Early April 2016

Hello again!
Being early April, wanted to give an update of my garden.  It was a pretty mild winter as I said in my previous post.  Since my last post back in the end of February, we've only had a couple days that were barely below freezing.  I took a risk and planted some of my warm weather plants into the ground real early (the tomato and squash seedlings I had shown before that I was growing in pots). I'm glad I did because that let them get a great head-start.    I've only had to cover them twice, due to the threat of frost, but that's all behind us now.
There was one set-back back in the end of March.  We had a big hailstorm!  Some of the hailstones were quarter-size, and they really tore up my onions, spinach, and my spaghetti squash, and busted a few heads of cabbage. The other stuff was not hurt much fortunately.  Since then the weather has been very nice, lots of sun, and rain occasionally.

One thing I noticed this year is that as the aphids showed up, many of the beneficial insects I had towards the year of the season last year have been showing up in good numbers too!  I've seen lots of ladybugs and ladybug larva around, plus some hoverflies, and lacewings too. Its nice they have shown up early because last year it was a struggle with the aphids!

Below is a picture of the broccoli patch.  Last post they were just a couple inches tall, but now they are getting pretty big.  Still no flower heads forming, though.  Also the cilantro next to it has bolted already.  Right next to them are three "Popaver" poppies.  These came up by themselves (I had spread some seed early last year, but none came up then!). They are about the bloom.

Here are the onions I planted this winter.  I didn't mention them in my previous post, but they have been steadily growing since late January.  There are some garlic in there too, elephant garlic, from cloves I had saved last year.  These I also planted back in the early winter.   And some more broccoli plants mixed in among them.

Below is the spaghetti squash.  And behind them are the tomato plants.

 There are actually 4 plants, 2 per hill.   They got clobbered by the hail, and two of them, their stems broke or bent badly, but fortunately above the leaf nodes, so that the plants were able to develop the runners below as their main shoots. So these have fully recovered and have started growing very quickly now.   The tomatoes are the "rutgers" variety.  They have recently started growing pretty fast, and in fact, one already has a couple of blossoms!  I'm sure glad I've gotten such an early start on these.  With the tomatoes, its important to be able to get a good harvest before the heat hits in full force.  And for the spaghetti squash, to get a  good head start on the Squash Vine Borers, which usually show up late May.

Below is the acorn squash I mentioned last post too, the Table Queen variety.  I have 3 hills of these, and they are not quite as far along as the spaghetti squash but they are starting to grow pretty fast now.

My first spinach patch, which I started late fall last year, has bolted already, and I've let it go to flower, for seed-collecting. Since spinach seed have a short shelf-life, I like saving seeds for the fall or next spring.
Below is the second patch I started in February.  They took a hit from the hail but have recovered pretty well, and are ready for picking.

Right above the spinach above are the Sweet Peas.  They have been growing slower than the snap peas,but are doing well though.  I don't see any flowers forming yet, but I'm expecting some great flowers around early May, and will post pictures.  I applied some "Bayer Systemic Rose" fertilizer and insecticide/miticide to them, because since they are not for eating, and they get hit by spider mites often, I'm hoping that will let them last further into the year.
Below are the snap peas. They are in full bloom, and there are bunches of small pods beginning to form.  I need to provide some more support as they keep growing because they have surpassed their tomato cages.

The yellow flowers at the bottom are the turnips which have all bolted. We did get some very nice turnips, and enjoyed some greens too, but I've pulled out most of them except for a few plants I've kept for collecting seeds.

Below is another section of onions, and the third small spinach patch next to it.  And on the right is the catnip plant which survived the winter, and is growing very nicely now.  I've also noticed some new catnip plants around it too.

Here is the remaining Cabbage. It did very well,and we've eaten lots of cabbage. Most of what you see is the remaining plants, what has grown after the head has been picked. I'm planning to use these like collards, if they don't form small heads, or don't bolt. Some of the cabbage has bolted, and I've had to pick it and feed it to the chickens.

Will post again soon!  Happy Gardening!