playing in the dirt

my mom always used to say, 'i'm going out to play in the dirt,' when she was going out to work in her gardens. well, that is what i need today. the first outdoor planting happened today (besides peas). peas are planted by seed in the field by a seed planter and the guys take care of that. today was the first planting i did outside...transplanting some of the plants i grew from seed inside. i planted black seeded simpson lettuce, coastal star romaine lettuce and broccoli raab - one flat (72 plants) of each. it was a nice day to plant, pretty sunny and in the 50s. the soil was wet, but not terribly muddy. the black plastic was laid in the fall (remember we plant on black plastic to help control the weeds...it also helps warm up the soil in the spring so things can be planted out early), so it would be ready to plant early this year. hoops and clear plastic are now over the plants to protect them from cold nights and frost. if the days get really warm, we'll have to uncover the plants so it doesn't get too hot under there (the hoops and plastic recreate a greenhouse effect). now that the planting outside has started, it will only continue until well into the fall. here we go!