Arrowleaf Farms: A Gorgeous Day

It's been a very cold spring. Usually we get warm days scattered here and there between February and summer, but this year I can only remember one on a day when I wasn't at work. So this was the second day and we made the most of it.

Shawn got to work yesterday (when I thought it was too cold) planting the onions. He got them all done!! This is great news. The leeks had gotten tired of waiting, and most didn't look good. Luckily, the leeks we planted from seed have done well, unlike all the onions.
The things I planted in the ground a while back finally came up over the last week, but we're out of row cover. The real problem with that is the quail come in and snap everything up. Their priority seems to be the peas. I found an old ratty piece of row cloth and got them covered. We'll see what's left. The beets are still ungerminated, but there is some spinach, chard, radishes, and lettuce.
Shawn also built some warm spots in the garden. He made surrounds of straw bales and then put windows on top. He planted zucchini and cucumbers. I'm rooting for another one with tomatoes and peppers. As an experiment, he also planted some and covered with just row cover. He had sprouted the seeds, so they just need to not freeze. Unfortunately, in the several trips I made down to the garden this weekend, I never remembered my camera, so no photos.
In other garden news, the swallows are back and started building their nest (none of those on the hill have started building yet). Shawn put another house up; hurrah for mosquito control! Bluebirds were sitting on it much of the day. Also, the baby great horneds have left the nest and are showing off their fluffiness on nearby branches.
We did lots of transplanting this weekend. Shawn mixed up a secret recipe of worm dirt, compost, potting soil, peat, and who knows what else, so hopefully the plants will be well-fed. Almost all the peppers and all of the tomatoes and eggplant are done! We split lots of them so will have starts to sell. Rather than throwing milk cartons away all year, we saved them and are trying them out as planters.
In the orchard, the apricots are blooming and it looks like at least one of the plum trees will be covered with blooms, which has never happened, but seems to be usual with other people's plum trees.