lettuce get ready...

 It's crunch time!  Now we're reliably in the 70s and lower 80s, and I'm working just as quickly as I can to weed, mulch, and plant in the beds surrounding the house.  I'm 2/3 of the way through the largest bed.

From winter sowing, I have plenty of bachelor buttons, snapdragons, and nicotiana, and I'm flinging them into bare spaces as I weed.  I'm putting in 3 hours at a time and it's a lot of work.  My body aches, my fingernails are constantly black, my cuticles are dry and splitting from the gloves, and Todd picked the season's first tick off my back yesterday...but the work is moving ahead and I'm really pleased with the progress.

I gathered up my dahlia tubers from last year...cleaned them up...and put them in trays to see if any were viable.

This was a good sign...

After three weeks, several had sprouted. 

I cut the sprout, dipped it in rooting hormone, potted it up, and put it on my heat mat.  Ditto for the rest of the sprouts.  They're looking pretty limp right now, but hopefully they'll perk up soon and root.  I also planted my edible crop yesterday:  cantaloupe, zucchini, watermelon, peppers, 10+ types of tomatoes, and the herbs - all in small plastic containers, put on the heat mats.  Nice to get a head start on these for summer!  

Some nice things popping up outside...my lupine, which I winter-sowed years ago:

The cranesbill that I planted a few years ago in multiple clumps is growing really well too!  Nearly ready to pop!

Makes nice bouquets too.

I'm still seeing our possum every day, but no babies yet.

But we did have babies this week...goz!!  A nesting pair hung around our front pond for a couple of days.

I miss the goz from our South Carolina house - they came back year after year and weren't a bit afraid of us - so this was so nice to see.  After a day or so, they slipped into the stream that runs through the side of the property and headed for a new resting place!  I think that Claudia was watching them a bit too closely for their comfort.  She's the property manager around here!

Speaking of green and growing, I was cooking with cabbage this week and noticing how pretty the leaves were...

I am a HUGE fan of lettuce ware/cabbage ware.  I used to have some, but the pieces got broken with our multiple moves.  I'm dying to get a few pieces from this fancy set:

photo courtesy of Petit Haus

It's Dodie Thayer and costs tens of thousands of dollars...but it's so whimsical! Wouldn't it be fun to eat from these dishes?

photo courtesy of Petit Haus

The next level of affordability (Tory Burch) loses a lot of the whimsy, in my opinion.

photo courtesy of Petit Haus

The most affordable line (Bordallo Pinheiro) is flat-out wrong, from the color to the design...for me, anyway!

photo courtesy of Petit Haus

I'm still hoping to come across a few authentic Dodie Thayer pieces someday.  It would be just perfect for summer dining!

Have a great week!