So Much Planting.

I sincerely apologize for being somewhat absent with my blogging presence here. We have been awfully busy planting, thinning, transplanting, fertilizing, making new beds and constructing a new trellis. As of tomorrow the entire garden will be planted with the exception of the warm weather crops, of course. Once I get started, it seems like there is just not enough hours in the day and I am usually out after dark with my outdoor lights blaring, watering things.  My poor flower beds have not even been thoroughly weeded, thankfully I edged around them and gave them a good weeding as soon as the soil had thawed. I need to get on top of the weeding of the flower beds before it becomes an enormous task, however around here the veggies always come first. Tomorrow I do not have too much on my plate and will try my darnedest to get some updated pictures on here. The bulbs are truly lovely this time of year, they are so rewarding to plant. We recently added 63 new strawberry plants for a total of 108 and the asparagus spears are reaching for the sky. 

The doggy has been sleeping on this pile of topsoil since we got it. I will feel bad for him when it all gets used elsewhere. 

Lovely kale and spinach from the cold frame. Amazing the kale is still holding on from last fall. I thinned everything in the cold frame that I had sown way too thickly when I was not sure how well it would germinate in the cooler spring temperatures. Now I know that it was not necessary. The chickens do not mind though and make short work of the thinnings, arugula being their favourite.  

It was a lousy day, light-wise for taking photos. I could not resist snapping a shot of my favourite garden corner. Lots of bulbs in bloom and some following shortly after. 

New Perennial additions to the Garden This Year.

Perennials are the best. With a little care and TLC you can have perennial fruits and vegetables come back year after year. They are especially great in the early spring when rhubarb, asparagus and strawberries are ready to harvest before your early planted peas. Some new additions to our garden this year include:

One new rhubarb plant to add to our existing plant. 

One new highbush blueberry to add to our other two plants. 

Fifty, yes fifty, new strawberry plants to add to our existing forty five plants. 

Thirty some odd alpine strawberry plants for a new alpine strawberry bed. 

Twenty some odd all male asparagus plants grown from seed to add to our six existing crowns we can fully harvest this year and twelve asparagus plants grown from seed last year. 

and

One black currant bush. 

Some of last years strawberries. It's common to pick this amount in a day. 

Bog cranberry bush. 

More strawberries. 

Asparagus spear. 

Another successful fiddlehead picking trip. I will be steaming and blanching some of these to freeze since it is such a short season. 

Parrot tulips bloomed. 

Tulip tarda and checkered lilies. 

Fiddlehead Season.

It is fiddlehead season again. The dog and I had a successful first trip picking what I would consider a delicacy. Fiddleheads are ranked as being twice as strong in antioxidants as blueberries. They are also a very good source of vitamin a, vitamin c, riboflavin, niacin, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, copper and manganese and contain both omega 3 and 6 fatty acids. Quite the super food to say the least. Mine pictured here are not cleaned, you want to clean them well and remove the papery wrapper before cooking, and are stored in a small amount of water. You can keep them fresh in the fridge in this manner for a short time for fresh eating. When cooking fiddle heads it's quite important to boil for 10 minutes or steam for 12 minutes and then completely discard the cooking water. There have been reported salmonella like symptoms connected with eating undercooked fiddleheads. Fully cooked fiddleheads do not present a problem. When picking fiddleheads it is extremely important to know what you are picking before eating. I find the easiest way to identify the ferns is to look for a DEEP U-shaped groove in the stalk of the fern. Anther fern has a U-shaped groove in the stalk, however in comparison to the fiddlehead, or ostrich fern, it is quite shallow. Once you have identified them it is very easy to distinguish them from the many other ferns growing wild. Fiddleheads mainly grow by rivers, however you'll also find them away from the river and through damp areas in the woods. They spread quite aggressively. It's also important to allow some of the ferns to unfurl and continue to grow to allow the plant to come back the following year, never fully harvest one clump of ferns to be a sustainable harvester. Do some research before picking fiddleheads to fully understand the ferns. Make several trips to the same spot to harvest, again never taking all of the ferns, as they come out in stages from about a week ago until around the middle of may. We're quite lucky to have fiddleheads available here. There is nothing quite like foraging for free, nutrient dense foods and you also get lots of exercise tromping through the woods. I take my dog to exercise him and since I live in the middle of bear country, the bears seem to be scared of him.

   

Planting Potatoes.

Last year we planted our potatoes in April and enjoyed our first spuds in June. We are a little later getting ours in this year. I am planting the red ones today and allowing the Russets cuts to heal another day prior to planting. 

Garden Update

The first of the tulip tardas have bloomed. I love these sunny little gems. 

Checkered lilies in bloom. They were shy and I was not able to get the best shot of them. Soon enough more will be in bloom and easier to photograph.  

What is left of the hyacinths after some bashing rains. Still very pretty. 

These daffodils bloom before my jonquil daffodils. I have several clumps of these planted in  my flower beds. 

The jonquil daffodils are in the background, yet to start blooming. 

Fall planted garlic growing away. 

Ruby red radishes growing in the cold frame amongst various lettuces and greens.