A Day Off?

I woke this morning at 5 a.m. to the rumbling of thunder.  (Thumbling of runder?)  We were actually hoping for a day of rain (as forecast), and now at a little after 6 with rain pitter-pattering on the roof, the house is softly lit, cozy and quiet as Papa Pea and I sit at our computers (in opposite ends of the house . . . hell-ooo, are you there?) sipping our morning brews.

The rainy day is fine with me because 1) we haven't had any rain in several days, and 2) both hubby and I need a day of "rest."

I put "rest" in quotes because I've already got a list a foot and a half long of things I'll be doing inside to get caught up.  I know my dear husband will be doing the same.

The garden is getting a good soaking (part of it pictured above) which I'm hoping will encourage seeds to germinate.  I am fearful (shakin' in my garden boots, I am) some may not make it because our weather has continued to be so cool, but I knew if I didn't get the seeds planted now, the crops would have no chance of maturing by frost in the fall.

Speaking of frost, we had a frost on the morning May 31st and June 1st.  No damage in the garden as I had tender plants either under cold frames or hot caps.  We did, however, on the evening before the second frost, forget (dang, what lame brains) to take in the three beautiful hanging begonia baskets I had purchased for the north side of the house.  Yes, they got touched, but I'm hoping they will look better again.  With time.

While I've been really pushing getting the garden in, Papa Pea has used these cool days to do (among other things) some wood cutting.  He already has a pile of cut pieces ready to be split that looks to be about the size of Rhode Island.  Soon as the garden is totally planted, he and I will attack that.

Even though the above garden picture looks severely bare yet (come on, you little seeds, come on), I don't have much left to plant.  Crossing my fingers that it actually will warm up soon, as I've still to plant my beans and pickling cukes.

And this year I'm trying something different with the cabbages and broccoli.

To avoid the cycle of white cabbage butterflies that lay their eggs in the broccoli, I'm starting it from seed in the garden sometime this month which should put the broccoli plants at a totally different stage when those dreaded white harbingers of wormdom are looking for a place to lay their eggs.  That's the theory anyway.

The cabbages, both green and red, will also be started from seed in the garden around the same time as the broccoli.  Last year the cabbages matured, and a lot of them split, much too early.  We like to store them in the root cellar but the temp there was still too warm when the heads were ready to be harvested.  So, the theory is that by planting them from seed in the garden, and not started set-out plants, they will mature later in the season and be green and growing (which is what you want for better winter storage) when harvested.  Again, that's the theory . . . famous last words.

And those should be my "last words" for this post because my morning latte is done-gone, and I need to get up and move before gardening-induced rigor mortis sets in.  (Oooof, stiff arms, stiff shoulders, stiff legs . . . )