I started 72 lettuce plants on February 28th.  Most of them have germinated and were moved to the cold frame.  On March 7th, I started 18 broccoli, 12 cabbage, 12 brussels sprouts, 12 celery, and 6 fennel plants.  I will be planting pepper seeds in about another week.  The weather has been nearly perfect the past 4 days, with mostly sunny skies.  Most of the leftover snow has finally melted!!  With all of the sun, the cold frame really heats up during the day (which is good).  high temperatures the past 2 days have been in the 50’s, which is a little above normal.  This past weekend, I was able to do some garden clean up and also was able to spread most of the finished compost in the two bins onto the garden plots.  I still have a large clump of compost which is still frozen, but I am hopeful to be able to break it up today.  About 9 days ago, I received two more chickens from a co-worker.  They are New Hampshire Reds, and they are fantastic egg layers.  They are very docile and took to their new coop and yard within a few days.  Both of these hens are about 11 months old and have layed an egg a day for the past 9 days.  What a great day it was when I went to the coop and found four beautiful eggs.  Each of the four hens lay a different color/size egg (see the picture below of the four different eggs).  I took a picture of the two new hens working over one of the raised beds (see below).  All of the 4 chickens have been busily hunting for worms in the new compost, when they are allowed out.  Happy Early Spring Gardening!!

Four Different Size/Color Eggs

Two New Hens Working Over a Raised Bed