Garden Friday

 

Houdini and Henrietta "chook chat"

 

Welcome back to Garden Friday!

We're sharing what's "growing on" in our spring garden.

 

The good news is that the asparagus came up this week.

The bad news is that since it's first year asparagus,

we have to wait until at least next year to harvest.

But after that, we'll be pickin' fools!

 

 More good news!

As predicted last week, the snap peas are making progress.

Hopefully, by this time next week,

we'll be snacking on these morsels on a daily basis.

 

These are Walla Walla onions, a new to me crop this year.

I have to say that I'm a bit disappointed in their size,

as I was expecting a large bulbous onion.

Probably due to gardener error, so I will try them again in the fall.

There will still be plenty to harvest,

so I will let you know how the flavor is.

 

The blueberries are getting closer every day.

With a dozen bushes out there,

we are sure to have our fill.

Most likely we will be freezing any we can wrestle away from the birds.

 

A few days ago, I noticed some beans coming up.

These are most likely a bush variety,

as they are planted in the raised bed.

 

A few strawberries have already been sampled.

Out of the handful that I tried, one was super sweet,

and the others were a bit on the tart side.

Maybe I'm just too impatient to wait for full ripening?

I guess I will have to force myself to keep tasting...

 

A tray of green beans and various melons

finally decided to germinate.

They will all be transplanted into raised beds.

I will be so excited if we actually get melons this year!

It's one of the few crops that all of us eat,

and I would love to share that with my boys.

 

This red lettuce and spinach have been in this bed since September,

and are just now starting to bolt.

The flavor has been great, right up to this point.

 

More lettuces have been sown in another bed,

so we should have greens all summer long.

(Sorry for the blurry shot.)

 

Our magnolia tree is bursting with buds.

It won't be long until the tree is 

covered in enormous white flowers.

 

This yarrow has already been blooming for months.

It's one of the easiest flowers to grow,

and attracts many pollinators to our mailbox bed.

 

The lantana is coming back all of a sudden.

This plant always throws me for a loop,

as it looks like it's not doing a thing.

Then, just like magic, it starts leafing out like crazy!

 

We will soon be inundated with colorful coneflowers.

This is one of my absolute favorites,

and another pollinator-friendly plant.

Here's a future project.

A friend was going to get rid of this cute lil' cart,

so I took it home and plan to repurpose it.

It needs a bit of work,

but it'll be a labor of love.

 

The sunflowers are starting to pop up all around the chicken yard,

thanks to a sunflower seed-stealing squirrel who leaves a mess around the fencing.

These are the sunflowers we use to give to the chooks as treats,

so I have no idea how big they'll get.

Looks like we'll have plenty of seeds to harvest for next year.

The loofah seeds planted underneath our gazebo structure germinated.

We are well on our way to providing ample shade for the chooks this summer.

Wilma

 

 I noticed some mushrooms coming up underneath our yard waste compost pile.

That can only be a good sign.

 

 

With several days of rain this past week,

I remembered to leave out the bucket that has turkey poop remnants in it.

This allows me to use rain water for compost tea making,

and I just continue to add it to another pourable container for giving crops a boost. 

These volunteer milkweed line the driveway.

Well, that's not a bad thing.

Where there's milkweed,

monarchs are close behind!

 

I hope you enjoy some time outside this weekend!