Greens for Sale, Greens for Sale!

written by Yvonne

(Seriously!  I have spinach and collards for sale. See picture #2).

As I write this, I thought it was two weekends ago that we harvested 8 pounds of spinach to freeze. Now I realize it was ONE WEEK to the day... and this is what that same patch looked like yesterday!

I harvested another big batch: 10, 10oz bags of spinach and 6, 10oz bags of collards. They are $1 per bag.  (Available to anyone that Tom or I see on a regular basis so we can hand them to you within the week. Or, if you want to pick them up at our house, you could do that as well. First come first served. While they last and all that good stuff.)

Here is the run down of how things are going in TYs VeggiePatch this week.

Here is the out-of-control collard patch (prior to harvesting) with some random lettuce.

Garlic (foreground) and the second bed of spinach (background).

Peas were very slow going at first but within the last week they've almost doubled in size. Still no pods yet.

Very small carrots but they're there.

We think (you know how that goes) this is broccoli.  The cauliflower patch has this same shaped leaf sprouting in it so we're hopeful that both are going to take hold and produce something.

I think this is lettuce. Or it could be a weed. Or maybe a mango tree.

This is definitely potatoes. The whole bed is growing like crazy.

Raspberries seen to be taking root.

It appeared that we lost this blackberry bush soon after planting it. But it's growing new leaves after all so we think all is good.

Blueberry bushes (foreground) also look like they've taken hold. Dog (background) enjoying the beautiful day.

This is Maizie. She is one of our indoor cats. She has chronic renal failure and gets IV fluids every other day. We know she's on her 9th life so we decided to let her join us outside. Sunday was the third or fourth time we've let her come outside and she LOVES it. She did what all cats do and found a hidden place to lay in the sun. She is laying on our out building enjoying the day. The fact that it smells like gasoline because of the lawnmower didn't seem to deter her from choosing this spot.

Spring makes one so hopeful. The beginnings of these peaches and apples (below) get my mouth watering for cobblers and pies. But we know both trees have issues with bugs or fungus and we won't get a harvest from them. Getting the boxes built for the garden was our focus in year one. Year two, this year, the focus is to maintain what we have and get the bees going. Next year we will focus on these two fruit tress and get them manageable and healthy.

We planted two types of beans this weekend and threw lavender and lemon grass seeds in the mint bed - which is now the lavender/lemon grass bed. Speaking of mint; we are aware that mint grows like a weed around these parts which is probably why we can't find seed in any stores. And yet, we also can't find any growing like weeds in anyone yard either. As such, if anyone has access to mint, maybe several cutting from someone's yard, we'd love to have it. I'll trade ya spinach for mint?

In Bee News

Tom took his first hive to the drop-off point where it will be populated with a queen and all her workers. He should have them back within a week and then he's off to the races.

Tom set up the hive stand (four pained cinder blocs) and got good vibes from our four-legged creatures to bless the new bees home.