Garden Pickins'

[Float On]

Harvested a big bowl of green beans this evening. We've been eatting peas, lettuce, spinach, radish, onion so it's nice to get something different. Son #2 who loves to garden with me was less than thrilled with the amount of beans I planted - his least favorite veggie.

[Wildflower]

We're enjoying lettuce, radishes, and strawberries so far here. Planted some different kinds of peppers this year for the first time and looking forward to those, and especially looking forward to the tomatoes - my favorite!

[daisy]

We are transitioning from spring veggies to summer veggies here, so we're finishing off the kohlrabi, carrots and kale and have started on the zucchini, green beans and peppers. And we had our first garden tomatoes over the weekend. They were cherry tomatoes from saved seeds from last year's volunteer. They appear to be black cherries and they were soooooo good! There's nothing like those first tomatoes of the year!

[Rosemary]

Spinach, chard, lettuce, radishes so far. Abundant rhubarb. Could not cut any asparagus this year as my plants are not looking healthy - they need to just grow this year.
Strawberries are still blooming here in MN. The tart cherry tree is loaded with fruit, and the raspberries are looking promising. Sugar snap peas and snow peas are also thriving, but not yet blooming.

[Float On]

Chickens destroyed my strawberry patch last year and I didn't replant.
I'd really like to do rhubarb - love that stuff. The lady I usually buy rhubarb from had a late freeze and lost most of her strawberry and rhubarb crops (5 hours north of me).
I think I need to do a soil test. I just can't get carrots to grow, mine are tiny.

[CathyA]

Float On.....be careful with rhubarb leaves and your chickens. They are poisonous.

You must be in a warmer zone than I am. I won't have green beans for another 6 weeks.

My snow pea plants are about 3-4' high, but no blossoms yet. I worry, because we're supposed to have 90+ temps for awhile, and they may not even blossom.
I planted some butternut squash and zuchinni the other day. Once my garden gets going, and gets weeded, I'll take a pic. I'm really getting into vertical gardening!

We had some asparagus for awhile, but they got so weedy, I thought I'd better let what was left grow.
The weeds here are unbelievable!

I do have rhubarb, but I can't tolerate the stuff.......my parotid glands spam!! haha But DH loves it so I'll probably make something for him with it.

The collards are growing nicely.......but those are mostly for the chickens.

[Float On]

I didn't know that about chickens and rhubarb. Guess I just keep buying it when I can.

[CathyA]

Actually, the rhubarb leaves are poisonous to everyone. I had a farmer friend long ago whose wife didn't know they were poisonous and fed them to a pregnant pig, and all the babies died.
Seems like animals should have some inborn knowledge of what's poisonous and what's not. But I guess we don't, so why should they?
You could grow it, but keep a fence around it?

[Tweety]

Here in northern Indiana I have only been able to harvest rhubarb, fiddlehead ferns and spring onions so far. But the sugar snap peas are about 5 inches high, and the pole beans ditto. This year I put little wire cages around the beans and the critter that usually eats them to the ground has been foiled! I put in tomato plants today, and the raspberries are FULL of blossoms and beginners so it looks like a banner year for them. I bought the first local strawberries at the market today, will make strawberry-quince jam tomorrow, using the quince sauce I made and froze last Fall. Its a delicious combination that I tried for the first time last summer, and everybody loved it!

[Float On]

Strawberry-quince jam sounds really good. I love combination jams.

[razz]

Not quite that far advanced yet. I am enjoying rhubarb, green onions, first of the radishes and lettuce is coming on strong so maybe next week. All the perennial herbs are available as well.

The spring bouquets have been lovely though - lily of the valley, lots of daffodils, lilacs, basket of gold, and maybush.

[Gregg]

We've had lots of herbs, a few zucchini, a few little cucumbers, peas. There is a single little cherry tomato that should be ready tomorrow which is also DW's birthday so I guess she wins this round! Our green beans are probably 30 days from really producing.

Float On, did you get an early start with the warm winter or is this about normal for you? We are easily a month ahead of normal gardening here in Nebraska.

[Float On]

I did get an earlier start - did not want a repeat of last year. And this year I will plant a fall/winter garden. I had lettuce that kept going thru January this last year.
we also didn't get the flooding rains we had the two previous years.....I've had to water twice already.

Everything native is ahead of schedule as well - flowers, trees, etc.

[Gardenarian]

Cherries! yay!
And lettuce, carrots, radishes, strawberries. I kind of slacked off in the garden this year.

[awakenedsoul]

I just harvested my first artichokes of the season. They were delicious! I've been picking red and black seeded simpson lettuce, mesclun greens, and finished off the broccoli and brussels sprouts. This is my first year growing berries, and they are looking promising! I planted strawberries, raspberries, boysenberries, and blackberries. Picked my first zucchini of the season earlier this week. My rhubarb plant looks beautiful, but it's the first year I've had it, so I have to leave it alone until next year. My Cinderella pumpkins and heirloom tomatoes are coming along. They look healthy and vigorous. Santa Rosa plums should be ripe in another month or two...

CathyA,
That's so sad about the piglets. My neighbor told me a similiar story about children feeding them to tortoises, and they also died. Tragic.

[raeann]

Well, here in Central Texas, I've got a huge lead! Of course, a lack of winter gave me an even bigger head start. I planted some cukes and tomatoes at the end of February! We're picking green beans, blackeyes, tomatoes, squash squash squash, cukes, okra, and peppers. Been selling a lot of produce at a farmers' market. However, we also hit close to 97 degrees today, and that's pretty much the forecast for the seven days. :/ And not much rain..... So while I'm gloating with all my veggies, I'm dying of heat stroke and dehydration...