Eighth of an Acre Bounty

We finally had a bit of a sunny day yesterday, allowing me to tromp around and get pictures of all the promise out there. The ground is still completely soggy, so not a lot of cultivating I can do until we get a few sunny days in a row to dry things out a bit.

I’ve been meaning to post an update on how the gutter pea experiment is going. I briefly mentioned it in this earlier post, and transplanted them outside the other week along with the pac choi and cabbage. The picture above is of the peas sown in plastic gutter and started in the coldframe. The picture below is of peas sown directly outside in the ground at the same time (February 21st). The gutter peas did get quite a jump comparatively, and it was a cinch to put them in the ground.

The daffodils have opened up, giving a spot of color to the generally gray color motif we have lately.

The raspberry canes are moving past the bud stage and starting to put out a few leaves. I pruned and tied them in early March so now all we have to do is wait for the little red rubies to arrive.

Even the lilacs are getting in the mix. We have three lilacs total, but one of them has got to be of a much different variety than the other two. It has differently shaped leaves and puts out it’s flower buds at the same time as the leaf buds. Below you can see the tiny purple lilac bloom to be.

The other lilacs put out leaf buds like normal. Any promise of a flower is still wrapped tightly inside.

The pac choi took transplant quite well. I have both it and the cabbage covered in remay for the time being out in the bed. I had quite a time with cabbage butterfly last year and wanted to try and prevent as much as I could this year, but something is still munching on the cabbage seedlings pretty heavily. It apparently prefers cabbage to pac choi as these are in rows right next to each other and the pac choi shows minimal damage.

Rhubarb is peeking out too, the knarled leaves in thier tight covering always remind me of brains when they first start to pop out of the ground. A sickly little medical experiment in the backyard.

And the blueberries are showing signs of life too. We have 4 plants now in the bed out front. I am hoping to get more than a 5 berry harvest this year, but between the crows, squirrels and marauding middleschoolers that frequent our front walkway each day – I am keeping my anticipation in check. I’ll just be happy that the kids are eating something edible instead of daring each other to eat the berries off the ornamental bush we previously had out front (true story).