May Flowers

The crocus are blooming! If that's not a sign of spring, I don't know what is. Although, with temperatures in the low forties one might not know that it's actually May and not, say, February. 

My tulips, daffodils, crocus, and iris have all pushed through the ground. It gives me hope that maybe someday soon it will feel like spring!

A couple of weeks ago a friend and I spent the day in Kalona and stopped at a few Amish nurseries.  Most of you know that I don't waste my time on annual flowers, preferring vegetables or perennial flowering plants that require little to no effort on my part to keep them alive. But I was sucked in by the bright colors of the begonias and pansies and petunias. I planted them this past weekend and was happy to see that the begonia had started to bloom.  It probably won't last since apparently we have skipped spring and summer and are heading right back into autumn.

I also started planting my garden this weekend. I fully intended to till the garden myself, but Art said he enjoys doing it so much that I just let him do it!
The strawberries and rhubarb are starting to come up.  Art asked if I would plant potatoes this year and I grudgingly agreed.  I've planted potatoes in wet years, dry years, and perfect years and every single time the potatoes have black centers, like they are beginning to rot.  No one, not even the Internet, can tell me why this is.  But I bought a ten-pound bag of Yukon Gold seed potatoes for $3.75 from the Amish so maybe this year will be the year I succeed.  I also planted yellow onions and Brussels Sprouts (for Art).  In a few weeks I will plant bell peppers and tomatoes- although I haven't decided what kind of tomatoes or how many I will plant.  I probably don't need to make ketchup again this year since I made 31 jars last year, but with the way Art puts ketchup on everything I might need to make a few more jars.  (Although Art recently discovered honey mustard and has been using that instead of ketchup.  He has been putting it on spaghetti, rice, eggs, and pretty much everything else.) So instead of planing twelve Roma tomato plants I'll just plant two or three.  I'm also going to plant a couple of sandwich-style tomatoes this year to eat or freeze.