Gardening 2017 – Early photos through May.

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We got in the garden early in 2017. Got a really warm spell in January and the ground thawed in my beds.

I got lots of seeds, so why not. Planted  some lettuce and spinach on 1/27/17.

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The result was some sprouted and some not. By early May though, it was rockin’

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By May lots was going on. The fall planted potato onions were coming along by May

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Potato onions are also known as mother onions. You plant one bulb and the divide like garlic or shallots in 5 or more individual onions
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But we got most things going well by May.
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Had a huge lettuce harvest.

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Paris Island, Black Seeded Simpsom, Buttercrunch and Yugoslav Red. Planted 3/19/17.
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Leeks

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I also took time to harvest some of the leeks left in the garden. There are a bunch more out there but many will survive the winter and I can harvest some in the spring too.

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I left a bunch in the garden to overwinter last year too. Leeks are a bi-annual so they flowered this spring and I got lots of leek seeds I will be giving away in a few weeks. Stay tuned!

Fall Crops?

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Here are a few things I harvested from the garden yesterday.

We got asparagus, beets and broccoli there along with a few tomatoes. Yes, those are SPRING planted broccoli plants. The side shoots still coming on in mid September.

We stop picking asparagus in early July. Then we let the ferns grow wild until frost (They get 6 feet tall!).

This year with so much rain, we are still getting new shoots down at the base so about once a week there is enough for a couple servings. Fresh asparagus in September, what a treat.

Those beets have been planted since spring too. Wasn’t sure if they would get woody but again with all the rain they were huge but still tender.

This has been a great garden year!

Guess which ones are hot?

These are called “seasoning” peppers

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So which ones are hot? None of them! These are all really flavorful and fragrant, but NO heat at all.

Not even the green jalapeno ones which are called “Fooled You”. They are great for adding to salsa and only add flavor, NO heat at all.

The long pointed red ones are called Jimmy Nardello Italian peppers, sweet frying type peppers.

The other habanero looking ones include Arroz Con Pollo, Zavory, Aji Dulce, Trinidad Perfume, Sweet Yellow Habanero and some no name ones I brought back from Nevis Island that they simply called “seasoning” peppers.

These have the smell of hot habanero peppers, an amazing fruitiness. You can add these to salsa without adding any heat and all your friends will say it is the best salsa they have ever eaten!

I promise!