Spring is garden time in my urban Seattle homestead. Last couple weeks I moved 10 yards of mulch and compost, roto tilled a chunk of my back yard, setup two more raised beds, and planted some trees and shrubs. Things are looking pretty good actually, but still lots to do.

Ive planted the first batch of veggies this weekend, carrots, beets, radish, peas are in the ground, so are the first set of store bought starts broccoli, lettuce and Brussels sprout, onion and garlic as well. The radishes, beets and peas have sprouted so things are humming along nicely.

Like any garden year its not without some failures. I think I over-compacted the starting mix by prewetting it and root rot happened, about half the arugula died and all the broccoli. Second set is looking a lot better.

Ordered a bunch more seed today, parsnips, lettuce, watermelon (challenge crop), radish and dill. Ill probably get them in the ground at the end of the week. Next big problem is irrigation, Ill need to set something up before mid May when the dry weather starts. Looking into some mini wobblers or some sort of other sprinkler system. Last years drip experiment was kind of a fail and a lot of stuff dried out.

Other than that, it looks like my Bees made it through the winter with about 5 frames of honey and 5-6 frames of bees which is a little low but the fact that they made it at all is pretty good for a first year beekeeper. Chickens are laying well, and I think its going to be a bumper year for plums since it was warm and the bees were out during bloom time.

Other than that thinking of buying my first starter mechanical watch. I was looking at the Hamilton Khaki Field watch, seems like a good value and can be bought for around 200-250 used. I'd really like to get a good vintage starter watch in that price range but I don’t really know what or where to look for so suggestions would be appreciated.