One gone, one to go and seeds.

 It's been raining. Sunday most of the day, yesterday was mostly clear but cold and today it's raining on and off with blustery winds. Not much to do in the garden and progress is steady. I realized looking at the carrot and radish timing, it's much too early for those which is why they haven't come up.

The two top pictures are yesterday. One of the babies is on the outside of the nest because there's no more room. Today... that one seems to have flown. Mama was hovering again and we just walked on by. The one hanging out might be a male given how much green is on the back but at this age it's hard to say and they won't have full adult colors until closer to summer.

Now as to the timing of the seeds, here's a chart I found online that explains soil temperature ideal for planting.

 I don't have a soil thermometer but I can tell you that the soil is colder than optimum. Onions, carrots, radishes all are very high optimum. Lettuce and peas have a colder lower minimum but optimum is pretty much 70-80. I suspect mine is running about 50-60. So I'm lucky the peas are coming up and the lettuce came up when it was warmer so here's hoping next week with less rain and clouds it'll warm up a bit more. I am not sure if the temperatures reflect being in the ground or in seeding tray or above ground.

Another thing is where the seeds/plants are. The ground soil is going to be colder for a lot longer than the raised bed. That gets full exposure to the sun and the walls of it reflect the heat. When the sun swings higher the south wall will be reflecting all the heat and sun so that bed will be warmer but the north raised bed..it may well be baking there. That's why you plant as early as possible so there aren't any tiny seedlings trying to survive blasting heat. Except for the watermelon or pumpkins. 

So for now I'm going to hold off planting anymore seeds until the weather clears for a significant time and warms the soil. Do I want to invest in a soil thermometer? Folks, I don't even have a cooking thermometer so, no. The old farmers didn't have thermometers, they relied on the phases of the moon and how fuzzy a caterpillar was and the old handy, dandy finger.

The potatoes are growing definitely, the lettuce seems to be stalling out a bit. Four or five sprouts coming up from the potatoes and the lettuce seems to be...there. I think that is going to be the lettuce bed, going to scratch up the soil and just toss more lettuce seeds out there. When it's warmer.