yay spring!

Spring equinox in Austin means if you haven't planted your tomatoes, you better get on it! Being ahead of the curve, I also already planted sweet potatoes and beans. The planting calendar from A&M says that's early. However, my proverbial achy joints are telling me this is gonna be a hot year. So, maybe it's for the best.
What else is going on??? I finally put the papaya are in, and the grapes are leafing out. I just got done mulching everything with some oak leaves that a neighbor dropped off in my yard. Consequently the garden may look a bit messy in the pictures. Thanks be to neighbors though! You can also see the potatoes, which are looking GREAT! Sarah's Valentines Day garden is also looking good. The onions and garlic survived our crazy freezes back in February, as did the kale and rape plants. The rape is actually blooming now, and the garlic and onions are growing quickly in the warm sunny weather we've been having. Actually, we went from extreme cold to unseasonably warm weather pretty fast, which means the lettuce and carrots that I planted after the freezes are struggling in the heat. As an experiment, I planted some iceberg lettuce back in Feb (head lettuce doesn't do so well here so they say). I'm crossing my fingers that it will survive long enough to mature and harvest without getting too bitter. I did plant some melon seeds in the gaps though in case it doesn't pan out. Here are pictures in order:

1)chayote squash on the trellis
2) pregnant PJ
3)garden overview one (lettuce, garlic, collards...)
4) garden overview two (onions, tomatoes...)
5)papaya
6)valentine's day garden
7)grape leafing out
8) tulip!
9)potatoes