Planted and harvested a bunch. Made pasta salad, roasted carrots, and carrot top pesto (garlic, lime juice, cilantro, garbanzo)
Planted more carrots. Btw the musico carrots were the clear winner this year. Purple snap did nothing (well, I got one.)
Planted fava, kale (micro kale hopefully works ok), chard in South C
Planted peas, and kale in West E (fava bed)
Planted arugula, spinach, mache in plant bags. Fertilized most of everything.
Lots of tomatillos, and the swuash are back
Transplanted some kale and chard
It’s gloomy today, but we had a few warm days, so things are reacting.
Pea haul is light today.
Strawberries are crazy! (Almost 2 pints today.)
Corn salad and spinach are bolting. Boo
Little squash still, but delicata are running.
Tomatillo’s have pretty little lantern packets, first green fruit on tomatoes.
Green blueberries.
About a quarter of the onions were bolting, so i pulled them to dry. (In picture)
Also grabbed some rhubarb and garlic scapes (along with the onion scapes).
And the first little artichokes (I love this variety, the heads are small, but there’s more meat on them and they don’t get buggy.)
are upon us
Planted green beans, yellow beans, and runner beans today (south c, west d) and bonus chard in west c.
Planted some peas in west C, and some arygula in upper c. P got most of the other beds ready for 60 degree soil.
Roots and greens are sprouting well.
We have a few asparagus spikes poking through the soil- not as many as I’d hope, but a couple are quite thick.
The hops are already going crazy, p pulled the extra bits off today.
Raspberries are starting to bloom.
It’s been quite dry and warm here the last few weeks- so I watered today and a couple of days ago.
Starts are starting- okra and tomato plants are going first (:
Planted kale and Swiss chard in West C, after tilling in the cover crop and adding compost. I just sort of sprinkled the seeds around.
Planted root crops together in upper c. It might be a mess, but I plan to thin things down as I go. Carrots, rutabaga, beets, and radishes. Covered the first set with some loose soil (1/2 deep) and just sort of sprinkled the rest in.
put out cilantro seeds
And some abandoned bonbons (herbs and edible flowers.)
It started snowing on Feb 3. We got about 18 inches in the following storms, which finally stopped dumping by Feb. 12. Today is 16 days later. That’s the state of the yard.
It’s practically balmy today at 47degrees, but you can hear chainsaws everywhere because so many trees came down. I’m still waiting on the snow to melt so I can see what survived.
I ordered a bunch of seeds today- unfortunately I can’t find onion sets, so I’ll have to try to find some locally.
I’m tempted to take a blade to the blackberry when the snow melts. It’s all crushed now so I wonder if I can murder it while it’s weak… (;
I’m excited to use the new path and soon to be finished patio out back.
Things have slowed down in the garden. There’s still some activity, but mostly it’s time to hibernate.
The main reason I started this blog was to record what happens month to month- so next year I can look back and recognize the cycles- both mine and nature’s.
Here’s a feeling I recognize- I’m ready to be done. It’s gorgeous this afternoon, but mostly I’ve avoided going out. I’m happy to let things fade away- and the thriving plants are actually a little annoying. (C’mon little tomatoes, your time is past!)
It’s clear that I am a fair weather tender. I wouldn’t do well if I had to do this day in and day out indefinitely. The joy of gardening fades with the nice weather. I’d rather stay inside and work on art.
I actually think that tearing out the old plants is almost as satisfying as planting int the spring. I still have a couple of things going- kale, chard, Brussels sprouts, carrots, beets, leeks- but I’m ready to retire my gloves for the winter and focus on other projects.
That’s not too say it was easy. My hands hurt after a Saturday of cleaning and pulling.
But I did have some beautiful carrots, and a HUGE beet as my reward.
Cleared west c and d, planted cover crop.
Cleared South D and Upper B- planted garlic
Pulled okra plants, but left the peas carrots and beets in west e.
Pulled the peas support from lower bed.
Geeze. Surely I did more than that.
