xylem

I ended up getting Honey Crisp and Baldwin, semi-dwarf rootstock. I'm a total newbie to pruning, but I'm leaning towards the "don't try too hard, trees know how to be trees" school of thought, lol.. open to any advice from more experienced people though!

The violet tea was fun, I love the pH based color change from pouring in lemon juice! Planning to use it in cocktails next time, that would make a great party trick.

:D Most of the garlic mustard ended up in the compost because I was lazy but I definitely want to make some more pesto in the future.

The pair of apple trees I ordered from Fedco arrived last Saturday, so I planted those out - the weather has been pretty mild and wet this week so hopefully they're settling in well. Just starting to break dormancy.

I'm also starting to plant out some of my seedlings in the new garden beds, it's super exciting to see some foliage in them!

One area of my yard that was overrun with invasive garlic mustard is now overrun with native violets, so I'm happy with that! I picked a bunch of flowers today to try making a tea out of them.

My cherry tree is this close to bursting into bloom! It seems to be a couple weeks behind other cherry varieties in the area, and I think my yard has a bit of a chilly microclimate since I'm in a valley.

My squash and tomato seedlings are looking great, I'm excited to plant them out in a week or two. I never got around to replanting my sad brassica seedlings that got too leggy, I might just direct sow some more at this point and see how it goes.

Also just have to say thank you for posting this thread every week! It's a highlight, and I always appreciate your responses!

This is a great presentation, thanks for the link!

I've got a normal compost bin going as well, but I'm trying the anaerobic method for the first time on this bucket. Just filled it up with invasive plants and water, added some leaf mold, put the top on and stuck it in a sunny spot. We'll see what happens!

Not growing in my yard, fortunately, but I realized that the interesting looking shoots I had been seeing come up in the patch of woods on my way to work are actually japanese knotweed.

I know it's not going to kill the plant, but those shoots are pretty satisfying to kick over, they just go flying... between the knotweed and the garlic mustard I've got plenty of invasives to deal with if I ever feel like going on a plant murder rampage. I've already pulled up a 5 gallon bucket full of garlic mustard in my yard which I'm turning into a gardener's revenge liquid fertilizer.

My shelves were pretty crowded with the onion starts and I just waited a few days too long before rearranging things to make room. I thinkt eh bigger issue now is poor soil, though, I'll need to top them off with compost, or honestly just plant them out sooner.

A fan is definitely something I'm missing - will have to set something up

Two 4x8 raised beds from reclaimed wood turned into two raised beds + 4 ground beds when we had some leftover compost... the extra beds will probably be purely experimental / chaos gardens, gonna throw some nitrogen fixers like chickpeas in and see what happens.

Most of my summer vegetable starts have germinated, which is exciting, though I think I'll need to replant the brassicas because they got leggy and the old soil I put them in wasn't great... the pumpkin seedlings look great though!

Next step is to finish the anti-rabbit fence and finally plant out my onions.

It's been kinda depressing to learn how many of the plants in my lawn are Eurasian invasives, but at least I'll get to make lots of garlic mustard pesto!

Finished one 8x4 raised bed with my salvaged lumber, and the second should go much faster now that I have a powered saw. I'll be getting 2.5 yd³ of topsoil/compost blend from a local municipal composting company next week.

It's windy and snowy even here in more southern New England, so I'm glad that the spinach, lettuce, and arugula I sowed last weekend in some railing planters hasn't germinated yet. My grow light shelves are almost completely full trays of seeds I planted a couple days ago, all the tomatos, cucumbers, and squash. Despite the weather today it's an exciting beginning!

Two Minute Tabletop has some great stuff

I'm worried about bunnies this year as well - how tall were the fences you put in?

I'm building a new garden for the house I moved into last fall!

Hoping to get some raised beds built later this week using some wood from a deck that I'm tearing down (tested the wood, it's free of arsenic!). Onion seedlings seem to be doing well, they'll go in as soon as the bed is ready and I'll be starting a bunch of other seeds indoors this weekend. Next step is to find a local source of bulk compost and topsoil to fill the beds.

I ordered a couple of apple trees, Honey Crisp and Baldwin varieties, which will arrive in late April or May - later than I'd like but better late this year than waiting for next year!