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...

Mulched Fall Garden, fig harvest, & Fall greenhouse beauty

 Last Friday was bitter cold. It was down in the 30 degrees F. In the evening, I made sure to cover the garden plants to protect them from frost. The next day, I uncovered them and heavily mulched the veggie garden. I was able to get a truck load of mulch to cover the arden of broccoli, cauliflower and kale. The remaining bit of mulch, I placed around the fruit trees and some fruit bushes. In order to mulch the rest of the fruit bushes, I'm going to need another load of mulch! 

Below are pictures of the veggie garden I mulched Saturday.

The greenhouse I went to to get the mulch, was colorfully decorated again, this time with some new flare. A couple posts back, I showed the cute fall settings at the greenhouse, but I'm adding more here..

I was also able to pick some figs too last weekend. Of course, they were delicious!

Blueberry, broccoli, squash harvest & other garden happenings

Squash and corn garden

Bean garden 

Blueberry harvest & broccoli, squash from the garden.
Had the squash and broccoli fried then pureed as a soup with potatoes and leeks.

Not sure what this is but I ate it like it was zucchini.
Cooked it fried with rice.

Grapes to make some wine or jam, not sure yet

Rose of sharon looking tropical and poised

Harvested Big Broccoli heads & planted Tulips for spring

Planted nearly 100 Tulip/daffodil bulbs, mulched & covered 

broccoli harvest

Keeping crops covered at night + colors & critters of autumn

plastic sheets over artichoke and broccoli at night

plastic over fence to cover broccoli plants

broccoli covered with mesh sheet, with grow bags in between plants

greens covered with glass shelves

radish covered with glass pane from old fridge

mattress spring holding up swiss chard

blueberries with red leaves

figs covered with blankets & tree covers

cat in the woods

pear trees with yellow leaves

Made another mini greenhouse garden tunnel for winter growing

still harvesting figs and lettuce

 It's getting in the 30s this week at night, so I will be covering the fig trees since I'm still harvesting figs. Additionally, I am covering the broccoli plants and lettuces with plastic to protect from the colder nights ahead. I put together a polytunnel today using rebar to hold the plastic hoops and used plastic sheeting to cover over the lettuce.

growing lettuce in winter

I have patches of radishes, swiss chard, collards, and lettuce growing among the broccoli plants that I cover at night. I use what I have on hand which happened to be glass panes from an old refrigerator. In the photo here you see some covered this way. There's many ways to cover plants with recyclable materials. I use the grow bags to cover plants, as well as blankets, garden canvas, jugs, plastic pet cones; and I'm sure I will use many different materials in the future.

plus I made a winter shelter for the outside cats

Tomato, fig harvest & fig jam + pics of the broccoli garden

I posted some pictures of the spider webs that are magnificent works of art when the morning dew rests on them.

Also, since the nights have been cold, I made sure to cover the broccoli plants before then.

corn. turnip, greens growing on mound

I didn't taken a picture of the peas in the garden, but I have peas ready to be picked. Here I have a tomato and fig harvest.

The figs were processed with some apples that I bought from an orchard with organic sugar, lemon juice, and vanilla. 

fig jam that's left after eating several jars already!

I bought fuyu persimmons from the store-they taste like pumpkin pie!