The Garden Season Finally Gets Going.

Watch these tulips the next picture will be when they turn yellow.

Tomatoes from seedling tray to 2in pots.

Transplanted pepper that will be in an EarthBox planter.

Cucumbers and squash seedlings - guess the pumpkin?

Lettuce, beets, and the quinoa.

Watercress grows in an aquarium in about 3 in of water.

Trench for the leek seedlings.

Leeks in clumps that I will thin later.

These cucumbers will be transplanted into this pot.

Last years cotton hung for the birds.

We have a downy woodpecker that made a next hole in our old crab apple tree.

The season has started to move along and one of the cold frames if full of transplants.  Tomatoes and peppers were moved outside last week after being moved into larger pots. That gave room for a few more trays to be planted - cubits, nasturtiums, and lettuce.  I got most of the cucumbers and squash started and with the help of bottom heat they quickly germinated and they too have gone outside now that nice weather has seemingly arrived.  I used more compost to fill a pot to plant one one the greenhouse cucumbers that I am growing this year.  The seedlings will be transplanted into that 5 gallon bucket and the vine will be strung up in the greenhouse for early cucumbers. The trays of basil and zinnias are still in the greenhouse for another week to gain some size before they join the rest of the seedlings outside. 
The garden ground is still not ready for anything but cool season pants.  I will plant the tomatoes and peppers after I get back from a fishing trip and by them the ground will have warmed.  Planting tomatoes too early just has them sitting in the ground and not advancing.  My tomatoes will probably bear fruits just about the same time those plants put into the ground this week.
Cool ground is fine for onions and so I planted the leeks seedlings in a shallow trench this week and will thin them in a week after they have taken hold.  I will also pull the soil in around them to help make nice white roots.  The onion sets, the garlic that was re planted are doing nicely in this part of spring and the parsley seed planted weeks ago is sprouting nicely after we had a crop failure last spring.
Apple trees are blooming and I think the low flower set is due to the very hot weather we had last spring when the trees were setting blossom wood for this year.  I did my pruning the same this spring as always and am sadly noticing a small amount of flowers on the trees. 
The old crab apple tree in the front yard is now a home for a downy woodpecker. The pair worked diligently opening a nesting hole in a portion of the tree that has been dead for some time - yes, shame on me for having not removed the limb a long time ago but now it is a home for someone - so the stump will stay.  The ground below the limb is covered with bits of wood that the birds removed to make their nest cavity.
The first crop of bunnies is running around and squeezing through the fence so I will have to get busy and rectify this intolerable situation .  I have some plastic fencing that I want to install as a six inch barrier at the bottom of the fence and that should keep them out permanently.
Happy Gardening