Garden in April, Eastern NC, Zone 7b

April 4, 2016

Garden at the beginning of March

Garden at the beginning of AprilSooooo much has changed already! As we walk through the garden, you can see to the right, the fencing has been taken down and in its place is a big mound of mulch. That mound of mulch is one of our many potato patches. Behind it are some brassicas I transplanted from the greenhouses. To the left of that are some winter squash and nasturtiums that were transplanted from the greenhouses. As we continue, there is another patch of brassicas. Sorry for the blurr…These were transplanted from the brassicas that overwintered on accident (brassicas I planted and had planned on transplanting last fall but never got around to it). I am definitely doing this every year! I put a shade cloth over them to protect them from bugs but nothing to protect them from the cold. It seemed as though they died but they came back this spring! I thinned them out and planted them in the cover to the left. I am going to transplant the rest this week.  Between the two covered areas, I planted peas. they are just starting to push through the mulch. And the purple sprouting broccoli under the cover to the right are doing well (as well as some cilantro that overwintered). The next section has some more potato patches, some lettuce I transplanted from the greenhouses, and boxes. In the boxes, I have some eggplant and tomatoes, transplanted from the greenhouses, some overwintered spinach and carrots, and more potatoes! We moved the old chicken tractor (we grew tomatoes on this last year) past the boxes and are going to grow different types of melons over it this year. To the right of the chicken tractor is another patch of brassicas aaaaaaaaaand…another potato patch! This is the first one I planted and it has started sprouting!

As far as our perennial vegetables and fruits, more raspberries are popping up in our raspberry patch (we need to go ahead and put up supports), strawberries are popping through the mulch (and flowering!), the blueberries are being polinated, the new strawberry plants (June bearing) are becoming established, the asparagus are popping up (newly planted bed!), and the trees are setting fruit!(peaches) (apples – can’t tell if it has really set fruit or not…) (pears)

I finished most of my TO DO list for March (plant potatoes, plant all of the greenhouses, plant cool weather seeds). All we lack to do is expand the chicken runs. For April, the TO DO list is pretty straight forward. PLANT, PLANT, PLANT and then plant some more! Our last frost date is April 21st. I have planted everything early because we have had an incredibly warm spring so far. Of course this week, some of our nights are dropping below freezing. Wonderful. I am going to cover the transplants with tops of milk jugs and hope for the best!

What are you doing in your garden? Are you harvesting already? We are harvesting some PSB and spinach here and there but mainly just waiting. There is SOOOO much work to be done! Always. Happy Gardening! 🙂
Check out what others are harvesting at Our Happy Acres today!

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Harvest Monday

July 1, 2013

Little by little, we’re harvesting more and more each week. This week, I harvested a LARGE bowl of blueberries (I can get one of these every 3 days or so). I froze this batch – it was a gallon bag full.

(I had two full pans like this. Once frozen, I slide them into a gallon freezer bag.)

I harvested lettuce every other day for meals.

I harvested green beans every other day for meals (as a side dish (steamed) and once in a veggie pot pie). I harvested carrots once for lunch (we are finishing up a large 2lb bag from the grocery store then we’ll be eating more carrots from the garden).

(we love being surprised by the sizes and shapes of each carrot we pull 🙂 )

I harvested some potatoes to put in a pasta salad (with potatoes, apples, raisins, chickpeas, garden peas, pasta & mayo) and to roast with bean burgers we’re having this week.

I am harvesting about 1/2 a week’s worth of kale. I stopped planting seeds when my winter plants bolted but the spring-planted kale is still going strong! Note to self – DON’T stop planting!!!

I stopped planting lettuce for about a month as well (stupid! stupid!). I started planting it again but we’ll have a lull in garden lettuce for a time, I think.

Another item I ‘harvested was an apple.

(I am assuming it was a/some bird(s)? What do you think?)

I am pleased with how much I have been able to harvest from the garden this year compared to last year and I am already planning for next year. Oh, and I just realized, I need to already start planting for the fall garden. It snuck up on me – I am not prepared! I’ll try to figure out what to plant and where it all goes this week or next 🙂

Are you already planting for the fall/winter? What are you planting? Are there parts of your garden you let rest? I’m trying how to figure out how to do that…

I’m linking to Daphne’s Dandelions for Harvest Monday today. Check it out! 🙂