My Edible Garden

I've been gardening for most of my life and have been a devoted fan of organic gardening the whole time. It just makes so much more sense to work in harmony with Mother Nature than to fight her. Besides which it is better for the planet and better for our bodies. Here you can see what I'm planting and harvesting, with gardening hints and resources thrown in for good measure.

Monday, April 9, 2012

Harvest Monday

Fresh Eggs!
And it's Harvest Monday once again! Harvest Monday is a great blog hop sponsored by Daphne's Dandelions. A great way to visit gardens all over the world!

I didn't take too many pictures of harvests this week, just too busy doing other things, but I got lots of eggs, 4 hens averaging 3 a day.

I got a couple of spears of asparagus, picked some mustard, chard and lamb's quarters for cooking.

salad
I picked lots of salad with lettuce, mache, claytonia, chard, spinach, lamb's quarters, chickweed, chives, viola blossoms.


peas



I picked lots of peas, Dwarf Grey Sugar from the tubs in the greenhouse and the Mammoth Melting Sugar out in the garden are beginning to come on. In the photo the two extra large pods on the upper right are the Mammoths and the others are the Dwarf Greys.  It's getting  a bit warm in the greenhouse for the peas and I wanted to move them outside to a cooler spot, but the three tubs have all grown together so I can't move them without ripping them apart. I will have to remember next time to give them more space and keep them separate. Because they are so warm they are really getting past their prime quickly, before the pods are even very large, I just let them go to make more seed for next year.

Green Globe Artichoke
Around the yard: The two artichoke plants I put in last fall are growing fast, hoping for 'chokes soon.










baby lettuce


I'm now looking for every damp shady spot I can find to plant a patch of lettuce in. These little guys are out front covered with window screen to protect them from the birds.








Sweet Peas
The first sweet pea blossom opened this week; heavenly!











sweet peas & violas

The sweet peas are on a small obelisk in a large wash tub by the front gate and surrounded by the violas.
















Tall iris
This tall two toned iris doesn't usually bloom until about mid-May, so it's waaay early!
















worm bed experiment

I loved Harvey Urssery's worm beds in his greenhouse and decided to try something similar in the narrow paths between my raised beds. These bed dry out way too fast and I've thought eventually I will take the sides away and dig them down lower into the ground. Then I thought perhaps I could make worm beds between them with scrap lumber to walk on. That would keep the sun off the sides of them and help keep them from drying out too fast as well as growing more worms for chicken feed.










trellis bed ready for planting
I also got this trellis bed ready for planting. You can see the before pictures on my post from the other day.  I've decided to plant a few cukes at one end and then the rest in beans. I don't eat that many pickles so don't really need a ton of cucumbers. And I eat way more beans than cukes!

7 comments:

  1. I like your worm bed idea very much. I'll be interested to see if it works. I get heaps of worms living under my pots - each pots seems to become a mini worm farm.

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  2. Wow, you have peas already? The worm bed idea is interesting, not sure I can find a place like that in my garden.

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  3. I tried growing artichoke last year but failed. May try again this year. Beautiful red sweet pea, love the color.

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  4. Your artichokes look about the same size as mine. I spied a choke forming in one of them down deep in the central growing area - so I know they are not too far away now. :D

    Your worm bin walkway is a brilliant use of that space. Will be interested to see if it works as you hope in keeping the beds cooler.

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  5. Oh you have snow peas. I love snow peas and snap peas. I can't wait for mine to be ready. But I've got at least a month or so.

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  6. Everything looks beautiful!! I'm really jealous as we won't look this good for another 6 weeks.

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  7. That red sweet pea blossom is beautiful! We can't wait to see how your worm bed experiment goes. Great idea!

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