It’s time for Midwest spring gardening adventures to begin!I remember a time when my whole garden would be planted by now. But the weather patterns have changed over recent years and I have learned not to get too hasty when it comes to getting things in the ground. So I have had to change my strategy a bit.
There are, however, a few things that thrive in the cool weather. I have those things planted, albeit later than I would have in years past.
Here’s what is happening in my vegetable garden.
The strawberry bed is going strong! Yes, I know this is not a vegetable. But the strawberries do reside in my vegetable garden. Late last fall I covered the bed with straw. This is what you’re supposed to do in the fall but I have never done this. When I pulled the straw off this spring, I was pleasantly surprised at all the little green leaves waiting to be discovered. Since then they have grown taller and now have tons of strawberry producing blossoms!
The rhubarb has come and is almost gone. The great thing about rhubarb is that you can wash it and cut it up to freeze for later use in pies, crisps, muffins and cake. It’s still as good as if you just picked it fresh from the garden.
Then we have the onion family. One of my experiments this year is to plant all the onions from seed rather than bulbs. I usually plant spring onions and leeks from seed and they have always turned out fine. This year I am planting all the onions and shallots from seed. So we’ll see how well they mature this year.
Here (above) we have the yellow onions. This is what I am planting for the majority of our onion supply. They’re versatile and store well over the winter. Just last week I finally had to purchase a bag on yellow onions. The onions I planted last year lasted in a cool room in the basement all winter!
This is the garlic that was planted last October. I have not had to buy garlic seed or bulbs for planting for several years. The first year I planted this in the spring because that is when I was able to find garlic cloves at the local nursery. As a rule, garlic should be planted in the fall for harvest the next season.
It can be planted in the spring but the resulting bulbs will be small when harvested in the same season.
I then save the best and biggest cloves to plant in the fall. Every year I do this and every year the bulbs planted in the fall to harvest the following season get bigger and bigger. I still have a lot of garlic from last season. But . . .can one ever really have too much garlic? I think not!
Next up are the red onions. Again, planted from seed this year instead of bulbs. I planted fewer of these this year. They winter over also but not as well as the yellow onions.
Last but not least of the onion family in my garden, the shallots. A milder version of the red onion. Great in a variety of seafood dishes and with red wine short ribs in the crockpot.
You may be asking yourself how I can tell which one is which? It’s true what they say. . . a mother can always tell the difference.
These are the potato plants. I have planted 3 different varieties this year. I planted these in the dirt then covered with straw. I just did this about a week ago and they’re already peeking through the straw.
This is different from how I have done it in the past. I grew up learning to plant potatoes in the dirt . . . the end. Then you dug them up with a potato fork hoping not to stab too many in the process.
Last year I planted potato towers like this . . .
growing them in layers with dirt and straw using less space by growing them vertically. No potato fork required.
This year I planted them in the dirt but then added a generous layer of straw on top. I plan to add more straw as they grow. When it’s time to dig them up, I’ll see which growing method produced the best results and that will be the deciding factor on how I grow them next year.
These are the Raspberries. Last year I had an over abundance of them. I still have a couple of containers in the freezer. Frozen berries are great in oatmeal, smoothies, muffins and quick breads or added to apple crisp filling all winter.
What you see here are radishes. What you can’t really see in this picture are the carrots that are planted with the radishes. By the time the carrots are maturing the radishes will be long gone. A great way to get more produce in one space.
I did plant one row of carrots alone next to the radish/carrot combo rows . . . just because.
These are the peas. These will eventually need a trellis of some kind to climb upward. That is if I can keep the Waskly Wabbits out of them this year! “Never . . . Never . . . Never give up!”
Brussels Sprouts are another new item in the garden this year. I love them! Fortunately for me, my daughter hates them. That means more for me!
Romaine lettuce . . . who can survive the summer without fresh lettuce?
These are spinach seedlings. Interestingly enough they look nothing like lettuce seedlings. Another necessary summer ingredient. . .
Last but not least Kale seedlings. These are another new experiment. Have you ever tried Kale Chips? Delicious! If I have a good turn out of Kale, stay tuned for the chip recipe.
That’s it for now. In the next week or so I will hopefully get the rest of the seeds in and update you all as they start growing.
I did start a few other plants from seeds under a grow light to plant in the garden as it gets warmer.
My “Grow light” is actually a cheap shop light with a couple of fluorescent bulbs. I put it in my basement to experiment with starting tomatoes, peppers, and a few other things from seeds rather than buying the plants at the nursery. Right now they are going through the “hardening off” process. More on the progress of these plants when planting time comes.
So that’s it for now. But there will be much more to come! It’s an exciting and very busy time of year but a garden is worth every ounce of effort that goes in to it!
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