A month ago in the gardens…

Last week in the gardens…

After an unusually hot spell, the rains have arrived…just in time!  I was surprised to see our green grass turning brown at the roots before all the rain, and almost overnight, the landscape greened up with emerald brilliance.  And, oh my, the garden kind of exploded with growth.

best spinach ever in our garden is Bloomsdale

I got the greenhouse totally planted and now my husband is working on a drip irrigation system to help cut down on all my farm chores ~ yay!  

Roots ~ Our garlic is doing amazing and already beginning to scape and I have some leeks wedged in alongside the spinach to take over when that crop is finished.  I half-heartedly planted a few rows of carrots down the line of peas but it doesn’t look like the right soil for them.  I will plant the beets and parsnips soon, too.

Leaves ~ The spinach is lush and we’ve had a few wilted spinach salads that are so yummy as well as a little on pizzas.  Our lettuce is rather neglected in the kitchen garden which is overrun at the moment with weeds.  I have several kale plants doing well as well as lots of cabbage (lots!!!!) but my chard looks dismal due to some pest.  I seem to have hard luck with chard and I’d like to figure that crop out a little better.  The asparagus has gone to see and we only had a few spears this year.  Next year will be our first really big harvest and I look forward to that!  The basil is all in the greenhouse and it is doing great.  I have tried to grow good basil outdoors but it seems our unreliable mountain weather is not ideal for basil, cukes or tomatoes and all of these belong in my greenhouse.

Flowers ~ I have lots of broccoli and cauliflower in the garden as they are a mainstay in our diet.  I have yet to plant many flowers from seed and I think I’ll visit the nursery a little more than I have in the past.  I blame it on my adorable lambs and all the attention they are receiving!

Fruit ~ The rhubarb is still going strong and I have the greenhouse planted with several tomatoes, both hot and sweet peppers, pickling and long english cukes, watermelon and cantaloupe.  The greenhouse is such a necessary and wonderful sanctuary for me…we simply cannot properly grow the kind of food I’d like without it.  I miss fresh picked strawberries and that is a goal of mine this year : to build a good strawberry bed.  It has been a few years since the patch we had stopped producing and I look forward to some ever-bearers.

Japanese Indigo, top and bottom

Our lilacs were a full month early this year and filled the house with heavenly scents. The Japanese Indigo is also blooming right now which is stunning…I hope to finally use some (leaves) in an indigo bath after three or four years of growing it.  I love bouquet season and all the higgeldy piggeldy arrangements that are made spontaneously…they brighten up the house so very much.

And just because…this is our fourth lamb born on the farm ~ Aspen.  He is half Merino and half Romney…a very big, beautiful boy to mama Flora.

 This was about ten days ago and we are still waiting on Stella Blue to have her lamb.  In the meantime, I can be found in the gardens or with the lambs…my favourite places to be!