85....in April?

Yup, the title was accurate. Eighty-five degrees on April 5. Seventy-seven at 10 am. The season has barely begun and I am already quite crispy. I think I'm just complaining because I feel like it, though. In all honesty, it was an absolutely beautiful day here today, with plenty of sun and almost no clouds. Do I wish I had put sunscreen on? Maybe.....

I spent about two hours today raking, tilling, and weeding two rows about forty feet long. I have been looking ahead on our forecast for the next week or so, and it looks like we are completely in the clear concerning frost, and even cool temperatures in general. Since I have that slice of really great news, I've decided to go ahead and begin planting my summer crops in stages. Today's efforts were the first step towards that goal.

The first year I had a garden, my dad and I put three four by four posts into the ground about fifteen feet apart. Beginning about one foot off the ground, we attached chain link fencing to the posts. We planted rows of beans on each side of the fencing and trained them to grow up, through, and along the fencing. This was a pretty good idea, but our yields were never that strong. I always felt that we should have done a better job weeding than we did, but this will be the first year I'll actually be able to see if this was a great, decent, or piss-poor idea. If it can pass as decent, I'll be more than pleased.

This year I will be planting green beans along one side and yellow wax beans along the other. I don't think I'll have any problems with the two, but we'll see. This afternoon I pulled seeds out of each pack, placed them in water, and set them on the window sill to soak overnight. This is supposed to speed up the germination process, but I have never tried it before. Rolling the dice once again. I also put corn seeds in water for the same reason.

I have a lot to plant tomorrow, and I'm a little pooped from today, so I don't plan on doing any more raking or weeding until Wednesday. I know that I have to keep working on it, but I don't think I'll be able to describe the level of meticulous, annoying work it is to pick one root of grass after another. I need a day off from it.