Garden harvest & Tulip photography in April

Last week I posted pictures of covering my garden and fruit trees for frost protection. The good news is, the blueberry fruits are still growing, and veggies are very hardy; the bad news is, all the fruit trees are not so hardy. You can see small black fruit dangling from the pear trees, the grape vines are wilted, the mulberry leaves died, the pineapple sage died, the plums that speckled the sky all turned shriveled and black.

I'm not sure if any of the fruit from the peaches and nectarines survived, but I still see some hanging on for life.

Still, I harvest food everyday. I have so many radishes and little greens to prepare salads, vegan seaweed rolls, garnish for ramen, salad wraps, and other pasta dishes loaded with garden food.

I have also been delivering garden food to elders that are social distancing, and to coworkers as well.

Garden veg out for delivery

Spinach & arugula used for tomato pasta dish

Potatoes in grow bags

French breakfast radishes poking out from the soil

Yesterday I planted more pockets of seed around these strawberry plants and other bare spots in the garden beds. I sowed spinach and basil seed which are supposed to be companion plants to strawberries. I sowed the spinach and basil seed around additional bare spots in other garden beds.

Strawberry plants and lettuces

Cilantro bed

Arugula and spinach bed

And the tulips rise, regardless of the frost. However, as of tonight, there's not a petal in sight. The Irises will be taking their place in the upcoming weeks--once again brightening the landscape.

Aronia berry plant blossoms

Butternut & Freaky Fall gourds, potato harvest + pickling & jelly making

Lush food forest and prepping for the summer

This spring has been wet and hot so far. The weather has been perfect for flowers and fruiting trees in the garden. The pears, plums, nectarines, and peach trees are fruiting in abundance. The grape vines are fruiting as well. And the blueberries are growing plumper by the day. The aronis berries are fruiting for the first time this year.

Patch of Aronia berry, goji, mulberry, and grape vines

Grape vines fruiting 

Besides the fruiting foods, the brassicas are growing strong in the garden as well. Sunday, I sowed cucumber seed amongst them too. Also Sunday i sowed watermelon and cantaloupe in one garden bed. In other garden beds, there's radish, oniond, carrot, lettuce, peas, spinach, and beets sprouting in the garden.

Cilantro and brassicas growing

Radish, spinach, peas and beets 

The garden needs a little manicure, as the weeds are growing as healthy as the vegetables.

Monday, I shoveled, tilled, and fenced this patch of ground. Then I hoed some mounds along the row of fencing and sowed two types of pumpkin seed and four types of cucumber seed. This area is where I have grown beans and peas for years, which has added nitrogen to the soil.

Pumpkins and cucumbers sown 

Tomorrow, I will be tilling my other garden which is where I have also been growing beans for years. The beans provided nitrogen to the soil which will be perfect for growing greens and other heavy feeders. Especially ally since this garden gets a lot of compost added throughout the year, the soil is vitamin rich and healthy.

Here too, I have bags of potatoes growing. I have many more potatoes to plant aswell, so I will also sow more potatoes in this garden.

Potatoes in grow bags

Lastly, I wanted to show you the flowers blooming. Most of the tulips have died off but this little cutey is always the last of the tulips, and it's the most spectacular. The Iris flowers are blooming too as we go into May.

Stay tuned for more garden updates and floral photography.

Sheet mulching food forest & prepping potato bags

Yesterday I bought a truck load of cedar mulch. I used this to sheet mulch around the mulberry tree, grape vines, aronia and goji berry bushes.

There is a flower and herb bed behind these, and I have outlined this bed with glass bottles. And I would like to mulch this bed because I have hibiscus, phlox, mint, and thyme spreading.

In this bed, there's an old toilet I have repurposed. Many people would think a toilet decoration in your yard to grow flowers is trashy, but I'm embracing my white trash, and repurposing the recyclables. I'm not sure yet what I'll be growing in the toilet but I have mulch and compost inside ready to grow anything.

The cedar didn't spread very far. I was hoping to get some mulch around the blueberry bushes, but didnt have enough mulch to do so.

Blueberries & goji berries

I was able to use some of the mulch to mix with garden soil in the grow bags. This Friday I'm off work so I'll take that day as an opportunity to buy another truck load of compost and add to the grow bags. Then I'll sow some of the poatoes. I have a 50 lb bag of potatoes to sow, so I'm going to have to sew more grow bags. As you can see in the photo, I only have 24 bags to grow potatoes.

I'm quickly going through money buying compost and mulch by the truck load. But it's all very necessary when caring beautifying your gardens.

I'm satisfied with these garden beds which I have cilantro, onions, broccoli, and cauliflower growing in. I have the hoops set up and netting as well.