Harvest Monday 2011

Here's my inaugural Harvest Monday post for the 2011 growing season. Check out other harvests at the host of Harvest Monday: Daphne's Dandelions.

I planted this spinach in the fall and it wintered over uncovered. With the spring temps it has filled out so it was time to have some.

Here's my harvest. Sorry no weight. I don't own a scale.

Here it is as a spinach salad. It made enough for both of us to have. Ingredients besides the spinach: turkey bacon, parmesan cheese, onions, with Marie's Caesar dressing. Delicious!

First Spring Plantings

I spent most of Saturday planting. Here's the vegetable garden before (above) and after (below) and what I planted.

Two types of lettuce (bibb and a young leaf mix) and Bloomsdale spinach were planted here. The lettuce in the foreground was a fall crop. I moved it from another bed to this one.

Snowpeas were planted in the trench method (see below). I add the sticks for them to grow on for support. Later I tried to cover the whole thing with a net so the turkey that a neighbor spotted won't find the seeds. The spinach in the bed is a fall sowing and doing nicely now.

I planted three kinds of onion sets: yellow, red and white. I placed them close because we eat lots of green onions so I'll thin them. After the photo I pushed the bulbs into the ground so just the tips were at soil line.

Time Well Spent

I spent Friday in my pond garden. In past years I've only done a cursory cut back of the dead growth of the irises, but this year with retirement I have the time to do it more thoroughly and the irises have spread so there's many more that need the trimming. I got a very wet foot in the process because I stepped in deeper water than I intended. The goldfish followed my progress since I was turning up morsels they liked. The frogs tolerated me and didn't budge from the mass of eggs. I didn't bother that. Alas no camera was out with me to take before and after photos. It was time well spent in the garden on a warm spring day.

A Garden Visitor

Last week HolleyGarden at Roses and Other Gardening Joys posted about honey bees. As I read that I wondered, "When was the last time I spotted a honey bee in my garden?" It has been a long while. Bumble bees, wasps, hornets, and other winged insects, but honey bees were scarce last year even when the lavender was in full bloom.

Yesterday I heard him before I saw him. I had been cleaning the perennial beds and took time to photograph the crocuses in bloom when the distinct buzz hit my ears. I didn't think honey bee but once I saw him on the crocus I thought, "Where have you been? And why are you all alone?" He was harvesting from the crocus and made two trips that I know of. I'll keep an eye out for him in the days ahead and hope he spreads the words of the nectar to be had in my garden.




Postscript 4 pm: There were at least two honey bees visiting the crocuses today. I caught sight of an orange butterfly, too but it wouldn't let me get within 10 feet to identify it. Looked like a monarch but smaller.