Sugar Snaps are coming

We had very bad weather this weekend. There was a high risk tornadoes, winds, hail and heavy rain. I was worried that the garden could be damaged but we managed to dodge a bullet.

I have been eating lettuce, spinach and radish all three days this weekend.


The sugar snap peas are starting to bloom. I planted these seeds about 8 weeks ago. The are now about 4 feet tall. One of the interesting thing is that the vines are pretty delicate and it is now only at this height are they stating to bloom. The blooms are only on the new growth. So I have add another 4 feet of netting to support the vines and the new blossoms.

The other thing that will be ready to eat soon is the Swiss Chard. Last year the plants were very prolific and you just keep harvesting the outer leaves and the inner leaves grow to replace them in a few days.

Beginning and Ends

Although this is still spring some things are already coming to an end. Arugula has started to bolt. "Bolt" is the term that is used to describe when a plant like lettuces or other greens are starting to go to seed. I had noticed last week that there was some seed heads deep in the plants. Now they have jumped up about 6 inches. I a week they will be completely gone to seed. When a plant starts to bolt the leaves may be coarse, stringy and have a bitter flavor. Arugula is already a bitter green and it might be very tart when it goes to seed.


There are also some beginnings. I had to thin my beets. Beet seeds are clumps of seeds with 2 or 4 plants from each kernel.This can mean that the plants were are very crowded and in order to allow the beet roots to mature to a better size you need to thin them. No sense putting those seedlings to waste so I cooked the baby beet greens. They are so tender it only takes a few minutes.

Finally a really early beginning is the this sweet potato vine This sweet potato is from my last year crop. I am now starting some vines by putting the sweet potato in the water and when the shoots are about 12 inches long they can be pinched off and then just planted in the ground.

Herbs in the Garden

Herbs are a really good thing to have in your garden.



I have planted a herbs around the patio of my front door. The sage is starting to bloom. This is Dalmatian Sage which is most well known for use with turkey and other roasted meats. The Latin name is salvia. Salvia is a common flowering plant that is often planted as an annual. These versions are breed for their flowers but the one I have is a perennial and I have sage always available.

I also have thyme, oregano and marjoram (which is a milder form of oregano). I have all of these herbs just out side the front door and I use them frequently in my cooking. This is a great thing to have in your yard because they have great flavor but also they save you a lot of money. Those little bottles of of dry herbs can cost several dollars a piece.

The new farmer has sent up a large rosemary plant that I will add to my collection. This is a very impressive specimen. If you walk by and brush the plant the wonderful smell of rosemary perfumes the air.

Fava Beans

I have been out of town for a few days and I haven't been able to work in my garden or blog. It is amazing what can happen in just a few days. The fava beans are blooming. They have beautiful white blooms with a deep purple "eye". It will probably only be a week before we have some young beans to harvest.

The sugar snaps are getting close to the top supports and I think I will try to add to a few feet of mesh to the the top. I have looked closely and no blooms are visible yet.

I did harvest a Butter Crunch Lettuce bunch from the garden tonight for my supper and the salad was sweet and delicious.

The risk of frost has now pasted and over the next few weeks I hope to plant several types of beans. The garden by the house is almost full. My goal is to usually get all the areas planted and then as harvest of one crop is completed a new planting will go in. The arugula and broccoli raab have started to go to seed so they will come out in the next two weeks to make room for the next planting.

Fruit

We will have fruit in the near future. One of the types of fruit will be figs. Figs are an interesting plant. The trees often bear fruit twice a year. The first crop comes in the spring on last year's growth. I have not had good luck with this in the past. Often we have a frost and figs are very delicate. If it gets down to freezing even for a few hours the figs will be killed. This year we had a very cool spring and this delayed the fig tree from sprouting out and so I should have a good crop since the figs can stand frost before the bud. Take a look.

I also have blueberry bushes covered with blossoms and now fruit. It is amazing how many berries will be on these small bushes.

The third is strawberries. They are spread all over the yard. Strawberries grow very close to the ground. In the past I have had a lot of problems with slugs. The reason strawberries are named that is that you need to place straw under the branches to hold the berries up off the ground and away from the slugs. The flowers are beautiful.

