I mixed things up a bit with my gardening plans this year. Normally I use my raised beds for my tomatoes, but I’m never quite satisfied with doing the same thing over and over and over in my gardens. I like to experiment and change things up. So this year I decided to start my cold crops in one of my raised beds.
In previous years I had to wait for the ground in the big garden to dry out enough for Joel to disk it. Then I had to wait for Isaac to rototill it. This isn’t such a big deal, but in spring it seems like the rains always keep the ground too wet to plant. Plus this year with our 80+ inches of snow the ground was pretty wet, by the time it all melted. I have always struggled in the past with getting my cold crops in early.
Not this year!
This year I was able to plant on Easter weekend. I had started my kale indoors and it was more than ready to go out. So I stuck that in around the edges of the bed, built three stick teepees for my peas, and then filled in the rest of the space with lettuces, radishes, carrots, and swiss chard.
And Voila!
It has been a super happy spot and I didn’t require anybody’s help to boot.
Now I am gathering abundant amounts of Kale and radishes! This is my first year growing kale and I didn’t know what to expect taste wise, but it is so good!
I have been slicing the kale up in strips( just like you would cabbage for coleslaw, removing the tough center ribs) and using it as the main green for our salads. All of us like it, which makes me happy, happy since it is SO good for us.
Currently I have so much kale that I am going to dehydrate some to make kale powder, which I can than use all through the winter to add nutritional boosts to my sauces, meatballs, lasagnas, smoothies, etc.
My oakleaf and romaine lettuce are just starting to get big enough to pick, and I am super happy to add that to our salads.
The other item going crazy in my garden is my oregano. It is prolific! Last year I took out a big portion of my main flower bed so that I could make an herb/kitchen garden. This year I had Isaac dig out more of my flowers so that I could expand the herb garden. My oregano is on its third year and doing super. I keep cutting it back and drying it. I have already harvested two huge bowls full, so far. I’m pretty sure this is going to end up as Christmas presents for all my sisters this year!
Little Sis and I have been super excited with all our green stuff. Each day we go out to take a progress report. Then we sample a bit here and a bit there. We’re pretty much just like Peter Rabbit!
