Spring Planting & Growing: Late Edition

Spring's last anticipated frost date divides my planting season into early and late. If the weather turns warm early, I'm always tempted to take a chance and plant early. Last year I did that and we had a late frost. This year I waited. I'm glad I did because we had another late frost this year! We're on the other side of that now, so we're busy planting and transplanting warm weather veggies and crops.

Warm season seeds planted so far:

• cantaloupe (Hales' Best)
• cowpeas (Ozark Razorback)
• okra (Clemson spineless)
• peanuts (a Virginia type, I think)
• my landrace cucumbers (F1)
• calendula
• sunflowers
• corn (Painted Mountain)
• winter squash (Sweet Potato)
• summer squash (White Scallop)
• Swiss chard
• Fordhook
• Rugy
• Rainbow blend
• sunflowers (Russian Mammoth)
• dill
• marigolds
• scarlet runner beans
  

Plants planted or transplanted:

• asparagus roots
• sweet potato slips (Georgia Jet)
• tomato plants
• Matt's Wild Cherry (volunteers)
• Better Boy
• table grape (green seedless)
• olive tree (Arbequina, supposedly okay for my growing zone)
• redbud seedlings

Working on:

• pasture

Still to plant:

• green beans (Cornfield, when the corn is about 6" tall)
• more summer squash & cukes (for extended harvesting)
• more herbs (hopefully)
• purple sweet potato slips
  

Purple sweet potato sprouts for slips

 I got the purple sweet potatoes from Misfits Market. They were excellent keepers and very tasty, so I saved one to sprout for slips. It's been slow, I reckon because it's been a fairly cool spring. Eventually I'll get them in the ground to grow my own.

Harvesting:

Snowpeas

Asparagus

Garlic

Lettuce

Strawberries

Red raspberry leaves to dry for tea

Mizuna

Peppermint for tea

Oregano for seasoning

Waiting to harvest:

Potatoes

Wheat

Multiplier onions

And of course, we're waiting on everything else! The challenge, now, is getting enough rain. We had a very rainy spring but no rain since our last frost, except for an occasional drizzle. Without moisture, things don't germinate or grow, so I'm doing a lot of watering of transplants and baby plants. We're really enjoying the lettuce and snow peas, and I'm hoping with plenty of watering they'll continue to produce. But I hesitate to water newly planted seeds, wondering if it isn't better to wait until it rains for nature to take it's course.

The transition from rainy to not-so-much rain pretty much marks our transition from spring to summer. That, and the days are getting hot. Those days are upon us, so it's definitely time to finish planting and shift seasonal gears.

Spring Planting & Growing: Late Edition © May 2022

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

The Garden at the End of June

It's hard to believe that June is almost behind us.  The fall and winter garden is finishing, and my summer garden is growing well. Challenges have been typically seasonal, with long hot stretches of no rain which means I've been focusing on mulching and watering if needed.

Winter & Early Spring Garden Remnants

Most of my multiplier onions have been harvested.

Celery flowers on the surviving celery base I rooted and planted.

My heat resistant Jericho lettuce is finally bolting, except for the little bit in the keyhole garden.

The romaine lettuce on the right is Jericho. The
others are bolting. All grown from saved seed.

Perennials

I've tried to steer clear of planting perennials in my veggie garden, but these raspberries picked this spot so I've accommodated them! 

Cattle panel raspberry trellis

I've tried for years to grow raspberries, but have had poor success. When they showed up at the end of one of my garden beds, I said 'okay!'

It hasn't been a bumper crop, but I've gotten
some to enjoy on my morning granola!

This shot was taken earlier this month, before I cut the lettuce
for salads. Also in the strawberry bed are violets and an olla.

Little pots for rooting strawberry runners.

For diligent watering, I'm rewarded with
another handful of berries here and there.

Summer Garden

Where should I start? How about tomatoes?

I've had Matt's Wild Cherry Tomatoes volunteer
everywhere. They've been the first to ripen.

My standard varieties are still green. Here they
are with Swiss chard in the foreground.

On the other side of the row is a volunteer squash. I have no idea
what kind. The only flowers so far are male, so bah humbug.

