Where had the time gone? Once again, I'm grateful for gardening season to pull me back to Hive to be able to share and see what everyone else has growing! Life continues to be busy here in the real world, but it's a wonderful time of year to slow down and spend some time among the plants.
I feel like I got a little bit of a later start with some of my planting this year, but given our long growing season here in the southern USA, I wasn't too worried. The challenge, in my opinion, is always getting my seedlings out late enough that the frost won't kill them, but early enough before the bugs eat EVERYTHING! I'm not quite sure there is ever a perfect time, but much of what I have put out in the ground is looking good so far!
Before we get to what's growing...
@dksart did what he often does and made some new beds out of "free" materials. I use that term a little loosely since cutting down trees isn't cheap, but at least we've been able to use the logs from the numerous pine trees we've gotten taken down over the last few years. While these of course won't last forever, it's a great way to start some new beds using items we already had.
Three beds he made last year have been filled up enough with branches, clippings, and soil to be used this year. While the newest five or six will have to wait until next year in order to be full enough to utilize.
The greenhouse was also a wonderfully useful thing to have to get my seedlings started while it was still a bit brisk and unpredictable outside. I still have my cucumbers and a few other seeds going in it to be put out once it really warms up! I have mostly planted the usual suspects: a few different varieties each of summer and hard squash, tomatoes of all sorts, cucumbers, corn, beans, eggplant, and plenty of herbs.
The first "fruits" should come from the snap peas...
They're climbing away, and I am keeping my eyes peeled for the first sign of flowers.
The baby corn was also a direct sow straight into the beds. We had some grow to about a foot tall last year before dying off, so I'm trying to make sure to continue to add compost to these to see if that helps.
Those who have followed along with our garden adventures from the last few years know squash is generally a good grower in our part of the world. This year I'm hoping the pumpkins shown above will produce well, though I've also got a few Candy Roasters and crazy Zucchino Rampicante plants growing in addition to the more traditional pumpkins.
Patty pan is another of my favorite types of summer squash, and it looks like we should be getting some in another month or so given how well those plants are starting to grow. I've got a few varieties of the smaller squash, along with a few plants of golden zucchini. Some of my seedlings did get eaten by bugs, but I have a few more going in the greenhouse to plant out once big enough because I didn't get as much as I would have liked last year!
The tomatoes, eggplant, and cucumbers are still small and unremarkable, so I'll save those for another time and instead end off my April update with a happy fruit tree update.
After a pretty aggressive pruning late winter, the plum trees are looking lush! The fruits in my cover image are from one of our two trees, which both have fruit setting. We had fruit last year that ended up mostly dropping off the juvenile trees, but I'm keeping all fingers and toes crossed that we get our first harvest from these this year!
The oldest of the fig trees has also bounced back nicely after a run-in with some pesky beetles last year. You can also see the other two figs in the background, including the one to the left which was a clipping from this main one that seems to be settling in to its new home well. We've never had a big fig year yet, so maybe this will be our year?
I think that's a good place to end off for this time. It's nice to get to hop back on and share again, even if it's just so I can look back and compare notes year to year! I'm looking forward to checking in with my other garden pals to see how things are looking with you all.
Hoping for an abundant season ahead!
Banners by @riverflows, @woman-onthe-wing and @dksart