The Garden in March

Peach tree blooming in mid-March.

March. A totally unpredictable month in terms of weather. Some years it's warm, some years it's cold, but always, it seems to be windy and it rains. Our anticipated last frost isn't until mid-April, so, weather permitting, March is the month I finish the winter garden harvest, plant spring veggies, and work on preparing the beds for the summer garden.

Newly trellised asparagus and blackberry bed

The asparagus bed above was plagued for years with volunteer wild blackberries. Last year, I finally gave up and let them grow. I harvested quite a few, so it was a good decision. But since they sprawled, I thought a trellis would be useful. The first garden project of March was to put up the t-post and cattle panel trellis you see in the photo above.

My next project was to tackle the hoop house.

Weeding the hoop house

I have mixed feelings about the hoop house. I found that covered with greenhouse plastic, it would get too warm when we had mild, sunny winter days. But it didn't stay warm enough to protect tender warm weather plants. Plus, it added an additional watering chore. In summer, the raised beds dry out pretty quickly.

Working my way down the beds.

This year I've decided to try planting squash or melons in the hoop house beds. Another experiment.

In most of my winter garden beds, some of the plants are allowed to go to seed for collecting. In the photo below, turnips are blooming. 

Turnips blooming (for seed).

These are Tokinashi turnips, a new variety for me.

Photo from January.

According to Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, this was the variety that Fukuoka Masanobu grew. We really like them! The turnips are mild even when large, and the greens were tasty even as they were bolting. The greens had an interesting flavor. Almost honey flavored, but not sweet. No other way to explain it! It's a keeper.

Snow peas are coming up in the turnip bed.

Chickweed grows in that bed too, a favorite for salads and my homegrown goat mineral mix. 

Foraged chickweed.

Chickweed salad with kefir dressing and chopped pecans.

Other winter garden hangers-on include fava beans.

The favas had no problem with our freezing cold spells.

Last year, I started harvesting these in April. This year, I tried a different variety, Sweet Lorane. 

Loads of fava bean flower buds.

It's said to be lower in tannin, so there isn't a need to remove the inner pod. We'll see!

My strawberries are also starting to bloom. I don't have many plants left, so every berry is a treat.

Strawberry, garlic, and teeny baby lettuce.

I thought my Savoy cabbages would make it. Half of them survived the winter and started to grow, but then we got a streak of days topping 70°F (21°C) and they thought it was time to bolt!

Bolting savoy cabbages. Multiplier onions in this bed too.

I cut them down and sauteed them for dinner. Mild and tasty. They will likely send up seed shoots, so I'll collect some seed then.

Early spring planting includes trays of broccoli, more collards, some herbs, and lettuce, which will already be transplanted by the time this blog post publishes.

Jericho lettuce seedlings.

I also got an early start on my tomatoes, although I'm not impressed with the germination.

Tomato seedlings.

More experimental (for me) varieties: Black Krim and Eva Purple Ball. Both were described as being heat tolerant. I know it's said that tomatoes like heat, but they don't like too much heat, as evidenced by a drop in production in my garden every year when our heat cranks up to sweltering. 

So that's it for March. I'm happy to have gotten so much done. Next weekend, we're forecast to drop back down into freezing overnight temperatures! The weather has been so nice that I was tempted to get an early start on my warm weather veggies. I'll have to wait until mid-April when were out of danger of frost. I'm looking forward to that. 

End of month parting shot - 1st asparagus!

How about you? What going on in your garden?

The Garden in March © March 2021

by Leigh at http://www.5acresandadream.com

Masanobu Fukuoka Was Right

On Monday last week, it wasn't supposed to rain until afternoon, so I got started on a bed to plant black turtle beans.

Blackberry vines popping up in a huge leaf pile.

Years ago this bed was an experiment in growing perennials with a few annuals and naturalized forage plants. It contained multiplier onions, chicory, lettuce, violets, heartsease, and 4 o'clocks. It looked pretty for awhile. But from that experiment I learned an important lesson. Masanobu Fukuoka was right!

"My conviction was that crops grow themselves and should not have to be grown. I had acted in the belief that everything should be left in its natural course, but I found that if you apply this way of thinking all at once, before long things do not go so well."

Masanobu Fukuoka
The One-Straw Revolution

Blackberries, honeysuckle, horse nettle, grasses, and other unwanteds gradually took over that bed until it was a mess. Last fall, I dumped wheelbarrow load after wheelbarrow load of leaves on it in an attempt to smother everything so I could start over. That worked fairly well until the blackberries began to bravely push through.

One of my "between raindrops" projects has been to dig out all those blackberries and plant black turtle beans. I used the shovel to loosen the blackberry roots and pull the vines. I realize I won't get all the root and they'll still come back, but it's a start. I did the same for honeysuckle roots I found. The violets got to stay. I noticed that doing nothing for the past several years did zero to improve the soil.

Blackberries removed, multiplier onions harvested, and turtle beans planted.

To plant the beans, I simply pushed the leaf mulch aside in three rows and poked the beans into the ground.

I've battled blackberry brambles ever since we first chose this spot for our garden. It was originally a neglected field that grew them readily. Even though I've been trying to eradicate them, this year in a "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" moment I decided to let them grow in another bed in the garden.

Old asparagus/new blackberry bed.

Behind this bed is where I dug my very first garden swale three years ago (that story with photos here.) I filled it with sticks, stalks, and corn cobs, leaving the removed soil as a berm. I planted the berm with clover and later transplanted my asparagus there. I never got much asparagus, but instead got blackberry brambles and wiregrass. I battled those for several years and this year decided, heck with it. I'll just let the blackberries grow in hopes I'll get some berries. I've been pulling the wiregrass and horse nettle and cutting back the daffodil leaves. Then putting down wood chips for mulch.

Volunteer blackberries with a little bit of the clover I originally planted.

Well, I'm picking about a pint per day. They look pretty good too.

They aren't all this size, but a lot of them are.

I have to add that they aren't terribly sweet, and that they have large seeds. Dan doesn't care for blackberries because of the seeds, but as volunteers these are a gift. And they pack a power-punch of flavor, so I'll use them to make blackberry jelly. They will definitely need a trellis, but that will have to wait.

So gradually I'm learning to cooperate with nature and what my garden wants to grow. I realize I can't do nothing and leave it to chance, but I can continue to observe and work to meet the needs of what wants to grow there. It's all a process, isn't it?

Masanobu Fukuoka Was Right © June 2020

by Leigh at http://www.5acresandadream.com