This one is another volunteer on the other side of the garden.
It's probably cushaw, which has always done well for me.

Sweet potato squash is a new variety for me. So far,
so good, except it attracts the most squash beetles.

I was able to obtain some landrace winter squash, so I planted it too.

It started off well, but one of the plants seemed to suffer during our
hot dry spell. I composted and watered it, and new leaves are greener.

I planted melon in one of the hoop house beds. First I tried
Green Nutmeg which didn't show. Then Hale's Best, which did.

In the same bed, I planted something new to me, Malabar
red-stemmed spinach. It's a vining summer type of spinach.

Sweet potato bed with olla and volunteer tomato.

Cherokee flour corn, an heirloom from Virginia, with more volunteer
cherry toms. The sweet potato squash is at the far end of the right bed.

I planted cornfield pole beans in the front porch trellis bed. The cornfield variety don't mind some shade, so they were a good choice for a spot that only gets afternoon sun.

Also in the picture are more volunteer Matt's
wild cherry toms, yarrow, 4 o'clocks, and olla.

Foraging

Lambs quarter has been beautiful and abundant this year.

It's a favorite green, and I've canned more than a dozen pints.

Landrace Experiment

I read Joseph Lofthouse's Landrace Gardening a little too late for most things, so this year, I'm just focusing on landrace cucumbers.

Two varieties of cucumber. You can also see bolting
Jericho lettuce, dried oats, and a volunteer turnip.

Step two in creating landrace vegetables (see all the steps here) is to "plant two or three varieties close together to encourage cross-pollination. Can be heirloom, open-pollinated, or F1 hybrid seed." I had seed from three varieties of cucumber that have done well for me in past years, so I planted them all in the same row: Dar, Straight Eight, and Boston Pickling. Next year, we'll see what we get.

Lots of photos! Hopefully, I didn't go over-board. How about you? How does your garden grow at the end of June?

The Garden at the End of June © June 2021

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

May Garden = Slow Garden

Who can relate?!

One of the things I love about blogging is that it's an excellent way to document things over the years. Like my garden. In looking back over my May gardens in years past, I can definitely say we had a slow start. But then, we had  cooler spring than usual. We had a late last frost, and even though it warmed up a bit after that, we dipped back into cooler temps this month. So much so that we actually lit a fire one evening because the house was so chilly! We've never had a fire in May before!

On the other hand, that kept my cool weather veggies have been happy. 

Snowpeas. Not a bumper crop,

so these usually go into salads. 

Jericho lettuce growing happily with
snow peas, dandelions, and violets.

Stored grocery store potatoes sprouted like crazy.

I planted some in the garden and some in large containers.

Sweet Lorane fava beans.

Seed patch of heirloom wheat in early May.

Same patch in late May.

Still to harvest:

Multiplier (potato) onion blooming.

Also in the onion bed:

Last year I bought and dehydrated a bunch of celery. I planted
the ends of the bunches as an experiment. This one made it.

Of summer veggies, almost thing has been slow to show and grow. First from the chilly temps, now from heat and no rain. But my tomatoes are doing well!

Tomatoes are blooming.

Most of my frost bitten tomatoes survived; I only lost a few. To fill in the gaps, I planted the last of the seed directly in the ground. I have a long enough growing season to do that. 

Direct seeded baby tomato plant

Also in that bed are marigolds, Swiss chard, and one sweet basil. 

Then there's corn, another slow starter. I think because the soil was cold the first planting didn't do well. I've replanted all the bare spots now that it's warmed up.

Cherokee flour corn.

In the same bed, 

"Sweet potato" winter squash.

Speaking of sweet potatoes, my slips arrived the other day and are now planted. My own slip growing hasn't worked out very well, although there's still a chance.

These are Virginia Baker sweet potatoes
from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange.

I've been trying for slips since mid-April!
These are my tried-and-true Vardamans.

I could probably take a bazillion photos of the garden because I try to appreciate everything I see. 

Little bits of color from volunteer turnips, collards, and radishes.

Anyway, that's it for May. How about you? Hopefully, June will bring the right amount of rain and our gardens will thrive.

May Garden = Slow Garden © May 2021

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