This weekend, I ventured out into the garden to harvest some early spring greens. The spinach that I sowed back in August is still producing tasty leaves. I'm really grateful to have gotten so much bang for my buck from this variety. I'm hoping to get one more harvest before it begins to bolt. Also, the Red Russian kale that I planted last September is starting to take off. Hopefully, I will be able to enjoy its succulent leaves well into the fall season. For this week, I harvested about 0.66 lbs of fresh greens.
In other news, we've been enjoying some incredible weather here in New England during the past 5 days. Unfortunately, the clear skies and warmer temperatures have not been enough to dry out my garden, which is still pretty muddy at the moment. In fact, there is some standing water remaining in a large section of my garden. I understand that 11 inches of rain from one storm is highly unusual, but I must admit that I am now nervous that this area will remain very wet for the remainder of this spring (and therefore unsuitable to work). It's becoming clear a large portion of our yard has drainage problems. As a result, it's time to come up with plan B. I'm considering moving a big chunk of my garden elsewhere.
Finally, I did get around to moving my artichoke plants outside in order to expose them to a few weeks of cold treatment. They will spend most of their time in one of my hoop houses and will be brought inside only when the temperature drops below 37 degrees. Let's hope that doesn't happen too often!
Having a garden in a location that has drainage issues is certainly a problem. I guess there is an advantage to having the entire property on a slope - which is the case here. Kate, over at gardeningwithoutskills had a similar situation, and installed a french drainage system to correct her problem. Maybe you can do the same....
ReplyDeleteEach year is such a learning experience, isn't it? Today I planted some yellow watermelon seeds that I found in my gardening basket. I saved them from a melon given to us by a friend last summer. I'm not even sure if it's heirloom! So...planting the seeds will either be a great experiment should they grow and thrive. OR a total waste of space should they grow but not produce any fruit! We'll have to wait and see... I hope your garden dries out in time!
ReplyDeleteOh...and waiting to see if my artichoke comes back. The chickens demolished it last summer...they've lost free-ranging priveleges...!
At the end, you will probably either have to move your garden or install something for drainage.
ReplyDeleteI have a drainage issue on the west border of my garden. This part is the lowest point in the garden, so all water is going that way. If I ever decide to expand garden, I will have to bring a lot soil for leveling that part of ground.
Artichokes look wonderful!
What variety of spinach did you use?
ReplyDeleteYour greens look incredibly tasty!
The thing that worries me Thomas is that all these "unusuals" are adding up to be the new weather pattern for our planet. Things are changing....so moving to a drier spot may be a great idea, I have all fingers and toes crossed for a warmer, drier summer than last year.
ReplyDeleteI was all bummed that my Late Summer/Fall sowings of greens didn't make it through the winter, but my recently sown spinach and kale looks like yours. Hmm....now, I didn't enjoy fresh greens all winter like you did, but maybe I will re-consider those greens and stick with carrots only for wintering over next year. Oh, but fresh spinach all winter would ROCK! Dilemmas.
I hope the water drains away and the area dries out. On the other hand, if it is a problem area, finding out early is a blessing in disguise.
ReplyDeleteLovely harvest !
Anonymous - the spinach variety is called Space F1. I purchased it from Johnny Selected Seeds.
ReplyDeleteIt's always nice to see your artichoke babies so I can verify that mine look right, LOL! I sowed a few more last week and was surprised that all 3 germinated, so now I have a total of 5 plants for the 11 seeds I started. My first batch are starting to have sleepovers outside too, right now they are on a shelf on my deck and I drop a dome cover over them at night, but I think I will quit that by the end of the week when the nighttime temps look to be a little higher.
ReplyDeleteFiguring out a new yard is really a learning process. I'm lucky to have seen the house that we are buying soon during the flooding rains. I could see both the yard and the basement in the worst it will probably ever see. And the yard drains pretty well. Thank goodness. I think right now with my current house I've been really spoiled. A gentle slope is a nice place to put a garden even if the garden is more terraced than raised. I hope you get dry soon.
ReplyDeleteThe greens look nice, I'll take any kind of greens this time of the year.
ReplyDeleteThose artichoke seedlings look very healthy, too bad I don't have space for large perennial vegetables.
I hope your garden dries out soon and the drainage problem solved.
The artichokes look spectacular. Sorry the garden beds are not draining and drying out. I would cost out doing a drainage system addition and then compare it to your "move the garden" option and just do the lowest cost of those two choices. Assuming you have sufficient land available with adequate sun exposure - the "move the garden" option is likely the least expensive but probably the most disruptive to your garden season.
ReplyDeleteNice greens. I'm sorry that you are having drainage issues. Could you build up your raised beds more? I have one in my yard, which is the lowest and most-flood prone part of my property, and the garden didn't seem too soggy (she says naively...).
ReplyDeleteGood luck.
That's a nice looking group of artichokes. They are so spectacular looking that I keep playing with the idea of planting them but haven't yet.
ReplyDeleteLots of rain. We've had dry weather but the mercury is about to fall.
There's nothing like a lot of rain to bring out drainage issues. I hope your plan B works out.
ReplyDeleteLet me also say how good those artichoke seedlings look!
Beautiful harvest once again, Thomas. Sorry to hear about your drainage issues -- although I suspect that 11 inches dumped all at once would tax almost any piece of land to absorb it. Crossing my fingers that you'll be able to work the ground soon!
ReplyDeleteNothing like a bunch of rain to reveal problems in the garden. I'll probably have to put a retaining wall in my garden, along with a drain. At least your greens and baby artichoke plants are looking great. :)
ReplyDeleteI always get excited when I see people's harvests. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteMy mouth waters looking at your delectable spring greens - You inspired me to plant mine today. And in 3 weeks. And so on. My garlic (fall planted) is growing strong and I planted peas today as well!! (And Sunchokes, but far far away in their own garden.....)
ReplyDeleteLove your blog!