April 27, 2015

Garden Growing

It's been about a month since I last reported on the garden. We've had lots and lots of rain since then, so we're not getting as much done in the garden as I would like. But things are growing and here they are.

Fall planted garlic bed

Strawberry bed

Strawberries will be ready soon!

Beets  (which the deer haven't eaten!!!) and broccoli

Red raspberries. I'm hopeful for a harvest this year!

Lettuce, radishes, multiplier onions

Comfrey. I've been replanting comfrey, mostly under the fruit
trees but I also planted a number of plants in their own bed.

Peas, turnips, and heartsease. The heartsease (johnny-jump
-up) are all volunteers and make a very good living mulch.

Just planted - sweet potato slips

It's just now time to start planting the rest of my summer garden, and our field corn as well. Hopefully we'll get good weather so the ground can dry out a bit. Then it's full steam ahead.

31 comments:

Dani said...

Your garlic is looking good. Mine has just gone in the ground lol

Leigh said...

Dani, kind of fun being on opposite sides of the world. :)

Farmer Barb said...

It constantly amazes me how we can live in the same country and have such different weather! We just sheared the sheep yesterday and I am still sieving soil into my new raised beds. The asparagus isn't even up yet!

Gill - That British Woman said...

we had snow last week, and won't be frost free until the 24th of May here in Southern Ontario.

Quinn said...

Nothing planted here yet, but I just dug up and moved two clumps of - I think - jonquils that the goats discovered. I was amazed that I could even get the shovel into the ground deep enough to dig them up. It's been below freezing in the morning most of this past week, but the ground is slowly, slowly warming up!

Leigh said...

Well, I missed my asparagus! I thought the wiregrass had wiped it out until we found a few stalks already going to leaf. Maybe if I mulch it really well I can have some next year. :)

Mom at home said...

My husband cleared and tilled the raised beds. He got all our bedding plants planted as well as cucumbers. It's our favorite time of the year. The little birds in the houses were raising a nest of babies already. They kept us company all day with their demands of food from their mothers. Our plum tree is packed with little plums. My husband also bought a nectarine tree. I hope we have a bunch of those as well. Grapes are coming out and growing. Best wishes for the best gardens ever!

Leigh said...

Gill, I've been reading Scott and Helen Nearing's Continuing The Good Life about their gardening in Maine. Very interesting. They worked around the short gardening season admirably.

Karen@ onthebanksofsaltcreek.com said...

I'm jealous. I don't have anything in the ground yet. Still all sitting on my rack. Everything looks great. Good job in growing all of that. I'm anxious to not need to go to the store for fresh produce...like I did yesterday.

Leigh said...

Quinn, do your goats try to eat jonquils? We have daffodils which, fortunately, mine won't touch. I'm surprised your soil isn't frozen solid, considering all the snow you've had.

Leigh said...

Sounds like you've been wonderfully busy! I second the motion for the best gardens ever. :)

Leigh said...

Karen, I lament not getting a fall garden in but the wiregrass had so taken over my beds that it was a hopeless cause. Planning for things to be better this year!

Brenda said...

I'd love to know how your using and processing your Comfey. It can be a tricky plant to work with. Please share.
Thanks from Oshawa, Ontario.

Mama Mess said...

Beautiful! It all looks like it's doing just great!

Mark said...

Wow! Your season is further ahead of us than I thought. It all looks great! We're now at the point where we can get seeds in the ground, but will still have a number of frosts before we get plants out. I'm getting so antsy to get the garden show on the road!

Sandy Livesay said...

Leigh,

Your garden is really looking good, very healthy. Before you know it, you'll be out there harvesting an abundance of fruit, and vegetables.

Frank and Fern said...

Looks like you're off to a great start, Leigh. Your comfrey looks happy. I hope it does well for you.

Fern

Erika keller said...

I am extremely jealous of your strawberries! I have tons of raspberry bushes and just planted 3 blackberry bushes, mmmm love small fruits.

Cozy Thyme Cottage said...

Hi! Everything looks great! Your strawberries are doing so well along with everything else. I have a small patch of comfrey. How will you use all of yours? I just use mine in the compost pile or to make comfrey tea for fertilizer. Nancy

Leigh said...

Hi Brenda! I mostly grow comfrey as a calcium and protein source for my goats. I also use it to make medicinal salves. I agree it is tricky to grow, and I've probably lost as many plants as I've planted. I find it likes a well composted sweet soil with plenty of mulch. The plants pictured in this post are the Russian sterile hybrid, but I planted some true comfrey in my forest garden hedgerow, in hopes it will do better.

Leigh said...

Thanks! Here's hoping everything stays that way. :)

Leigh said...

Mark, we are hopefully past our last frost of the season. Now I need to get to work planting! Our next big hurtle is the summer heat, along with potential dry spells (common here). Hopefully we'll have everything mulched and plenty of water in the rainwater collection tanks before that happens!

Leigh said...

Sandy, I can hardly wait!

Leigh said...

Fern, it seems very happy for now. I need to get more of it planted under my fruit trees. :)

Leigh said...

Erika, well, my lament has been over raspberries. I've had bushes for several years but have never gotten more than a small handful! I love the small fruits too and hope to plant more this fall.

Leigh said...

Nancy I harvest mine for my goats, especially my does because I need to find something I can grow here to replace alfalfa. Composting or comfrey tea for fertilizer is a good idea too.

KathyB. said...

Your garden appears to be growing very much like ours is right now , even with the same plants / crops !

This is such a wonderful time of the year for gardening and planting, so many hopes for future harvest. Yours look very good !

Unknown said...

My garden posts are going to be very scarce as i've decided to put my veggie patch to bed for the winter. We have so many indoor projects on the go and i want to be apart of it. So, lots of poo going in and then a blanket of straw. I'll have to get my fill from reading yours and the other Northern blogs.

Leigh said...

Hi Kathy, thanks! How fun that our gardens parallel one another. Here's hoping for a good gardening year!

Leigh said...

Lynda, that's one of the great things about the internet. Someone is always doing gardening! You did a wonderful job with your garden this year. You probably deserve a rest just as much as your soil does.

The Cranky said...

We're just getting to planting-in time. I have several tomatoes and basil plants started, the rest will grow from seed... we'll begin planting them in this coming weekend. I'm also going to try growing tomato from seed in the container - a short season sauce tomato called Black Vernissage; fingers crossed it works!