The Transition from Spring Garden Beds to Summer Garden Beds

I love this time of year!  Yummy things coming out of the garden making room for all the yummy new things going into the garden.  The spring vegetables are almost finished growing, while the summer vegetables are impatiently waiting for their spot in the garden.

This transition time seems to be the busiest for me.  I enjoy bringing the harvest in and putting it up to dry or in the freezer. I enjoy fluffing my raised beds and adding new soil. It is such a pretty picture to see a raised bed all cleaned out and ready to accept new plants. Unfortunately that does not last long for there is always new seedlings on the back deck waiting to go into that bed, like the lima beans and yard long beans that quickly filled the place that used to house the potatoes.

A few weeks ago we had a very cold night. My potatoes and grapes did not survive. So when I harvested my potatoes the other day, I only got a few pounds of small, round, yet very beautiful red and gold potatoes. I will get several meals from these, but no where near the amount the harvest should have been. That is part of gardening, sometimes there will be a crop failure. We learn and our garden continues.

On to a brighter note, I harvested a good amount of turnips and green onions. And lots of turnip greens for the bunnies!  The green peas only ripen a few at a time as the vines continue to climb higher and higher. From my ten feet of peas I only get a couple servings each time I harvest. But they are definitely worth the wait. I do love peas. Other than zucchini, peas are my favorite thing from the garden. Peas do give the smallest return for the space and time they require, but I try to grow them anyhow.

The chives have a couple buds and the parsleys are a beautiful round domes again, so in a week or so they will both be harvested for the second time.  But for the roses, no.  We have had too much wind to keep any petals on the blossoms.  I have to wait for the flowers to completely open before harvesting. By that time this strong wind has blown them off the plants. Hopefully this wind will calm and I will be able to get some rose petals soon. I have many red knock-out roses, a beautiful pastel pink tea rose with huge blossoms, and some wild deep red small blossom roses.  I will make rose water and other skin formulas from them becuase roses are very good for the skin.

Preserving the First Harvests of Chives, Parsley, and Roses

Oh I really do need a camera.

I have been preserving a few things from my garden recently.

I love chives. So in my freezer are a few small bags of sliced chives. But the best part about chives are the flowers. They are yum! I harvest my chives when just a few pretty purple flowers begin to bloom. I think the best flavor of the chives is before they bloom. But if I harvest them then, I do not get any of these delicious flowers. So I wait for just a few blossoms and then I cut everything all the way back to the ground. Simply put the chive blossoms in a mess bag and hang to dry. The great thing about chives is the more often you harvest them the better quality your chives will be.

Also I had my first cutting of parsley last week. I have nine beautiful bunches of parsley hanging up to dry. I also cut these all the way back to the ground, except I left the tough outside circle of stems on the plant.

This morning I harvested my first petals from my knock out roses. Knock out roses are perfect for a continuous supply of fresh rose petals from spring through fall. Cut the nicest blossoms that are fully open to dry. Around here in my little wannabe homestead I make due with what I have on hand. There is always another purpose for every item. This being the case with old or unused window screens. I simply pulled the petals from the rose blossom centers and spread the petals out on a screen. Set a second screen on top and bind the two screens together. Perfect. My petals are secured and will not blow away or move around. They should dry very nicely.

Harvesting rose blossoms was the perfect way to begin my day. Their loveliness will remain with me make me smile.

First Radish Harvest Yum!

Today I harvested about half of my Champion Radishes and French Breakfast Radishes. The Sparkler Radishes are still quite small. I will harvest those in a few days. The Champions are mild with a good flavor. The French Breakfast are spicy hot. I do not think I will grow French Breakfast again. Everything else in the garden is doing very well.

Last week I added to my orchard with a Red Delicious Apple tree and a Bartlett Pear tree. This weekend I plan on putting in a strawberry patch.

The garden is so pleasant. I do so enjoy watching things grow.

Fruit Trees

It appears the orchard is finally going to happen. I have wanted an orchard for years. Last week I purchased three grape vines, and this afternoon I purchased four fruit trees.

Canadice Seedless Grape
Flame Seedless Grape
Thompson Seedless Grape
Santa Rosa Plum
Moonglow Pear
Hale Haven Peach
Redskin Peach

This is just the beginning of my orchard. I still need to get other varieties as pollinators.Years ago I planted an Arkansas Black apple tree and an unknown variety of plum. They have bloomed each spring, but have never produced fruit because they had no pollinator. Each spring and fall I would like to add more varieties. Eventually I would like a full range of fruit like apples, peaches, pears, plums, cherries, kiwi, grapes, muscadines, berries, and more.

What Is It About the Garden?

What makes you go out in the garden each and everyday? What is it that draws you to put your hands down into the soil?

I absolutely love my time in the garden. It is simply a perfect way to begin my day. It is still cool here, so I can wait until late morning or early afternoon to enjoy my playtime in the garden. When the weather warms, I will be out earlier and earlier.

There is a grounding effect. It calms me. It makes me smile.

This morning I planted the almost empty raised bed one. I filled it with lettuce. Yum! I love lettuce picked fresh from the garden.

Black Seeded Simpson Loose-leaf Lettuce
7-10 Days to Germination
45 Days to Harvest - about April 12

Parris Island Cos Romaine Lettuce
7-10 Days to Germination
68 Days to Harvest - about May 5

Great Lakes #118 Head Lettuce
7-10 Days to Germination
82 Days to Harvest - about May 19

It seems I planted a lot of lettuce today. But they will not all mature at the same time. It is nice to have an early, mid, and late variety of the same vegetable to create a long harvest time. I am hoping that when the warmer days of May finally arrive I will have some beans, peppers, or tomatoes planted in there to provide some much need shade.

