More Summer Stuff in the Ground

Filled up one raised bed with tomato plants:

• Big Boy (4)
• Celebrity (2)
• Cherokee Purple, heirloom (2)
• German Johnson, heirloom (4)

Planted one bed each:

• Jade bush beans
• Pink-Eyed Purple-Hulled southern peas

Baby Loves Spinach

My witness in the garden. She watched me do a few garden chores this morning while gumming a spear of asparagus. Notice the big bunch of spinach in the cargo hold of the stroller. Now she's ready to roll! Quit taking my picture, Mumsi!

Asparagus

We're cutting the asparagus, a few stalks at a time. It takes a few days to save up! Tonight, I made an asparagus frittata, with chunks of ham and plenty of tasty cheese.

I based our supper on a recipe from Simply Recipes.
Of course I had to make it my own, so I increased the shallots, added bite-sized pieces of ham and lots of freshly ground black pepper, leaving out the tarragon and chives. The texture of the eggs with the ricotta cheese was very nice.

Frost Date is Past

Time to sow some summer crop seeds. Today:

• Edamame (green soy beans)
• Rattlesnake pole beans
• Garden of Eden pole beans

Garlic

This is the first time I've tried growing my own garlic. Cloves were planted back in the fall (see blogpost from November 2, 2014). The crop has grown beautifully over the winter with no extra attention.

Now to learn more about harvesting garlic. When the leaves go yellow it's about time, but don't allow too many of the leaves to turn brown! The bulb will be over-mature and the cloves will begin to separate from each other, resulting in decreased shelf life.

Margaret, at A Way to Garden tells all about it.

I'm getting antsy ...

For gardeners, the last spring frost date can not arrive too soon! Visions of fresh veggies have been dancing in our heads all winter. We are anxious to sow our seeds. It can't hurt to get a little head start, can it?

Of course, some seeds may be started indoors … broccoli, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, melons, etc ... but I'm thinking about the direct-sown crops such as beans and southern peas.

Well, it might not hurt (although seeds may freeze and rot in the ground), but in many cases it won't help, either. Each type of seed has its favorite range of soil temperature at which it will germinate. Outside that range, there's little hope of success. Radishes, beets, spinach, etc will do just fine in cooler spring temps, but one might as well wait until nighttime temperatures are reliably in the 50's to stick the seeds of summer into the ground. For reference, here's a handy-dandy chart from Gardener's Supply:  https://www.gardeners.com/how-to/when-to-plant/warmenuflp.html

Can't forget Radishes!

I cleaned up the kale bed and planted three rows of radishes (several varieties) down the center. My plan is to put tomato plants on the outer edges of the raised bed. By the time the tomato plants get going, the radishes will be history.