Let us check in with the backyard(s).

It's mid-March.  What's been happening in the yards?

Here's the backyard vantage point I see every day while writing.
 

The weedy mess that is Emilia and Ryan's yard.  The froth of green mid-picture comes from the packets of old collard seeds I planted late last summer.
 

Here's a closeup.
 

Is it a rain garden or a place to grow dandelions?
 

On the right is the mustard I planted as a cover crop.  It was a great deal. I ate more than my money's worth of mustard last fall, it held the space all winter and I've been eating it again before it starts to flower.

On the left is a huge patch of weeds to deal with.
 

Leo's backyard.  This year I'm going with two long rows divided into four-foot squares.  Hence the bamboo.
 

I've already planted one section.  This will be turnips, spinach and cilantro.
 

I think all the apple trees came through the winter, though they are still so slight they don't show up in this vantage point.
 

Here's one, growing up his guides.  I've also finally put the copper tags on each tree.
 

This fella is still too short to reach his first guide.
 

As is this guy.
 

I've got some Asian greens starts going and some mustard planted.

This year I'm trying a new way to mark what I plant.  I'm writing on cottage cheese lids in sharpie and setting them halfway down in the soil.  I've got a good supply of lids, which can't be recycled in the regular recycling, so I figured why not give them a second life as plant markers?  We shall see if the sharpie holds up.