fat onions and white spiders

Not much happening in the garden these days, I've done most of the work and I'm just letting spring do its job.  The Granex sweet onions are looking great, they're forming lovely fat bulbs.  They get about a month to ripen before they'll be forced to make way for the pumpkins and melons.

I was taking a close look at my designer twig the other day and spotted these stealthy little neighbours blending in with the white blossoms.  There were at least four of them, though I don't know what they'll do when the blossoms fade and there's no white for them to hide in. 

Unfortunately I still found three tiny caterpillars, which means the spiders weren't really doing their job.  So it was out with the trusty Dipel once again, a natural bacteria that kills caterpillars if they eat it.  I'm looking forward to when the twig is big enough I don't have to worry about a few leaves getting munched.  I'm also looking forward to next year when I can let it keep its fruit, it has so many clusters of blossoms it kills me that I can't let them stay on this year.

what a difference a week makes

I'm used to visiting my garden almost every day, so when I was gone for a week it felt like so many things had changed!  To start things off, my first Greigii tulip had blossomed - it's a species tulip which essentially means a while tulip.  The variety is called "Cape Cod."  It's so bright and cheerful against the ugly brick wall and grating.

My designer twig is also in full blossom.  Although I got an update email from the company I bought it from saying that the first fruits should be removed when they're still tiny so as not to weigh down the branches and to encourage the plant to grow.  So no mandarins or tangelos for me after all!  But I still enjoy the flowers.

And my indoor seedlings were definitely ready to be planted out.  Look at the size of that basil!

The chillie got its own pot (on the left) whereas the cinnamon and lettuce-leaf basils will share a pot.  Last year my two basils shared a pot and they did just fine.

On the other hand, my tomatoes last year struggled partly because their pots were too small.  So this year I decided to get them much bigger pots ... then decided heck, might as well get them one long huge pot.  Trust me, they will grow into it.  And I can't wait to decide what to plant in it over the winter!

I also planted the soybeans in the back bed.  I'm keeping an eye on the onions - they're starting for form bulbs!  But in the meantime I've started some Baby Blue pumpkins, Green Nutmeg rockmelon and Minnesota Midget rockmelon in punnets to go into the onion bed when they're finished.  I love spring!