Disappointments today.

One of last year's groundhogs.

Unlike yesterday, which was an enjoyable and productive day in the garden (more on this below), today has been disappointing for a few reasons.

1) Some critter, likely a groundhog, has eaten more than half of my yet-to-bloom tulip buds. I have a few choice expletives for this critter. Out comes the Havaheart trap. The bloody bastard better be caught tomorrow, though I don't know if I really want to have much of a heart when it is caught. We caught five groundhogs on the property last spring (and Hubby drove them to the nature preserve 10 miles away) and afterward had no problems. But, other than the tulips, which are short-lived anyway, I fear for our new veggie garden. We'll have to put a fence around it. Goodie, another chore to add to the list.

2) Speaking of the veggie garden, my goal this week was to plant all the cold-weather crops. But our top soil was delivered in the rain and turned into clumps. And those clumps have dried into little balls of gravel consistency. I bought one of those rolling, spiked garden cultivators (similar to the Garden Weasel) and that helped, but at 25 weeks prego, I tire easily. Working that tiller was another unpleasant task today, and despite all my elbow grease, the soil was still like little pebbles. I planted rows of carrots, radishes, and beets and covered them with a layer of peat moss before the final layer of pebbly soil. Hopefully when it rains again, the soil with break up and soak down to the seeds appropriately.

3) And what's with this freakin' freezing weather? It was 35 degrees this morning. I was working outdoors with long underwear under my clothing plus my winter coat. I hate the cold. It's the end of April for godsakes—how about some consistent sun and 60+ degrees! What a waste of spring break, to deal with winter weather.

But enough complaining. Here's what I did yesterday: planted a flat of marigolds (bought, not grown), five achillea bare roots, four blue forget-me-not plants, and 12 carnations. I also bought two flats of impatiens to plant in giant pots this weekend. But before I do that, I have to get Styrofoam blocks to fill the bottom of the pots—I don't want to fill giant 14" pots top-to-bottom with soil when impatiens really only need a few inches. For one, garden soil is expensive and I would need almost a whole bag to fill each of the seven pots. Secondly, the pots would then be 60 pounds each! I would like to be able to move them if necessary.

So after these two afternoons outside, I am exhausted! Bending over with this belly is becoming more than uncomfortable. Whew. Hubby is going to have to help me with the heavy-duty garden tasks, like ridding my partial-shade garden of grass. But that is definitely another day.