Spring

Spring is firmly planted here. The pear and apple tree are blossoming, along with the strawberries and blueberries. The dandelions are in full attack on the lawn. Garlic that went in last year is 18″ tall. Snap peas are starting to climb their trellis – they are about 8″ tall, and will hopefully go to 5-6′ this year. This weekend we’ll be moving the balance of our starts out of the basement to the garden – about 300 plants. A sample of what we are growing this year: snap peas, beans, tomato (3 varieties), basil, chive, endive, sunflowers (80 of them!), chard, escarole, romaine, radish, turnip, carrot, asparagus, cucumber, squash, pumpkin, watermelon, cantaloupe, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, corn, zucchini, and … probably more that I’m forgetting.

We have just about the same area of living space in our house as we have growing space in the garden – and we have a bit more expansion to do this year – too many starts, too little room. We are slowly trying to move from a ‘normal’ backyard to one the produces more food than grass clippings. And we our sketching out the front yard to be a wildflower bird and butterfly haven – but that will take some $$ and muscle to get moving. The backyard garden will likely to soak up extra $$ and free time for the rest of the summer.