Morel mushrooms

Mushroom season has been a bit of a bust for us this year. We have had warm and dry weather followed by cool and wet which hasn't helped. We have gone hunting the past two weekends without a single sighting. In following facebook posts and talking to others at work, it seems that people are finding them in fair quantity or, like us, not at all.
I have heard two tips for knowing when the mushrooms will be ready. One is when the lilacs bloom and the other is when the redbud trees bloom. Both of these signs have come and gone here in central IL, so we might be waiting until next year...

Potting up seedlings

One shelf of tomato and pepper plants...I have eyes bigger than my garden. Someone usually ends up with my giveaways. :)

Lauren's seed starting adventures

Tomato transplants - I started them in small dixie cups and transplanted them into larger cups and planted them up to their cotyledons. Hoping for some strong root systems.

More tomatoes

Tomatoes and peppers

Tonight I worked on potting up more seedlings. I was using old seed this year, so I planted 2-3 seeds per cup. My Jalapenos and Yellow Star hot peppers did not germinate at all. I will be throwing these seeds away. The rest of the seeds germinated with most cups having multiple plants. I have issues with throwing away anything that is green, so I potted up all the little seedlings. I figure that my friends and neighbors all need tomatoes and peppers, right? One of these years, they will probably hide when they see me coming with my wagon of plants to give away. Kind of like neighbors don't answer their doors anymore when you start having that overabundance of zucchini! I have found a solution to that problem however....I have resorted to putting veggies in plastic grocery or Wal Mart bags and leaving them on their doors. Sneaky... My herbs and flowers need potted up next. My basil is looking very good and hoping to make some pesto this year.

Seed starting

Well, I finally got the lead out and started seeds today. Here is the listing of what I started today:

Tomatoes
2 - Black Cherry
2 - Gold Medal
1 - Lemon Oxheart
5 - German Pink
5 - Yugoslavian
5- Italian Heirloom
2 - Viva Italia
10 - Roma
1 - Pink Brandywine
5 - Black Krim
1 - Jelly Bean
1 - Yellow Pear

Peppers
2 - California Wonder
2 - Big Dipper
2 - Golden Marconi
1 - Sweet Long
2 - Buran
1 - Jalapeno
1 - Yellow Star Hot
2 - Sweet Chocolate

Flowers
10 - Viola
10 - White alyssum
10 - Purple alyssum

Herbs
5 - Cilantro
4 - Parsley
10 - Sweet basil
5 - Red Rubin basil

Everything is on the heat mat under lights and hopefully my late start will not affect anything to much. Now to wait for the excitement of those first few sprouts. I made sure to put extra seeds in each cup since I was using old seed that was at least one year old. I can never throw away old seed that might still germinate. If I had planned ahead better, I would have presprouted the seed. Instead, I will get what I get. Maybe I will be pleasantly surprised and get more plants than I hope. :)

More spring blooms and bird findings

Wolf River apple blossom
Redbud tree blossoms - these are probably my favorite tree of spring

Lungwort

Wood hyacinth

more wood hyacinth

Bird nest of an unknown bird...I was watching today while I was in my shed and didn't see anything going into it. Usually finches try to nest here, but I have never seen a tunneled nest like this one before. Any ideas?

U

Cherry blossoms

More cherry blossoms...this is the first year that this tree has bloomed like this. We just planted in a couple years ago.

Wild violet

Spring blooms and a robin

Lilacs getting close to blooming...can't wait for the scent!

Bachelor's britches

Wild violet

Tulip

Tulip

Tulips