Mistress Mary, Quite contrary…

Centennial Hops

How does your garden grow?
With Silver Bells, And Cockle Shells,
And so my garden grows.

We made great progress on the garden this weekend!  We got the sugar snap peas, shelling peas, and green beans in the ground and the pea trellises up.  I took a lesson from last year and have planted the peas and beans more heavily this time around.  I also plan on doing some succession plantings of the peas in particular.  In the backyard garden the cool vegetables are happy for almost the entire summer so I’m going to try to use that to my advantage.  With the pea tendrils as well as the the actual pods being edible it would seem arguable that one can never have too few pea plants.  We were also very happy with the harvest of green beans we got last year and have coveted the garlicky beans we canned through out the winter (only one jar left!).

Potato boxes at the end of the season

The seed potaotes are on the kitchen counter to start sprouting and Bengt pulled out the potato boxes, disassembled them, and put them in their spots.  In doing so he discovered a secret clutch of chicken eggs hidden inside one.  We had simply been storing the boxes on the far side of the house under the eaves for the winter.  This puts them out of sight and doesn’t use up space in the garge or greenhouse.  It also puts them very close to the dryer vent and across a small patch of grass from the compost pile, both favorite roosting spots for our free range chickens.  We had noticed the egg count drop after the winter passed but just chalked it up to other changes.   We don’t think the hen that left the clutch is still with us unfortunately, or I’d try to encourage her behavior.  There were only five eggs and they were clearly undeveloped.  We are honestly surprised that they weren’t in worse shape considering the cold nights we still have some what frequently.

There are still kale, cabbage, and herb starts on the kitchen counter waiting for a few more leaves before they can get transitioned out to the garden as well.  The tomato starts in the kitchen need to be potted up and moved to the greenhouse.  The hops Bengt planted last year have come back as have the chives, blueberries, and columnar apples.   In the way of wild/forage around the farm the salmonberries and alpine strawberries are starting to bloom and the dandelions are out in full force.

Currently in the garden:

Head and Leaf Lettuce, Mustard Greens, Brussel Sprouts, Red and Yellow Beets, Radishes, Carrots, Walla Walla Onions, Cauliflower, Sugar Snap Peas, Shelling Peas, and Green Beans

Currently in the greenhouse:
Strawberries

Currently running wild:
Salmonberries, Alpine Strawberries, Dandelions