I have not planted any Silver Bells in the garden yet, but there is something magical and nursery ryhym like about a garden growing in the spring.  Out of a seed comes this magical plant,  with some sun, water and good soil it can produce food to feed my family and friends.  It is something about gardening that never grows old.  

This year our Spring has been hot and cold, dry and wet a typlical Maryland Spring.  We are working diligently when the weather allows us. We have to get all the garden beds made and the seeds planted.  Last year some of our crops struggled to grow in the heavy clay soil in the garden.  This year we are not tilling the compost into the clay, we are just adding 6+ inches of compost to the top of the clay. This means we are doing a lot of dirt moving, raking, and shoveling.  It looks great and the plants are loving the fresh, nutrient dense soil.  So far this spring we have planted onions, kale, celery, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, peas, carrots, and radishes.  The garlic over wintered well and is growing lik crazy.  The asparagus plants, still have at least another season before they reach their full potental.  Rhubarb is growing leaps and bounds, we are waiting to be brave enough to harvest it and try new recipes.  As the result of our mild winter, some of our herbs were able to over winter well.  We will have plenty of Oregano and sage this year. 

This year we have opened our CSA program and it has required extra planing and planting.  We want to be able to offer our customers a wide verity of veggies for the season.  We are planting a total of 62+ different vegetables and 15+ different herbs.  We have started over 700 seedlings so far this spring to try and get a jump on the season.  Most of those seedlings are doing great, there has already been two crop fails, but we are replanting and hoping to still be able to have a good harvest later in the season.  The CSA program this year, will pay for us to be able to put up an larger greenhouse, which will be a welcome addition to our farm for starting seeds through the winter and into next spring.  

It is a busy season for sure, but I am really enjoying having dirt under my fingernails again and sunkissed arms.