Gardening Gardening

They're definitely a game changer!

 

Things are kicking off.


Rhubarb

Carrots, strawberries, forget me nots, lupine, and garlic

Asparagus and volunteer dill and lettuce

Onions and a few peppers, with some dill here and there.

 

Lots of rhubarb! Do you give most of it away? I'm always looking for more uses for it myself.

 

My wife makes crisp, pie, bread, and sauce with it. I make strawberry/rhubarb jam. The row is 12’ long so we have plenty for our uses, and we do give a lot of it away. The rest just does it’s thing and grows.

 

I like to chop up the rhubarb and cook it down on the stove top. I add the same amount of strawberries, chopped up. A sprinkle of tapioca stirred in, to thicken it up. A little bit of sweetener. I like it on the tart side. I reserve about 1/3 of the strawberries to add at the end of cooking. Cool and refrigerate.

It's like the pie filling, but no crust. Tasty over vanilla ice cream, or with whipped cream, or just as is in a bowl.

 

that sounds delicious. campinspecter likes it cooked down with a bit of sugar added.

 

Garden is doing very well!



First cutting of lettuce will probably be this evening.


Sweet taters are starting to vine.

 

Those containers, how full of dirt? Can’t be entirely? Those would be awesome for my soon to be 80 year old dad.

 

The first six I got are full of soil, except for the bottom six inches (I put 3/4 stone in to aid in draining). I had a large quantity of good soil from a previous project that was used as a base and then I added some potting soil, peat, and compost to aerate the top layers. For the three tanks I added last year, I went with the Hugelkultur method and put branches in the bottom (on top of the six inches of 3/4 stone) before topping with the soil mix. They do take a lot of soil to get started, but it was worth it to me. Most people just put them on the ground, but I wanted to be able to move them with the tractor, and I like the extra height provided by the concrete blocks.

MikeInMa, hovlandhomestead - dang, now I need to plant rhubarb. Thanks for adding to my endless project list.

 

Lettuce galore.

 

Strawberries are just starting to come in:

 

Tied up sweet peppers.




Lettuce ready for cutting #2.


Tomatoes are looking good.




Iceberg will probably get harvested today.


Mint still borderline out of control. So far the metal is keeping it contained.


Sweet potatoes ready to take over.

 

My tomatoes and cukes are well under way. Been picking some snow peas. Watermelon, and zucchini plants starting to take off.
I'll be spending a lot of time watering later in the week. Calling for temps in the mid 80s to 90s.

 

I've had it take over a flower bed. I'm transplanting it to my orchard hoping it takes over there. I'd rather smell mint when I'm mowing instead of onion grass.

 

Pepperoncini



Cherokee Purple



Brandywine



San Marzano



German Pink




Moonbeam

 

Things are coming together somewhat in my small garden. I have two of the bamboo trellises built (a bit time consuming) and the stakes are in to start growing my eight squash plants vertical. Five more trellises to build. Still have to get my potatoes in the grow bags and plant a few more things.

Was also surprised to see I'm going to have a few apples this year. First time from these trees (planted in 2020). Still a work in progress with my mini orchard but I think one problem is not enough bees and other pollinating insects. Need to plant some more things to bring them in. Had a ton of flowers on most of the apple and plum trees but very few apples (and no plums). The trees are still young though so hopefully the crop yield will increase. I have seven different types of apple trees, so I don't think species variety is an issue when it comes to pollination. I did just order three 8-foot transcendent crabapple trees to help with future pollination (a nursery was ending their spring shipping season so had a 50% off sale). The good news is that my remaining peach tree is producing a decent amount for what is left of the tree (after a bear ripped off the main branch several years ago).

 

things are looking good.

 

Lettuce galore. Second cutting complete.




Romain looks great.

As do cabbages.

 

View attachment 422557 View attachment 422558 View attachment 422559 View attachment 422560 View attachment 422561 View attachment 422562 View attachment 422563 View attachment 422558 View attachment 422558 View attachment 422560 View attachment 422561 View attachment 422562 View attachment 422563 I am so impressed. Some great looking gardens and plants. I might as well post a few. The wife used to work at Burpee and also Rodale. She got me hooked on plants.