The Shade Garden is showing some new signs of life. I see seedlings in the area I planted Opolanka radishes and in the space where the Midnight Ruffles lettuce should be. The Giant Noble spinach that was planted out of the winter sown container is already starting to form seed heads. Glad I direct seeded it in two more places! By the time this one is too far gone to harvest, I might be able to get some from the new plants and replant this one from seed again.
A while ago I planted some beans and peas in hopes they'd grow up the stair rail and trellis near the doors. The Mammoth Melting Snow Peas are coming up; they're about 4-inches tall now but not quite reaching for the trellis yet. The Turkey Craw and Rattlesnake pole beans have not come up. I'm not sure if it's due to the cool weather, or bad seeds. So, I decided I'd put the portion of the kitchen door trellis space (where the Turkey Craw beans were supposed to be) to good use with Dragon's Egg cucumbers. I planted four seeds today and covered the space with the bottom half of a winter sown container (complete with air holes). Hopefully that will keep the temperature up enough to encourage the seeds to grow before the resident squirrel finds them.
Tony tells me that it's in the budget to get dirt this week. We have had various bills, vet emergencies, and a week of illness that lowered work hours that have come in the way, but maybe I'll finally be able to get the front raised gardens set up! Yay!! I hope I remember to get "before" photos to show the space I'm using before I get the project done.
The onions growing in buckets are looking nice from the tops, and the garlic in the raspberry bush is looking nice too. The raspberry bushes in front are gearing up for flowers already with lots of foliage. The three raspberry stragglers in the tulip garden have average foliage, but I'm not sure they'll produce any berries this year. I'm hoping to be able to start hardening off the plants I worked on all winter this week or next. I've got three blackberry plants (Triple Crown, Apache, and Chester Thornless), a container of chia plants, a wildflower mix container, a container of mint plants, two overly productive goji berry plants, and the Glaskins Perpetual Rhubarb that is just barely hanging on. I also have roots I bought for Victoria Rhubarb and a white version of asparagus. Originally I had planned to use the smaller raised bed for onions to make lots and lots of salsa, but now I think I'll make it our asparagus bed. I have Mary Washington seedlings that I winter sowed that are up and looking adorable, but they won't produce any edible crop for three years or so. The white asparagus crowns are second year roots, so should be ready to harvest (at least a small harvest anyway) next year. I want to add in a purple variety as well if I can find the roots again (Menards was sold out when I came back to buy them on my last visit). We'll have the coolest looking asparagus patch!