As we enter into mid April our weather has stayed fairly rainy and decently cold. Mornings are averaging around 43 degrees or so with us inching toward 60s by late afternoon (on good days). My garden beds are full of spring veggies that seem to be doing well (though slow) despite the partially dreary weather. Though I do think that if it continues I will put up some ends to promote heat and growth, keeping enough air flow to avoid mold and mildew.
This first box was the first one we ever built. It gets more shade than the others and thus gets a lot of our greens. Here we have quinoa, bok choi, radiccio, tat soi, butterhead lettuce, and romaine. You will also see a couple of sneaky broccoli plants that needed a home!
This is my bean bed. There are peas here now, but the beans will go in on the other side and eventually replace the spring peas. You also see radishes, beets, and carrots. These carrots are quick 68 day carrots so they will be gone nearly as fast as the radishes. The beets will be around a bit longer but will not interfere with the peas and beans. I will put some peppers in the empty holes later in the spring/early summer.
This is elephant garlic. The individual close are bigger than my fist! I planted five cloves last year and they are all doing very well. Very large! I cannot wait to see what the bulbs look like. You can see the edge of the brussels sprouts here as well. They continue to bolt and produce a very tender and tasty rapini. I like it better than broccoli rabe.
Experimental potatoes planted 2/20. Looks like it is strong and growing to me!
The kohlrabi and broccoli bed looks great! Only a short time until we can harvest from here. I had the ends of this bed closed this week and the growth was noticeable.
I planted some onions and garlics last year that you see here in front of the cabbages. The second photo is a close up of a fast 55 day cabbage. I cannot wait for them to grow!!
This bed is the first one I direct sowed this year. The lettuces are doing great. The beets are struggling, but the chard is starting to take off! I had to put in a few kohlrabis and broccolis last week as they needed a home. They were going to die in the start trays so I just started planting them throughout the other beds!
The potato bed is sitting, looking the same, day after day, as I await patiently the first ones to poke through the soil!
Other updates not pictured today:
The horseradish started poking through the soil, who the heck knew it would grow! I only have two left, one feel victim to a squirrel. The two boxes of crimson clover should get ready to flower soon! The rye grass bed is working on being killed so it will be ready for corn. There are two more beds of onions and garlic and several wine barrels of lettuces and peas. There is cilantro in containers, beets for greens and radishes in containers too. The raspberries, blueberries and strawberries have started and will soon provide lovely pictures. The kiwi is also leafing and we hope this year the fruit get bigger than peas!
Inside I have peppers with true leaves and tomatoes that are nearly 5 inches tall! There are also pumpkins, melons and squashes that I started too early. I think they will be fine though because I can put them out under cloche to keep them warm
For the first year I feel on top of everything, at least for now. I have cucumbers, zucchini, and carrots to sow soon.
I love growing food!
The Root Cellar's Garden 