Bio

I love spring time. Everything seems to just burst forth from the earth. It seems one week you have dead, dry grass and bare trees, and then the next week there is an abundance of wild flowers and all the trees are leafed out. The garden seems to respond in the same way.

The asparagus I planted now is making ferns and we have berries on the strawberries, blueberries, and blackberries. The only berry plants we do not have anything on right now is the elderberries. I also noticed the grape vines were blooming and some even have small fruit on them.

The nights are finally in the 60's and I noticed the tomato plants were putting on fruit. The tomatoes that I nursed through the cold of winter were the first to set fruit and they are all cherry tomatoes. Up until now I did not know for sure what kind of tomato they would be. The blackeye, purplehull, and cream peas are starting to branch out and are making buds to flower out. The watermelon and cantaloupe are starting to put out runners, and the squash is blooming. I also started harvesting some of our dill and putting it in the freezer for later use in dill breads.

I went to the potato cages today to put more hay on them and noticed that they were blooming. At the bloom stage, I stop covering them up and just let them bloom and die. After that I remove the cages and collect the potatoes off of the hay they grew in. They sure are clean and seem to keep better than the ones you have to dig out of the ground. Also you do not have to worry about cutting or skinning them while harvesting them. Be sure to not throw this used hay away. Put it in the chicken pen and let them compost it for you. They will do this in a matter of a few days, and you can then use it around your plants.

I planted three pear trees this week, and moved the Kiwi over to their permanent bed. The lady from the restaurant came over to get some multiplying onions today. She is using all of the older onion plants that grew over the winter months. We have already set out the new sets, and they are up about 6 or 7 inches tall and starting to multiply. In about 2 weeks, they will be ready for market. I trimmed up my peppermint bed and sold several baskets full. The rest I dried to use for mint tea.

I was able to put in two more 4X8 beds, and one 4X20 bed. The elephant garlic is starting to bulb up, and it looks like the harvest is going to be a good one. Here we harvest elephant garlic and regular garlic in August or September. For the first time I will probably have a limited supply of elephant garlic to give away.

For those of you that have requested cantaloupe seeds, I will have some of them in late summer. I will be more than happy to send them to you then if you will let Nita know. I also gave Nita a list of other seeds that I will have to give away in September.

If you want your plants to get off to a really great start, try using compost tea. I make my compost tea by tying a good shovel full into cheese cloth and placing it in a 5 gallon plastic bucket. Fill the bucket up with water then cover it with a lid or piece of plywood. After 2 weeks you can start using it. It smells awful, but it supplies your plants with a big boost of nutrients. Use a pint of the mixture on your plants every week, and you will have the healthiest plants in the neighborhood.

Happy gardening

Byron and Caroline

Cari-T Farm