Spring Heat Means Growth!

Boy have we turned a corner! From a record cold start this year to the now summer temperatures in early May, Mother Nature decided to give us New Englanders a nice break! 

This break is also doing my garden well! Below is my turnip plants, which are really starting to establish themselves. I just thinned them out a week ago! 

Next are the radishes! One of the fastest growing vegetables you can grow. These were planted using seed tape (which I LOVE so far) and were planted a week ago but should be ready to harvest by the end of the month (only 22 days!) 

My Swiss chard is also starting to establish itself and is beginning to look less like a sprout and more like a plant! 

Note* all the white petals in the photos are from the Cleveland pear trees that grow in my yard and my neighbors yard. Unfortunately, they're just ornamental and not actual edible fruit trees. I wish they were though! 

Kale is growing!

The kale plants and seed that I planted in my square foot garden two weeks ago are beginning to take off. Although Kale is suppose to do fairly well in cool temps, I wasn't sure if I planted it too early or not. Here in southern Connecticut, we usually don't plant anything before May 15th. However, even after a very cold winter, we've gotten lucky with a fairly descent April. The result is progress in my garden! 

Check out my beautiful kale plants in the morning sun! 

And the kale seeds I planted are now sprouting! 

Winter Day Dreams of my Spring Garden!

As the days continue to get shorter, the landscape turns bare and brown before hopefully a blanket of white arrives, I'm already day dreaming about my garden in the spring! I day dream of garden layouts, new raised beds, water storage and new plants! I have to say I most excited about two new plants I hope to plant in the spring!

The first one is Swiss Chard, which is in the spinach and kale family and extremely healthy for you! It also grows well throughout the season from the cool spring days through the hot summer and cool fall! This endurance means a continuous crop through the growing season! It's also a very cool plant, the stems can come in a rainbow of colors giving the garden an interesting aesthetic! The dark leaves are rich in vitamin b's and offer a bang for your buck nutritionally! Below is a picture of colorful Swiss chard from http://www.revolutiongardens.com/?attachment_id=524

The other plant I'm excited to grow is a fruit shrub. To be more specific heritage raspberry plant. I hope to find a few varieties to plant if I have the room! Heritage raspberry seems to be the most reliable and also one of the few that produce. Crops twice a year. In fact I have read that they even produce a fall crop the first year, which would be awesome! Now raspberry plants are perennials and will take some work to maintain. Most work involves thinning canes in the summer and cutting old canes once dormant. Like blackberries, raspberries grow on canes but after the cane produces fruit it normally has to be cut down to get new growth and new fruit! Most varieties grow the cane one year and fruit the next. So once the plants are established, your efforts one summer will directly impact your crop of delicious berries the next year, I just hope I have enough room for the berry plants! It would be like growing candy in my backyard!! Below is a picture of a very healthy heritage raspberry plant from http://www.gardencrossings.com/plantname/Rubus-Heritage-Raspberry