Spring Garden Harvest

Here is a selection of my spring garden harvest in photos:

Kale is my number one favourite plant to grow. My
neighbours gave me some of their rhubarb. 

Leafy lettuce, deer's tongue lettuce, radishes, celery.

We have enjoyed many colourful salads this spring.

Mustard greens have a wonderful tangy taste

When mustard greens are cooked their mild mustard
flavour is enhanced. I love cooking them in coconut oil,
garlic and balsamic reduction. Recipe here.

This is the first time I've grown turnips in the spring. I had
to harvest some early because powdery mildew began
early this year. 

My chives were so big they looked like green onions! 

The strawberries did very well this year and they came in early.

Yum!

My bok choy did not do as well as I'd hoped because the
soil was a little nitrogen deficient. They were slow to
grow, then bolted early. I managed to salvage some.

I had the same issue with my spinach. One raised bed
did well, but the other bolted quickly.

We sautéed the spinach in butter, garlic and wine and served
over homemade pasta. 

And the queen of my spring garden: garlic scapes! My
daughter likes eating them raw, but my favourite way to
prepare is to make pesto. 

Spring Cleaning in the Garden

I took advantage of a sunny, warm afternoon this week to finally get started on my garden for the year. I have been avoiding getting out there partly due to the weather, but also because I have been overwhelmed by the task before me (and partly because I'm a little bit lazy). 

How can I resist a macro ladybug shot? 

My youngest, our little monster, joined me and "helped." It would have probably been easier without her input, but I'm trying to encourage my girls and have them feel like they are a part of what we grow and eat.

Pulling the wheelbarrow around for me is her job.

Despite initial trepidation, she liked getting dirty
shaking the soil off the weed roots.

It was much needed, both for the garden and me. The weeds had taken over where I didn't mulch in the fall and it was a big job. The fresh air and natural vitamin D after a long winter with lots of sickness was wonderful.

Our magnolia tree, which blooms three to five times a year.

My favourite spring flower, bleeding hearts.

I cleaned out all the raised beds except for the kale, which is beginning to bolt. I can't decide whether to let it go to seed and save the seeds or take them out to make way for new plants and freeze the kale. Then I started to clean up the back of the yard where I grow raspberries and flowers. There is still much to do but I am holding off because my amazing neighbour is going to patch up our dilapidated back fence until we can afford to replace it. Then I cut the lawn, which was not fun (push mower for the first cutting of the season = hard work).

Over the next couple of weeks I hope to add more soil and compost to the raised beds, clean out the pots, then plant some spring veggies.

I removed the mulch from the garlic bed. Looking good!

Still pretty rough looking - can you see the big hole in
the fence in the right corner? I hope to plant wild flowers
this year for low maintenance and to encourage pollinators.

Next up, get some seedlings started indoors!

Happy Spring!

Yesterday was the first day of spring and here on the west coast you can see signs of it everywhere. The sun is shining, the honey bees are awake, and the flowers are bursting forth with colour.

With all the wet weather we've had here recently I haven't spent much time outside walking around my yard and observing all the changes that are occurring, so the past couple of days have been filled with delightful surprises. 

The mason bees are now outside in their
new home. 

My neighbour's beautiful rhododendron is already blooming.

Our Japanese maple in macro.

One of my favourite spring flowers, the peony, is emerging.

The name of this bush escapes me, but my
daughters think fairies live in the flowers.

I cut the grass for the first time this year. 

The Japanese maple is covered in these
reverse black and red ladybugs.

The ladybugs in macro.

The strawberries are coming back.

My garlic bed is doing very well. Excitement!

The hyacinths are blooming (and I am sneezing).

Daffodils make me happy.

My number one favourite spring flower,
lupins, have begun to grow.

The raspberries have taken over the back
of my garden.

Every year I am grateful for hardy kale, the only
vegetable from my winter garden to survive the
multiple cold snaps we had. 

Happy spring everyone! 

