Garden Updates and Surprises

The garden is in full swing. How is everyone else's garden doing? We've had a great amount of rain, sun and clouds so mine is thriving!

Strawberries: I just picked the last of my strawberries, but this was by far the biggest crop ever. They continue to grow and spread. By next year, they should take over the entire 8'x4' garden bed which now I feel isn't big enough for this berry-loving family! Savina climbs right in the garden bed and starts picking! Hopefully next year she realizes to just pick the red ones.

Kale: After learning about growing and harvesting kale at the CSA I worked at last year, I knew kale was a garden must. This is our first year with kale and I couldn't be happier. We even built a new garden bed for it. I think 8 kale plants may have been a little excessive, but it's great to send kale home with whoever comes over and it's making me juice a bit more which the kids are loving! I've also been replacing kale in all my recipes that I usually put spinach in so it is far from going to waste. Now ... to find the time to build a hoop house so we can continue growing in the cold months! Wish us luck!

Herb Garden: Herbs are blooming! Below is the basil I just harvested (I get about 3 cups per week) and the last of my winter onions. I think those would've lasted longer, but they are too attractive for the kids and they always want to pick them ... or hit them with baseball bats! Savina will munch them as we play in the yard ... I think that's why she never gets mosquito bites!

What beautiful dill!!!

Garden Surprises!!

I've had two garden surprises! First, my salad burnet came back! It was a really tough winter in Wisconsin so a lot of plants didn't make it to spring. I thought my salad burnet was gone. I was clipping my mint back and saw a nice size plant of salad burnet growing! The funny think is, it's not in the same place it was last summer ... it moved! I'm so glad that it's back though. Salad burnet has a cucumber like taste and I love putting it on salads and sandwiches or mixing it with my dill dips.

Salad Burnet Leaf

Salad Burnet Plant

My second surprise was three more tomato plants! I had two growing in my kale beds and one by my cucumbers. We really worked on our compost pile this past season so we were able to fill all 5 of our garden beds with our own compost. The soil has never been healthier! And, some tomato plants came with it! If that's not more of a reason to compost, I don't know what is! Now, just to find more garden space to put them! I think we need another garden bed!

Look at those healthy tomato leaves!

This week I have seen a few tomatoes starting as well as my cucumbers ... let the harvest continue!