For the record, here's the rest of my garden in April. I've already shown you
my
tomatoes,
lettuce, and strawberries,
so there isn't much left to see. Most of the action has been planting seeds
that have yet to sprout.
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I've started to harvest the garlic.
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I had a bunch of pantry potatoes start sprouting, so I planted
them in my potato tubs. First ones are up.
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Also planted a new-to-me potato variety - Zolushka.
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These are said to be one of the rare varieties that will grow from
seed. Seemed like something worth trying.
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I don't have many asparagus plants, so each shoot is a treat!
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We usually eat them raw or like this, in scrambled eggs.
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The favas are blooming beautifully. These are "Sweet Lorane," a
variety said to have edible inner pods.
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Multiplier onions and another winter survivor - celery. I sprouted and
planted about 8 celery ends last fall, but only one made it.
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As I plant and transplant, I do some weeding. Some are left to decompose in
the bed, others are left because they are tasty!
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Lambs quarter (in the measuring cup) is one of my favorite wild greens.
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Here, sauteed with collards and onions from the garden, plus grated
carrot. Unfortunately, no garden carrots this spring.
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Dandelions are another favorite. Usually for salads, but also for... |
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... creamed dandelion soup.
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Another spring chore is the annual tidying up of my herb beds. Once a year I
get the bermuda and other grasses removed. The beds are re-mulched, and then it's time
to get pictures!
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Echinacea and lambs ear. Spearmint in the background. I planted jing okra in this bed too,
because it's so pretty.
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Violets, chicory, yarrow, butterfly weed, and blueberry bushes.
Keyhole garden, upper left.
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Bee balm and oregano. Can you spot the olla lid?
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Thyme, spearmint, and a (hopefully) heat tolerant rhubarb. Another olla is hidden in the thyme leaves.
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Yarrow and blueberry bush flowering.
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Here's my peppermint, in it's own container and doing well. |
Still waiting to see how my tomatoes survived their late frost. Some look pretty good and a few look like goners. I filled in the gaps in the row with more seeds of the same tomato varieties, and filled in the rest of the bed with marigold, sweet basil, and Swiss chard seed.
So, that's it for April. I can't tell you how many times I refer back to these posts - always a good reference. Do you keep a garden journal? What's your best method of keeping track of your garden from year to year?
15 comments:
Best way I find to track the garden is, pen and notebook. I have one for the garden, and another for canning. This is my first year of growing calendula, and I’m anxiously waiting. They are up about two inches. They are known as a Pot Marigold, and continue to bloom all summer. Wish I had better luck with herbs, but I honestly can not seem to grow any herbs, try as I may. Your herbs look fantastic! Do you make your own tea mixtures? The only herb I seem to be able to grow is catnip...of which the wild cats seem to love me for! Ha!
Love to see your green and growing things, Leigh! My mints and oregano are just starting, little tight whorls of leaves. Yarrow leaves are up, maybe 3 inches...yours is blooming!! My asparagus is starting to emerge. Yes, Lamb's quarters are delicious.
We had a mild night and rain, so this morning, there is that balmy spring feeling in the air, and more birds arrived overnight.
I have a 3 ring binder, with a divider between each year. In each year is a scale diagram of my gardens on graph paper, and everything is dated and marked as I plant. The pencil plans get erased as I go, and ink takes its place, as sometimes the plans change. I also include notes, and the plant tags, and invoice sheets of plants and bulbs I've purchased that year. As the year progresses, I start a page with ideas for things I want to change for next year.
Wyomingheart, I love calendula! They are a beautifully reliable bloomer and make a great salve for cuts and bruises. I guess I'll have to confess that I have several gardening notebooks, all of which I've misplaced from time to time! lol.
Rosalea, your binder sounds like what I'm trying to do too, but more successful. Somehow I've managed to keep graph drawings of almost all years and seasons of my garden. I have notebooks too, but as I mentioned to Wyomingheart, I tend to misplace those. My blog helps for pictures and random notes, but I confess I'm not a very organized gardener.