Sunny Afternoon in the Garden

What a wonderful day of planting in my garden.


I am trying an experiment this year. I saved some of my potatoes from last year's crop for seed potatoes this year. I hope they will grow just fine. I dislike having to purchase new seed potatoes each year. I am sure my grandmother saved potatoes to plant the next year. I hope this little experiment works. I want to try to get into more and more heirlooms each year.

What I planted today-

Sweet Onion
the remainder of the bag from Monday's planting

French Breakfast Radish
4-6 Days to Germination
24 Days to Harvest - about March 16

Sparkler Radish
4-7 Days to Germination
25 Days to Harvest - about March 18

Champion Radish
4-7 Days to Germination
28 Days to Harvest - about March 21

Purple Top White Globe Turnip
7-10 Days to Germination
55 Days to Harvest- about April 20

Yukon Gold Potato (saved from last year's harvest)
80 Days to Harvest - about May 5

Red Pontiac Potato (saved from last year's harvest)
80 Days to Harvest - about May 5

Danvers #126 Carrot
8-12 Days to Germination
75 Days to Harvest - about May 12

I hope everything does well.

Garden Beds Prepared - Sweet Onions

With the help of two young men I was able to finally complete the preparation of my raised beds. They are weeded and filled and ready to be planted with yummy goodies.
The only thing I planted today was onion sets. This is the first time I have planted onions from sets. I hope these do well. I have tried onion seeds and onion plants before with little success from either. Isn't this was gardening is all about? Finding what works best for you in your area.

These are Sweet Onion bulbs I found at Walmart this morning.
They should be ready for harvest in about 3-4 months.
Around the end of May I will be watching for the top growth to fall over.

Carrots are a good companion plant with onions. I think tomorrow I will seed some carrots in between the rows of onion.

Pea Update:
These little fellows have sprouted and are breaking through the ground. Yea!

Day Two in the Garden - Peas

Yesterday and today I have enjoyed being outside in my garden. There are many days of bed preparation ahead of me. It is good for my body and soul to be playing in the garden. I am looking forward to a wonderful garden year.
After removing last years weeds, amending the soil, and pounding in the pea trellis, my little 2'x6' raised bed was ready for lots of little pretty green pea seeds. Finally a bed is ready to plant. Yea! There is something very satisfying about getting the hose for that initial watering in.

One bed planted. Seven more to go.

Alaska Peas (Wilt Resistant)
Early Maturing
8-12 Days to Germination
58 Days to Harvest - about April 21

Yea! Turnips From My Garden

What am I going to do with them?
Saute them of course!

This is a delicious recipe. It is very easy and a wonderful side dish at dinner.
But who wants to wait until dinner to eat these yummy turnips. Not me, I had this for lunch with some homemade bread. Yum.

The turnips come out so sweet and tender. Try this with other root vegetables like, carrot, rutabaga, and radish.



Turnip Saute
Makes 2-3 servings

4 small turnips, julienne
1/4 cup bell pepper, chopped
½ cup onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
2 teaspoons fresh parsley, or 1/2 teaspoon dried
2 Tablespoons margarine, or oil

In large nonstick skillet add turnips, onions, peppers, and margarine.
Slowly saute over medium/medium low heat about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. The vegetables should not be browning at this time, only becoming tender. Cooking them slowly like this brings out the sweetness in the turnip and onion.

Add garlic. Saute about another 10 minutes over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Vegetables should now brown slightly.
Sprinkle with parsley. Saute 1 more minute.



Note:
The minced garlic is so small that it cooks very quickly. If you add the garlic at the beginning, it may burn.


I usually cook my smaller turnips and save the larger ones for fresh eating.
Turnips can also be shredded and added to a lettuce salad or mixed with cabbage in coleslaw.
Any way you want to serve them. I love turnips!

Wednesday Wonders

Garlic and Potatoes... I had just about given up on these.
But this morning during my early morning walk through the garden, I saw both poking their heads up.

I have a couple new inground beds this year. And wouldn't you know that the garlic in the mostly clay new south bed has produced a lot of  little green shoots. I hope they are happy there. They are growing between Knock Out roses. It has rained so much these last couple days that a garlic clove has floated up out of the ground. It was a beauty with half inch long roots. He quickly was helped back into the ground again.

I have more garlic (all planted the same day) in a raised bed with rich black soil. Now just how many garlic do you think have come up in this little square of heaven they live in? Dozens? Of course not. One, just one. ugh.

This is my first year to grow garlic. It seems this has turned into an unexpected comparison trial on garlic. I wonder which will produce better?

I Love Springtime in the Garden!

I have been in the garden every day since January 29. My goal is to have something edible growing in my garden every day. Weeds don't count.

The weather has been cool and comfortable to work in without a jacket. I wish I had a camera to take pictures of everything that has been done this spring around here, but unfortunately I will not have a camera until the middle of April. I don't think the vegetables will mind not having their pictures taken until then.

So much as been done in preparing and planting this spring. Two new in-ground beds have been prepared and one new raised bed was built. That makes a total of six garden beds with a combined total of 241 square feet. Five of them are completely full of spring vegetables. Help! I need more garden beds!

Throughout February I have planted outside snow peas, garden peas, carrots, turnips, radishes, red potatoes, yukon potatoes, garlic, chives, scallions, and onions.

Started inside are tomatoes, bell peppers, parsley, cilantro, lettuce, sweet william, and mixed wildflowers.

I was fortunate enough to receive 20 free knockout roses. They have been pruned and put in a holding bed until I can prepare the fence row for them.

The work in the garden is never done. Thank you to everyone that helps me.