IN THE GARDEN

The seeds we planted right into the garden are all showing signs of growth. Prairie Boy has 3 rows of radish seedlings, and is eagerly waiting for his corn and peas to poke thru the soil. Prairie girl is faithfully watering her lettuce, garlic, green onions, carrot and cilantro (that comes up as a volunteer crop every year). She also has a variety of bean seeds that have been put in around the strawberry plants. We added 16 ever-bearing strawberry plants this week too. The early spring means that they are already in flower. I hope we get berries from them this year. Today we also dug in plants that came from my parent's farm; horseradish root, and rhubarb. I have never had any luck with rhubarb (we've tried growing it 2 other times), so here's hoping try #3 is the charm.

My part of the garden has the marjoram that survived the winter, spinach that will need to be thinned, beets, celery that I bought from a greenhouse and parsley. PrairieDad is still waiting to transplant peppers and tomatos in his garden spot.  While out purchasing the celery plants, I also picked up 4 thyme, one sage, and two oregano plants. They are now planted among our flowers. We still want to plant kale, rainbow chard, rosemary, multi-colour carrots and try growing leeks.

The garden, and the seed starting workshop have been great learning experiences for us. We've learned the parts of a seed, what a seed needs to germinate, that the first 2 leaves from a seed are not really leaves, but a cotyledon, garden planning, and all about tending the garden.

Spinach, sown April 16, 2012, photo taken May 12, 2012

Viola flowers picked from our lawn..eaten in a salad for Mother's Day. (we have never used any kind of chemical on our lawn, nor do any of our neighbors.)

Most of these things were familiar to us already, but to do this as a family has added a level of newness and excitement that is absolutely enjoyable. Both kids have taken a real ownership of their garden plots. I am really looking forward to seeing the garden produce for us to harvest and eat. Hopefully we can thin out the beets and spinach and add those little greens to a soup or salad later this week.
HARVEST NOTES: The chives have been split into 3 plants now. We have harvested the equivalent of 4 packages of grocery store chives. Tomorrow I will be cutting most of the plant to harvest and dehydrate a large quantity. It is trying to flower, and we want to delay that as much as possible to keep getting more of the fresh new leaves.