I think I've mentioned this here before but one we like to pickle our asparagus to enjoy in the off season. We do a lot of grilling and eating it with our eggs too in season.
I guess we mostly keep tabs on our garden by looking at our canning shelves and seeing what items are getting down in numbers. This year, we only need to plant enough tomatoes to eat.
Besides my blog, which is handy for comparing weather and growth year to year, I have an excel spreadsheet where I keep my crop rotation, planting schedules and copious notes and lists. I have Pinterest boards for each gardening year where I pin all my seed purchases and product purchases as well as ideas to consider for next year
Ed, pickled asparagus sounds really good. I think I need to get more plants so I can grow more. And I agree about using the contents of the pantry as a planting guide!
Alex, you sound so organized! Great use of Pinterest.
You have such a variety of plants and everything look so pretty and healthy. I have tried and tried making an herb garden and it always turns into a weed bed. We love asparagus. Have never tried it with eggs. With my tiny garden, I really don't try to keep a journal. I do jot down things I want to remember about the garden on my daily food journal...where I count calories. :)
Your asparagus looks amazing! What a treat. We are still a couple of years away from harvesting ours.
You've got quite a bit growing already. I think you're way ahead of me.;0D
One of the best reasons for blogging is to keep track of the garden. There's nothing like the visual aide it gives me. I like to see where I was last year at this time with regard to what's growing.
You've got a great start!
It seems like I am like some others here - my blog pictures (and therefore the pictures on my computer) become the record.
Your herb garden looks great. It gives me high hopes for the ollas!
(Ed is correct - pickled asparagus is delicious!)
Henny, I hope it will be a variety! That will depend on how everything grows. As to the herb garden, mine will turn into a weed bed by the end of summer too. Spring is when I do my annual weeding and cleaning of the beds. It's all downhill after that. :)
Daisy, I love the blog as a visual aid too. In fact, I can go back to the year when I completely gave up on asparagus, thanks to a blog post. Also how it insisted on growing anyway!
TB, I've been really happy with the ollas! In fact, I'm looking forward to trying more ideas from that book.
Looking good. I wanted to tell you goodbye Leigh. More on this Sunday on my blog. I'll still check in on you from time to time. Your friendship has been appreciated. Jo
Hey Leigh,
As we here on the "Big Island of Hawaii" have a growing season that last all year long for some plants, We are starting to harvest Sweet Peppers from our Year old plants. And the other day Sue found a Tomato plant near where I had dump a load of Chicken Bedding last winter (New compost pile) and it has a dozen fruits developing. Eggplant is still producing (It's about a year old too!).
Okinawan Spinach, Okinawan Sweet Potatoes, and Onions are a few things that are producing right now too. And we have volunteer Papaya trees that are over 5 Ft tall and the Pineapple Plants will bear 12 fruits this year and if they develop as big as last year, Some will be 6 pounds.
And the last thing that I harvested tonight was Suriname Cherries and the tree has many more ripening.
Aloha from 4EverHomesteadHawaii.
Jo, what??!? Sounds like you've made some decisions in your life. Of course, I support them, but I think I'll check your blog this Sunday with a touch of sadness.
Tom and Sue, wow! You are growing such neat things! It's interesting to see what will continue to grow without the interference of frost and freezing temps.
I see you've been busy, garden remodelling, while I've been away. That's great of course! I couldn't imagine anything better for the enthusiastic gardener. I'm in the middle of some remodelling myself, but haven't documented it yet. Coming together piece by piece though. Your herb area is bursting to life, and well worth all that effort.
My blog is how I use to document my garden, but time has been less forgiving this year. Teaching a teenager to drive, is necessary at this juncture though. Quite terrifying, but we're seeing progress, lol.
Chris, family always comes first! Treasure those experiences with your kids; they leave the nest all too soon!
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