Weekend Update – 4/15/12

The last few weeks have been very busy with a variety of  non-photo worthy projects in our house.  We did a lot of behind the scenes things that needed to be completed before we can get started on the bigger projects we have planned.  But the garden kept on growing, and we did get a few things planted.

A few blossoms on the Alpine Strawberries.

We added a make shift bunny fence around the alpine strawberries as well.  Something – we’re guessing a rabbit or squirrel – decided that the leaves were delicious and had almost eaten all of them when we discovered the issue.  We also had 3 nights with frost warnings last week, so we applied a heavy mulch to the strawberries.  They seem to have survived just fine and we even have some blossoms.

Transplanted seedlings in their larger containers. These are mostly eggplant & peppers - but we also have tomatoes, ground cherries and herbs.

We have been doing a lot of transplanting as well.  All of our peppers and tomatoes were started in small cells, which they were quickly outgrowing.  So we moved them up to larger pots to survive the next 3-4 weeks before we can set them out.

The cabbages and peas have been enjoying the cool weather.

The cabbages seem to be growing well.  This is our first year growing them, so I’m not really sure – but they are huge!  I just hope they start forming heads soon.  The peas are in desperate need of a trellis.  We have been working on building one this week, and hope to post plans and photos soon.

Broccoli, Cauliflower, Lettuce, Spinach, Kale, Celery Root, Parsley Root & Radishes.

Our “greens” are slowly growing.  I am getting very impatient to have our own fresh harvested lettuce, spinach and kale.  We are also trying a lot of new cool weather crops in this bed, and so far have had mixed results.  We started the parsley and celery root inside in February and it’s still tiny.  I’m not sure how it will turn out.  Plus we have already lost half of the cauliflower we transplanted.  We will have to try some more again in the fall.

Currant blooms

Our berry bushes are starting to bloom – which means berries aren’t too far off!  The currants were purchased at a Polish garden store in Chicago.  This was the first nursery where we found currant bushes stocked in our area.  We didn’t discover it until early fall though, and the nice man at the store was a little concerned that we were getting them in too late.  But thanks in part to the mild winter, they survived and it seems like we might see our first fruit this summer.

Blueberry blossoms

Last year we bought 4 blueberry bushes.  Two of these were purchased on clearance at a hardware store that was going out of business.  They looked pretty much dead at the time.  One of these was chewed off by rabbits this spring.  However, it looks there are a few leaves growing on it now, so it might make a recovery.  The other one is growing, although is still fairly small.  The other two blueberry bushes we got from Whole Foods.  They were about 3 times as large as the clearance ones, and cost about 3 times as much ($15 a piece).  The smaller of those two actually had berries last year (their first season in the ground) which Maggie thoroughly enjoyed.  The blooms above are on that same bush, so it looks like we will be getting more blueberries this year as well.  The other bushes don’t have any blossoms yet, so we will see.

Newly purchased gooseberry bush.

When we were visiting my parents over Easter, we stopped in at a favorite small town nursery.  We were excited to find 2 large gooseberry bushes for only $12 a piece.  Both the gooseberries and the currants are very nostalgic for Kryz.  He remembers his Grandpa growing both of these in Poland and making them into syrups and jams.  We are excited to be able to grow some in our garden now too.  We have had a hard time finding either gooseberries or currants locally, so I’m glad we found these.  Both bushes were covered in blossoms when we bought them, and now you can see the little berries developing as well!

So that’s a quick update on our garden progress over the last few weeks.  This weekend is our frost free date, so we have a long list of things to get in the ground.  I’m sure we’ll have a lot to update soon as our garden keeps on growing!