Spring Garden 2010 Update - Weeks Three and Four

Spring Garden 2010

18 Days Old - We've had such a spate of hot weather that it's going to be interesting to see what happens in the next week, when the weather is supposed to get sort of back to normal, again. Peas are just starting to climb the supports. Sage is full of new growth. Broccoli has firmly rooted and is putting out the shading leaves. Onions are over 6". Radishes are beginning to fatten up. Lettuce is still trying to decide what to do with this hot weather. Chives had flowers pinched after pix was taken.

This is my first year with strazzberries, that hybrid cross between a raspberry and a strawberry. All have been planted beneath my Cherry, Apricot/Almond, Peach trees, but only the strazzberries have shot up and started producing some berries. I've already picked off the flowers, once. The strawberries seem to know that there's going to be another cold snap and are waiting for the all clear!

This is the first apricot/almond from this 2-yr-old semi-dwarf tree I planted two years ago. I was told not to expect too many in the first season of fruiting, but that the following year would be a real crop. I'm just tickled that it's growing! Isn't it adorable!

And, here's the first crop of Elberta peaches on my four-year-old semi-dwarf tree.  This tree is filled with clusters of young peaches and I'm going to have to cull them out so that the fruit will be nice and large. The orchard is starting to develop quite nicely. The apple tree has long enough branches for me to start espaliering them. Will be ready to bear fruit, next year.

Little by little, I'm finishing up the "feed me" gardening and will be able to refocus on the landscaping changes. That's going to take some serious focusing because I want it to be right and not lose any of the good stuff already in place. Will have to start studying that end of the catalogs for inspiration.

28 Days Old - Well, we've weathered the really hot days (for this part of NC) and back to some cooler ones. Every seed seems to have made it and the only questionable place is where the neighbor's cat assumed I had built the garden for him. He rearranged some of the 'birthing sheets' in the middle section, so there's a true salad growing there!  I think I'll be able to take the chicken wire down in another week, or so, before the peas get a stranglehold on it. (Things grow fast in this garden.)

If you look close, you can see the radishes are just a few days away from harvesting. Unlike other years, I've pretty much sown my spring vegetables and the next planting will be for summer crops. The extra seeds will go in during mid- to late-August for a nice fall harvest. The onions tops are already 10 inches tall and the chard has definitely made an appearance. I'm already tasting the salads. Yum.