We're enjoying strawberries (but not as many as we'd like- we started a new bed last year and it's still expanding), lots and lots of snow peas, asparagus and lettuce. We planted New Zealand spinach but it didn't come up, so we'll try again. Our blueberries are ripening, too, and red raspberries are forming. We also have some sour cherries hanging on and exactly 5 sweet cherries (we just planted two trees last fall). I'm really enjoying your site. Is there an old homestead on your property? I thought somewhere I saw mention of it. Just trying to picture the layout of your property. Have you ever posted a map of it? I'd love to see one if you haven't:-).

Here on the GA coast, I dug my red potatoes planted the third week of February yesterday. I planted too many too close together. I think next year I will plant fewer farther apart and I bet I will get the same amount (weight) of spuds, just fewer but bigger. My onions are ready to pull too. I only have a 5'x20' main garden area, plus some raised beds with tomatoes, cukes and yellow squash in other areas.

Once it's all harvested, sweet corn and pole beans go in. Locals tell me it's "too late" to plant corn, but it works out just fine. I get sweet corn in late August, when their Feb/March planted corn has long since been harvested and died back. Plus my beans use the corn stalks to grow up around.

Jane --- You might like this post, which shows some aerial photos of our core homestead. Or this post mapping our sun patterns. You can also see the original house here.

Eric --- I'm all for succession planting corn. We're a lot cooler than you, but we keep planting corn from April until the middle of July, which gives us sweet corn to eat from July to October. On the other hand, my father (who gardens in the piedmont of South Carolina) does find it too dry to plant many things in the summer, so maybe that's what your neighbors are talking about?

I would love to report that we are eating lots of goodies from the garden, but it has been the most disappointing spring I have ever experienced. Cold weather, late frosts kept many things from growing, or even sprouting at all. NONE of the potatoes came up -none! I have never had that happen. Then the weather turned to summer almost overnight, and all the cool weather things bolted before I could harvest. The chickens got lots of spinach and chi ese cabbage. The brocolli tried to flower, but since the plants are still only about 6 i nches tall, the florests are miniscule. I will probably just throw those to the hens too. We are getting some nice lettuce, but even the kale is really slow. Go figure!
And it might all burn up anyway. The largest wildland fire in NM is burning all around us, 32 square miles in size, about a mile and a half away at its nearest point. Our only access road has been closed ( we are allowed to go one direction through checkpoints) and they have been testing the emergency notification system- not very comforting. We got a "test call" at midnight last night! On a happier note, I was excited to discover two almonds sprouting in the compost pile, and have potted them with loving care. Who knows?

I pulled a 5 gallon bucket of turnips & greens out of the main garden last night and about a gallon bag of garlic scapes too. Having never harvested scapes before, I am not quite sure what to do with them. Any suggestions?

Thanks, Anna. Those links were exactly what I was looking for. Now I can better picture everything:-).

Karen --- I use the whitish part of the garlic scape (below the bulge) because that part is the most tender. I just chop it up and use it in any cooked dish, like a stir fry. Someone told me he puts it in salad, but it's way too strong, in my opinion --- our scapes taste even garlickier than the bulbs!