With that in mind, I’m not letting the late start get me down.