Avidly shrooming strawbales as of this morning. Future spot for tomatoes, peppers or eggplants

Tax Day. Easter Monday. One more frost threat. Less seedlings to manage. Lots of wildflower hikes undertaken, with many more to come. Azaleas, daffodils, tulips, redbud, magnolia.

There’s the list of what is going on in the garden, in the yard, in my life. It is astounding to think of my life at this time over the last 20 years. It was all about the seedlings - the dance in and out of the garage as frost threats were posted. It was endless transplanting, purchasing materials, writing labels, fretting their condition, and getting spaces at the Farmers Market - or scheduling visits to our driveway. One last frost threat has all of my seedlings huddled in my garage, to emerge on Wednesday mid morning.

The 2022 seedlings, just before being relocated to the safety of the garage

This year….pretty peaceful! I have just the plants I am going to grow plus the plants resulting from my typical overplanting. A few people will be coming by to pick up some of those extras - probably starting this coming weekend. (actually, it already started - two gardeners coming by for small but healthy plants in the last week).

The straw bales are now completely prepped and mushrooms and wheat are popping through everywhere. The cucumber, summer squash and bush bean bales are already planted (but not germinated yet - I am hoping the heat generated by the composting bales will preserve the seeds sitting just under the planting medium surface).

I will be making final decisions on tomatoes soon, and my planting goal is still somewhere around May 1. I am excited to ponder peppers and eggplants in straw bales. The location for my containers the past two years did not work for stellar results.

Here is a reminder that the tomato course Growing Epic Tomatoes (a collaboration between Joe Lamp’l and I) is still open to join - you have until the end of April if you are interested. I highly recommend it! Please email me with any questions you have about the course.

One final announcement - My weekly Instagram Live sessions are happening again, with the first last Thursday. As long as I don’t have a conflict, they will take place on Thursday afternoons at 3 PM eastern, with a duration of about 45 minutes. I will do some demos, updates and take questions. All previous ones can be found on my Instagram, @nctomatoman , found on the videos tab of my profile page. In last week’s kick off, I demonstrated planting seeds directly into straw bales, and also hunting dwarf tomatoes in the F2 generation.

I have three more Zoom workshops on my agenda - early May for garden organizations in Connecticut and Virginia, and in the fall for Orange County NC. If the workshops are open for all to attend, I will be sure to post the links on a blog, and on the Linktree in my Instagram profile.

Bleeding hearts in our side shade garden

Once the sun comes out and it warms up, on Wednesday, all of the seedlings and plants reemerge from the garage. I will resume transplanting seedlings to individual containers - I have plenty, so if you are close to Asheville/Hendersonville, get in touch with me to set up a time to get some. I have a Word doc list with details that I can send you. I have lots of yard work to dig into, particularly reworking some flower beds for daylilies and other perennials. I have seeds of some perennials started - Astilbe, Spider Wort, Coral Bells, Jacob’s Ladder, Baptisia - and more stratifying in my freezer.

Having a smaller garden and dealing with less seedlings is freeing me up - I love all kinds of gardening and hope to have the time this spring, summer and fall to fully dive in. But first, there are wildflowers to spot in the many wonderful trails nearby. You will find me and Sue and dogs there most mornings!