The garlic I planted last fall is doing beautifully. The onions that got lost in the weeds last year came back this year. So did the weeds, but they’re not any taller than the weeds yet. A friend is going to help me weed the onion patch on Friday, and we’ll put cardboard down between the rows like I did in the garlic patch. It looks like we might have a pretty nice crop of onions this year!
I finished the 7′ x 16′ greenhouse I was building. This evening, I moved the flats of tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, and okra that I’ve had under lights into the greenhouse. It’s going to be chilly the next few nights, so we’ll see how it goes. I also assembled some hanging baskets to hang from the rafters in the greenhouse. I’m thinking of planting some petunias in at least some of them–maybe to sell, or maybe just to pretty up the farm market once it opens.
Some of the kale, collards, mustard, and turnips that I grew last year also came back. The Lacinato kale was growing from old stems and had bolted when we had a couple days with highs in the 80s. It was bitter, so I mowed it down. I pulled up some other greens that had bolted, as well as the turnips and some weeds, and fed them to the hens. My red kale (not sure yet whether it’s Redbor or Red Russian–probably both) and collards are both doing so well that I may not even need to plant any this spring.
Mayda has planted some peas. I’ll be planting more next week, along with a few other things. We have garlic mustard popping up all over the place. I’m going to harvest a lot of it this week so I can sun-dry it to blend with other herbs and spices. I think dried garlic mustard combined with garlic and red pepper would make a good pizza seasoning.
If any of you have some non-plasticized cardboard that you were planning to take to a recycling bin, could you drop it off at my house instead? Pizza boxes are just about the perfect size for mulching between rows. Larger boxes can go under the raised beds I’ll be building for the tomatoes, or they can be cut to fit where I need them. You can just set them on the front porch at either 2624 Woodland Avenue or 2130 Paul drive (both 43211). Thank you!
Do you need space for your own garden? We still have plots available at the community garden I manage on Maize Road. For more information, click here.
