Harvest
Berry harvest looking okay this year. Gonna double down on the thornless blackberry, as these are monsters!
Raspberries are weak, but producing.
Plants
Sim's garden journal
Plant
Planted out rows of china white radish, Harris model parsnip, golden acre cabbage and patch of red shiso.
Plants
Harvest
Harvested some green beans from under the persimmon guild. Probably 2lbs of beans. Also harvested some garlic (not quite ready to pull but needed for flavour) and dill. Lactofermenting in a large jar. Started bubbling after one day. Looking forward to tasting these!
Plants
Observe
Persimmon guild. Planted two, 2 year old seedling persimmons last year.
This year they’re really filling out.
Underplanted with a mix of annual herbs, greens and flowers, and supplemented with lupines, bloody dock, thyme, with two currants in between.
Plants
Planted a super early row of cucumbers. There may yet be a frost, but there’s a chance they also get an early start. Will plant succession rows over the next weeks. Varieties: Blanc de Holland, Bushy, Spacesaver
Plants
Under-seeded the fruit tree/shrub rows with annuals and perennial support plants. Pulled away the thick mulch (autumn leaves, rabbit litter) to expand the planting area and smother another 9” of grass in some rows.
Plants
Observe
A few observations from an indecisive April. Red amaranth popping up, that was planted in spring 2023! Did realize it took so long to germinate, but that goes to show you the power of building up a seedbank. Especially for lazy gardeners such as myself.
Aside from the amaranth, the orpines were one of the first greens, pushing up through the snow. They’re naturalized around the property, likely planted by the previous owners. Their flowers are a pollinator favourite, they can handle full sun or full shade, have no issue with rich or poor soil, and are apparently edible - though on first taste they were unimpressive. It pays to observe and research what’s growing around you naturally.
Plants
Observe
Yarrow popped up after only 2 days.
Plants
Planted seeds into leftover pellet pots. Most of these need light to germinate. Under lights on heat mat.
Plants
Observe
Cuttings started leafing after about 1.5 weeks. Some started through flowers and flower buds, but I gently trimmed them off. Some growing several leaves and even small branches, while others are still taking their sweet time to leaf out.
Plants
Getting some early spring seeds in the ground with high hopes.
Plants
Plant
Ribes cuttings planted. Ordered from someone on fb marketplace.
Jostaberry, Pink Champagne, Titania Black.
Cuttings sunk into a 10:1 mix of organic potting soil and fine sand. Made sure the medium was moist before filling the trays.
Washed trays with soapy water and rinsed.
Plants
Observe
Asparagus making an appearance. Seems a bit early, since we’re still expecting plenty of frost, so I left them covered.
I planted these from seed 2 years ago, and they were pretty vigorous last summer. Heavily mulched with leaves and bunny bedding.
Variety is Mary Washington.
Plants
Harvest
Multiplier onions are a win! Bought these after learning about them from SkillCult. Did not disappoint. Started from sets 2 months ago. Harvested sustainably for gronions as they grew, and each single set tripled or quadrupled.
Anyone else growing multipliers / potato onions?
Plants
Harvest
Harvested garlic! About a week before garlic harvest, planted another round of multiplier onions in between so by the time garlic was harvested, the onions were ready to take over.
Plants
Observe
Ground cherries — both volunteers from last year’s leftovers — and some seeds planted around my new persimmon trees are sprouting this week. Some with 4-5 leaves. They needed warmer soil and rain. None of my inside starts worked well enough to plant. Direct sowing next year.
In addition, squash that were direct sown are already larger than transplants that had a 3 week head start.
Cucumbers and melons that were direct seeded are coming up with the heat and rain, but we will see if they overtake the stunted transplants. Next year I should direct sow with little plastic domes to heat the soil.
Plants
Observe
Strawberry spinach is one or the most interesting and fun surprises we’re growing. It’s a perennial, has edible leaves (taste just like spinach) and edible fruity flower bud things… The “strawberries” even have a slight sweetness to them. Started last spring from seed, planted out last summer and it grew quite a lot. This spring it was the first of the greens to pop, and has been delivering for 2 months already. Will be eating the fruits in salad for the rest of the summer. Hopefully it comes back! Will save some seed just in case.
Plants
Observe
Herb garden taking off after some solid rain this past week. Mostly volunteers and returning perennials. There were a few things here when we lived in, but I expanded the garden to consume all the single plantings and filled every in between. The goal is to have this garden as low maintenance as possible.
Plants
Observe
Persimmon buds are finally breaking! My patience was wearing thin, but these bad boys are going to leaf out after all!
In order to cover the soil and support these trees, I planted a number of seeds; green beans, dill, snapdragons, squash, mustard, and ground cherry. May the most vigorous win, and the rest feed the soil!
Will likely underplant with something more permanent in the future.
Plants
Observe
Nursery is coming along this year. 6 mystery stone fruits, started indoor — 2 in the ground. First 5 of many more walnuts — both black and English. Decorative willow stakes taking off after winter kill.
Bonus potato pot and lemongrass.
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