Spring Update

Not only an early spring, but a very wet one as well...

Last frost reached out to Mother's Day, so couldn't make too early a use of the warmer days.

Gooseberries in place (1 on s. side, 1 just north of Comfrey plant along fence). The Red Currants are in containers now (both woke up just fine) with exact homes TBD, and the 3 Nanking Bush Cherries are in Azalea pots wondering if they were ordered impulsively.

Order 2 "Ben Curan" Black Currant shrubs from Jung's yesterday, after realizing over the last 2 weeks that BCs are among the most shade-tolerant Ribes. Will try them along the fence in the high-shade area under the pine overhangs.

Lagging on getting the Red Torpedo onions in, since I made a point to give the garlics enough room this year, plus I have Broccoli and Cauliflower at the other end of the bed. Might put the Torps in the middle of 7 tomato spots... need to decide very soon. Have 20 Cippolini and 20 LTS onions in and growing.

The Elliot Blueberry I purchased last year and never planted is still hanging in, and actually doing well considering it was completely above ground all winter. Will at least re-pot it to a larger container.

The lettuces are doing well, have the smallest bed co-planted w/spinach.

Started 6 massive Sunflowers to interplant between the tomato spots, and will (try to) use as bean towers.

Done with frosts now, so plan to get squash planted in the next week or two. Think I'll try 3 varieties in the ½-barrel: zuchinni for spilling forward into the year, Delicata to trail on the fence towards the Asparagus, and Butternut to trail on the fence towards the west.

Have done NOTHING with the middle bed yet. Will probably be home to pepper plants. Has the chives now, and a straggler Blackberry coming up!

I see lots of worms by flashlight when I come home at midnight-thirty and check on the yard. Looks like they're happy.

In the fall, bunnies eat...

In the fall, bunnies eat...

• Carrots tops and carrots
• Red Beet Tops
• Spinach
• Blueberry bush branches

They didn't touch the turnips or radishes.

Note to future self: after first frost, protect remaining greens with wire mesh, etc.

Urgh!! Early first frost!!

And again I say "Urgh"!!

1-2 weeks early, and not just a light kiss of frost. Nope, it went hard core on the first visit.

Oh well... that's global cooling for you!

I dug up the orange bell pepper as well as the cayenne pepper plant, to give myself the opportunity to decide if I want to try to over-winter either of them (if I get permission from the "boss"). Can't do it if they're dead.

Winding down for the season.

The snap peas are about 3.5' tall; no sign of flowers yet. We are expecting the first frost this weekend, so am anticipating covering them.

The turnips and white beets are doing very well... in fact the turnip greens are so huge that they're covering the red beets in the next row, from which I am now expecting not much.

Delicata squash: Harvesting a total of eight, seven of which are cut from the vine and curing outside for a few weeks prior to a move to the garage. The eighth squash was invaded in the middle by some creature, and rendered unusable. For future squash plantings, I have GOT to get off my butt sooner and have vertical support ready for them when they need it (not after).

All four pepper plants are still doing well, though the mini bell never seemed to really gear-up into production. The orange and green bell peppers did very well once the floods stopped and some decent late-summer heat kicked-in. The cayenne is doing OK, but was shaded by the green pepper as well as an aggressive borage I let grow in the tomato bed to attract bees. If the forecast for frost holds true, I'll pull the peppers this weekend, but I still need to decide if I'm going to try to over-winter one of them.

Still have to figure out how to prune the grapevines, or next season's harvest will be even smaller than this one. Also on the to-do list: order garlic to get in the ground between Halloween and Thanksgiving.