Kale harvest & Flowering Fruit Tree garden

On this Tuesday, March 30th, I enjoyed the rest of my evening after work by sowing some radish seed, wild flower seed, and transplanting herbs. I was also able to harvest a bag of curly kale!

I drove over to one of my gardens, and noticed the fruit trees and flowers in bloom. Just 2 days ago, everything was still a bud. A little bit of warmth and sun today made everything pop.

The plum and cherry trees bloom white little fragrant puffs. The pears, peaches, and other trees also dazzled with whimsical white and pink petals today...

And here blooms in all sorts of pink hues, the nectarine tree. A hundred bees buzzed this tree today. It outshined all other fruit trees blooming in the food forest today.

Broccoli harvest & March kale spring broccoli garden

On this Sunday, I was able to harvest some Broccoli and admire the garden and blooming trees. 

This broccoli grew throughout the winter, so it will probably be tough, and it seemed to have been close to flowering; but I haven't ate thr broccoli heads yet.

In the garden, I also have curly kale growing; and my grandpa said the kale leaves were tender as he had been picking and eating some of the leaves. Haha. *But he doesn't eat "rabbit food" he says*

There are so many forsythia bushes and peach trees blooming in my neck of the woods. In the grandparent's yard, various perennials were blooming and this blooming cherry tree and magnolia...

Amongst the broccoli and kale plants, I was able to plant onion bulbs and radish seed. Here are some pictures of the broccoli heads before harvesting...

Sometimes in gardening, you realize you're not getting your "money's worth"--it can quickly become an expensive hobby. And that was the case for these broccoli seedlings... I bought them from a store--and spent lots of time, energy, and money to keep them alive and growing...But in the end, it's worth it for the joy of a sunny spring day to harvest some food...

March Spring Flowers & Mulching Garden beds

On this March evening, it became warm and sunny. So, after work, I headed over to the nearby greenhouse to buy a scoop of mulch. Once I applied the mulch over each garden bed,  I snapped a couple of pictures of the daffodils and hyacinths that are blooming at the food forest garden. This garden is full of different types of daffodils.

In a couple of the garden beds, I still have kale, swiss chard, cilantro, onion, and strawberries growing. This kale as well as the other veggies have survived through the entire winter. They have a beautiful green color.

Each garden bed got a layer of mulch today, but it wasn't enough. I'll have to get a full scoop next time to cover around the fruit bushes, flower gardens, and fruit trees.

While spreading the mulch, we also had a fire, and dropped off the compost in the main compost pile. I recently added some carbon material to it, as well as old potting soil. Adding existing soil normally helps speed up the decay of these composting materials. 

When you have a day like today, you can't spare a moment. You must do all you can outside before there are longer days of gloomy weather. For every 1 warm, sunny day, there are 3 to 4 rainy, cold or cloudy days here. 

After today, we are expected to have another week of rain, but I'm going to try to plant some onion bulbs, peas, and radish seed in the garden Sunday. 

It is still quite cold at night. So, in April, I will be more inclined to plant some lettuces, and have decided to hold off on planting a lot of greens because of this. What makes it harder, is that I can longer regularly take off the transparent plastic every morning and cover plants at night which would protect them through the cold and frost. Because I am living on a different property now, a lot of my gardening tasks have been delayed, slowed or challenged in some way. But I digress! And so should you! Gardening is crucial, it is life, it is what gives me life. 

Remember to take rest, and sit on your porch in the sun with your libations and watch the sun go down. I had a mojito, haha!

March growing & Springing into Gorgeous Life!

On these warm days, I have been sitting my houseplants outside so they can soak up some sun and warmth. On cold days, I try to pamper them with fertilize, water, cleaning their leaves, inspecting and touching them, or rearranging them. 

I am SO ready for Spring, seeing the magnolias bloom, crocus, daffodils, tulips. You know, tulips are my favorite, as I have a designated tulip garden. Flowers are slowly blooming, but it was a rough winter, I must say, worse than previous winters for at least the last 8 years. 

Of course, you know my grandma decorates for every holiday, and her Spring decor is always the most cheerful. I took a snapshot of her porch, but this is not her only decorated scene--when she decorates, she goes all out, her whole house and yard are always covered in decorations. 

I started a garden calendar to coincide with the farmer's almanac. I have been planting by this moon growing calendar, as I do every year. I try it all, so to speak.

At the beginning of March, I planted broccoli, kale, tomatoes, peppers and herbs such as cilantro, dill, parsley and basil. These are under grow lights; and on warm sunny days this week, I have been putting the trays of seedlings outside for 2 hours before the sun goes down, then take them back to their spot indoors. 

I have been giving the seedlings 12 hours of light. I wish I had bought two sets of lights per seedling tray, because one light just makes seedlings grow leggy towards the center of the light instead of straight up. 

I am starting to water the plants from the bottom as well. It is recommended to do this watering method, so I'm experimenting. 

One big mistake I made already was using garden soil which is not recommended for seedlings. Instead, it is recommended to use a spilled mixture of peat moss and perlite. I used these 2 components but really didn't think the seeds would sprout in those conditions. Adding the garden soil created a moldy environment, I believe--especially when watering from the bottom and (maybe) being overzealous with the water because I had not tried this method before. 

I am hoping, though, that these seedlings still grow brilliantly, despite the mold and legginess. I also planted 9 strawberry roots in pots, and planted flower seeds in pots.

I'll keep y'all posted! Happy planting, folks!

With the flower seeds, I soaked them overnight in water, and I highly recommend this method. Again, this is the year of garden experiments! 

In one pot, I planted passion flower seeds, then Amaranth, Lavendar, and Columbine in separate pots.