Garden updates- wrapping up May, first week of June.

 Here in the Blue Ridge my frost free day is around the second week of May. Typically, mother's day weekend. Though many of the locals don't plant until Memorial day weekend.  i usually push the limits and plant early, this year i could have gotten away with it since we really didn't have a winter, and the last freeze was in April, i believe.

i didn't get around to putting stuff early, and then we had like 3 weeks of constant rain so i ended up a little behind.  Almost all my seeds had been started already in the greenhouse so i wasn't really that concerned. 

Once the rain stopped i was finally able to set up my bean trellis and start sectioning off my garden. i don't like planting in rows, so instead i create squares and do sort of  square foot gardening within my garden. i feel like this works best for me, allowing me to focus on the needs of each square and water/fertilize/supplement as necessary without having to do it to the entire garden.  i did out paths between the squares giving it a faux raised bed look. This helps with drainage in my heavy clay soil.

Although my summer garden wasn't planted on time, i did have my crops in early. So i've been harvesting lots of leafy greens since April.  i started harvesting asparagus and broccoli in the first week of May and am still picking. My broccoli are all a bit small this year, i think possibly stunted from the warm temperatures in March/April.  This was my  5-20 harvest. Leafy greens, kale, asparagus, broccoli, a few carrots and rhubarb.

i turned some of the veggies into a delicious stirfry.  This is entirely homegrown veggies, with just a little olive oil.

By the end of May things were really starting to take off. i'm still getting the leafy greens, broccoli and asparagus, but now i'm starting to see some snow peas and garlic scapes as well. Garlic scapes are wonderful. They can be used in stir fries, on pizza, and turned into pesto. This is my harvest from 5-27.  The rain knocked down a bunch of my Iris, so i brought them inside with my veggies.

i made a pizza from scratch, using my home canned sauce. Topped it with homegrown spinach, asparagus and garlic scapes and then added some homemade mozzarella. 

6-4 harvest. i'm getting to the end of my broccoli heads, but they still producing lots of shoots. The garlic scapes and sugar snaps are really come in now. Still getting asparagus, but it's slowed don so i'm only getting a couple shoots a day. i still lots of lettuce and leafy greens under row/shade covers but i expect it will be bolting soon as the temperatures rise.

This time of year, i make a lot of stir fries and use them as side dish to most meals. i used some of the broccoli, garlic scapes, carrots and snow peas in this tofu dish. The veggies were lightly sauteed in olive oil and served over a bed of Udon noodles and topped with orange sesame tofu.

i had about 75% of my garden in my June first, but have been waiting on rain again to finish planting it. The plants are all doing so well in the greenhouse i haven't been in a hurry to put them outside.

In the greenhouse my tomatoes, peppers and eggplants are blooming. i have several tomatoes, eggplant and peppers that will stay in the greenhouse all summer, but also have many in pots that still need to be planted outside. 

i have one little pepper plant that already has a pepper on it!  i have several varieties of beans planted in the main garden, potatoes, corn and squash in a different garden. My sweet potato slips are rooting well, and i plan to get them planted this week.  We are finally getting a little rain today, so i should be able to get the rest of my plants in the ground. 

Looking forward to a good harvest, so we can feast on home grown veggies all summer and i can refill my pantry with canned goods this fall.  

How is your garden growing?