Late Spring Garden

It is late spring and we are getting closer to the longest day of the year. My garden is coming along nicely and we are now able to enjoy the fruits of my labour with delicious, local, organic meals. Last night we had boiled potatoes and salad that included salad lettuce, deer tongue lettuce, quinoa greens, chives, parsley, celery, peas and garlic scapes, all from my garden. So delicious, and even more so because I grew them all myself.

I doubled my garden space this year with two more raised beds and I love how I can grow so many different kinds of vegetables this year, including many new ones to me. 

In my first bed I planted beets that I started from seed inside in early spring down the middle. I am hoping that the beets are finished before the squash (zucchini, saucer squash and pumpkin) take over. Very soon I will be putting tomato cages around the zucchini to help contain them and give more space to everything that I have squished in here. 

Beets down the middle, saucer squash, zucchini
and pumpkin around the outside

I planted garlic last autumn. Originally there were five rows of five to six garlic cloves each, but as can be seen, much of the garlic either did not come up or died shortly after. However, the garlic in the far right of the photo, which is from The Terra Nova Sharing Farm here in my community, has all come up and is thriving. I am starting to think that this is due to landrace gardening, in which the most successful seeds from a prior harvest are the most successful in subsequent gardens because they are best suited to a particular growing area. The bulbs that were not successful were all organic but I do not know where they came from. When most of the garlic failed I had lots of space to plant carrots, kale and onions, which in retrospect is a good thing because I was sad that I wouldn't have room in my other beds for these plants. 

garlic, kale, several kinds of carrots, onions

Here is the Sharing Farm garlic close up. There are still some scapes left that I plan on using by the end of this week.

Garlic - can you see the curly scapes?

I made basil pesto with my scapes (and supplemented with some from a local farm) and my own sweet basil. Amazingly delicious! A little pesto goes a long way, however, so I am going to freeze the leftovers in ice cube trays and use in small amounts as needed.

basil scape pesto

My cucumbers did not do well last year so I am trying growing up with a trellis. So far so good, as I have lots of flowers and even some tiny cukes. I started this bed with a variety of greens to harvest while I wait for the cukes to fill in. On either side of the cukes is mustard greens, and so far this is the winner for my husband and myself. It sautés quickly, which brings out the slight mustard flavour. Behind the cukes are salad lettuce, deer tongue lettuce and arugula. 

Cucumbers, mustard, lettuce, deer's tongue,
arugula, more beets, quinoa

Here is one of the many dinners we've had lately with sautéed mustard greens. This time I did them with garlic scapes and balsamic vinegar.

The quinoa is my other favourite. I need to thin them out, but in the meantime I'm enjoying the young greens. Very tasty. It's fascinating watching them grow as most people are used to seeing the seeds but have never seen what the plant looks like. 

Quinoa in the background, chives, lavender and
my daughter's baby tree in the foreground.

Around my beds I have many plants in containers, including strawberries, more greens, thyme, parsley, celery, lavender and rosemary.

My favourite herb - rosemary.

In my last bed I have peas (snow peas, snap peas), beans (dragon and green beans), chard, Brussels sprouts (which will eventually take over in the fall), and potatoes. The peas are coming in like crazy, which pleases my girls who enjoy picking them for a quick snack when they play outside.

Snow peas and snap peas in behind.

Despite growing too much chard last year and finding out my family isn't especially fond of it, I am growing a few plants again this year. I like having chard for sauces and stews.

Chard 

My potatoes are huge! We harvested our first of the potatoes for dinner last night and my goodness they were so sweet. I hope they last with the way we like potatoes in the summer.

These potatoes are full and tall! 

Of course I had to grow Brussels sprouts again. I like having them freshly harvested for our family Thanksgiving and if there are any left, for Christmas dinner as well. I think cabbage moth caterpillars are eating mine again so I need to deal with them soon. I forgot to cover them with my garden cloth to prevent this so I am going to try sprinkling them with a mixture of baking soda and flour (supposed to kill the caterpillars when they ingest it).

My Brussels sprouts - not looking so good.

Next up I am going to be reseeding several greens to continue my supply through the summer, and transplant my tomato babies into larger pots. I started them quite late this year as we went on a spring break vacation so they are still small and needing lots of TLC. 

I look forward to seeing how this year's garden develops through the growing season!