Week in Review

I had a week hiatus due to a bum knee that made working in the garden and posting difficult. I am doing much better today and it is amazing what a week can mean at this time of year.

This week I now have plants that are mature enough that I can eat some food from my garden every day. The variety is somewhat limited but when you harvest something, bring it in, wash and eat it or cook it within minutes to a few hours the flavors are incredible.

This is a list of current foods: radishes, arugula, broccoli raab, leaf lettuce and Swiss chard.

Butter Head lettuce, spinach and romaine lettuce are about a week away.


I have taken all my potted seedlings outside and planted tomatoes, squash and cucumbers. Sam came over to help me because of my bum leg and you can see that we scattered the plants around to different places in the yard. This helps because some places are better suited and if you get a pest infestation in one tomato or squash plant it is not so easy for it to spread to all of your crops.

I also put down newspaper and a layer of pine straw. The newspaper keeps the weeds down and helps hold in moisture and pine straw is more attractive, protects the paper and keep the wind from blowing it away. This system worked great for me last year reducing the need for weeding and watering. A little bit of effort now saves a lot of time later and allows you to just enjoy your garden for the food it produces for the next 8 months.

Warm Day

Snow a distant memory?



Today it was one of the warmest so far. Predicted to be in the high 70's the temperature was recorded as 82 degrees by my car thermometer on the way home from work. I decided that it was time to put some of the seedlings in the ground. If the nighttime temperature is at least in the 50's then it should be OK for tomatoes and some other tender plants to go in the ground.

Some of my melon and squash seedling looked a little ragged. Most looked great but some had been shaded by the the large leaves of their neighbors and were getting crowded out for light. To big for the crib and so I needed to get some of them out to the garden plot so that I could spread things out a little more.

For my friends who do not have the good fortune to live in the South I wanted to show a picture of my azaleas which just in the last few days have started to bud. By tomorrow you will not see any green anymore and the show will last for 10-14 days. This group of azaleas surrounds the small cherry tree I featured earlier.

I haven't put all of my tomatoes out today. Here is a picture of one of my seedlings with two full sets of true leaves. Over the next week they all will go in the ground.

The other things I would like to show is the fava beans now about 8 inches tall and I have a second small patch planted 2 weeks later that will supply a more extended harvest.

Finally the sugar snaps. They are now nearly a foot tall and growing a couple of inches a day. last year they over topped the four foot high netting. Some day I might test how tall they could climb but I might need a scaffolding twice as high to support them.

Bare feet

Broccoli Raab with penne pasta

I have several photos to show readers of the progress made in the garden so far this year. Today we had a light shower in the morning after which I went out to do some weeding. I noticed that there were a lot of weeds coming up around the fava beans and in some of the other areas. I thought weeding might be hard but with ground moist I made quick work of it.

I had gone out in my bare feet and I think that this might become a habit. There have been some complaints of me tramping in dirt on my shoes. Therefore no shoes I think would make clean up easier. In any case the damp soil and coolness of garden felt great and although I don't usually go out bare foot that often I think they would toughen up pretty quickly. Then when I am done a splash of water from the tap will clean off the dirt and make for a cleaner home. Many cultures do not wear shoes inside since it is cleaner not to and foot washing before coming in has been part of getting ready to come inside since Biblical times so I think I will try it.

Tasks done today
1) have started the soaking of the mushroom block so that I can try growing a new bloom; it will need to soak for 24 hours in rain water so I will set it up tomorrow.

2) The strawberries are blooming both in the pot and in the bed.

3) Red potatoes coming up in the trench I dug. As they grow I will fill in the trench and this will give move stem for the potato to grow on.

3) I have been eating arugula ( The English call it Rocket and I like the sound of the name) almost every day. The sharp peppery taste with a slight bitter after taste is not to everyone's liking However, splashed with vinegar and topped with some Parmesan cheese it is a great salad. Little bunches of this go for a pretty penny. If you had smell on your blog then you could smell the peppery aroma.


4)Major planting over the next week. Not all fear of frost is over for another ten days yet but I think it is time to start.