We are a bit behind on the garden this year. The weather has not been cooperating. It is cold at night, cold enough to keep the soil from being warm enough to germinate the seeds for warmer season crops, but hot and dry enough during the day to keep the cooler season crops from growing well.
Oh yeah, the gate to the chicken yard now has a wheel! So cool!
The anconas keep trying to get into the garden to forage. On the one hand, the slug population is the lowest we have ever seen it. On the other hand, they keep dibbling in the tomato and squash bed (which is heavily mucked) and disturbing the roots of the seedlings and killed a couple of the squash. So we locked them back out for now.
This little guy, on the other hand, is a welcome guest.
Harmless little slug eaters.
The kids thought he was interesting, but no one was interested in touching him.
Our bok choy is about to bolt.
Yep, bolted like crazy. (The white flowers on the other side are Daikons, just a ground cover to hold the bed until we are ready to sow the winter brassicas). However, we learned that the stalks are actually quite delicious. When snapped off they branch, producing more side stalks which can also be snapped off. We have eaten them raw so far.
I suppose we could stew or stir-fry them, but we have not had time.
All of Ellie’s wildflowers she planted last year are coming up in style this year.
This is good. They attract bees. Last year the garden was buzzing with honeybees, but unfortunately they all died over the winter so this year the garden is not quite as buzzy, and it’s mostly bumble-bees. They work, though.
Strawberry, grape and rhubarb.
The hollywood plum at the house is just loaded! Too bad we don’t have one of these at the farm. Maybe I should try propagating one.
The early garden staple: the humble and delicious radish.
Little Farm in the Big City 