Whiteley Creek Homestead

My father, who died five years ago, was born May 20, 1910 so he would be 100 years old today. I always plant potatoes on his birthday in honor of him because when I was a kid growing up in a family of 14, we planted huge crops of potatoes that we stored in our root cellar to carry us through the long, cold winter months. May 20th was also when we began planting our vegetable garden because it was an appropriate date for our central Minnesota's northern climate. My chitted seeds that I soaked yesterday sent out roots in record time, so I had more than enough to get started with my spring veggie garden planting today… potatoes, onion plants, beans, peas, radish, and leaf lettuce. I planted my "chitted" (presprouted) cuke seeds in newspaper pots because the soil hasn't warmed enough. In the early part of June, I will transplant the seedlings into the garden. The zucchini seeds have begun to sprout inside the folds of the moistened paper towel, but they're not far enough along to plant. I will plant them in newspaper pots as I did the cuke seeds because they need warmer soil temps, too.

scarlet runner beans and 'dwarf gray' sugar peas

'pink beauty' radish

'encore' lettuce mix

'diva' cucumber