Sanctuary Gardener Update ~ 4/20/15

It’s been a week since I finished the spring planting (well – other than what’s going to go into pots), and it has been cloudy and rainy since. Very dreary, yes, but excellent weather for new seedlings and newly planted seed. The milder temperatures (low to mid 70s) with no scorching sun, plus daily rain (even if a drizzle), have enabled my transplants to adjust perfectly. I haven’t lost a single one! And all of my seeds have germinated or are beginning to poke out of the ground. As Luke Bryan says in his song, “Where I come from, rain is a good thing!”

Bringing in the Last of the Winter Crops

I took this week off to work in the garden, but I didn’t realize how much time it was going to take. Other than taking time off for the Sabbath and Passover, I have worked 8 to 10 hour days in the garden; and I still have yet to start spring planting! (That begins today, though.) However, my garden beds look beautiful and ready to plant now that I’ve harvested the last of my winter crops, weeded in and around the beds (filling TEN four-feet-tall lawn & leaf bags!), supplemented my soil with Azomite (rock dust) and compost, and top dressed the cypress mulch around my beds. (I’ll share pictures in my next Sanctuary Gardener Update post.) It’s been a lot of work, but I have everything ready for seed and seedlings, and a refrigerator full of root veggies and greens.

Sanctuary Gardener Update ~ 3/30/15

This was surely a week of extremes here in the Charleston, SC, area….again. I was quite concerned yesterday that I would wake to a late frost, but thankfully, the temperature dropped only to 35 degrees. Whew! I have a lot of new growth on my raspberries, elderberries, herbs, and even my grape vines. Plus, I’m beginning to harvest my asparagus. A frost would not have been good for the tender leaves. Fortunately, all is well in my Sanctuary Garden. Come take a look.

Sanctuary Gardener Update ~ 3/23/15

It’s been a busy week on the homestead. The first day of spring ushered in a weekend filled with activity. We started work on my shade garden with the front “L” garden complete and the full shade garden on the side of the house to be dug up this week. (I have never before dug a ditch, and my body feels like someone beat me up while I slept!) I also attacked several fire ant hills inside my raised beds or near my food. Signs of spring are everywhere; the days are counting down to the big spring planting, and there is still much work to be done.

How My Garden Grows in June ~ Part 2

Yesterday, I shared with you pictures of half my garden this month, compared to pictures last month. Everything has grown so much! If you missed yesterday’s post, you can see Part 1 here. Today, I’ll share with you the rest of my garden with links to last month’s pictures, so you can see the change.

How My Garden Grows in May ~ Part 2

Yesterday, I shared pictures of half my garden beds and how they’re growing. If you missed the first half of my pictures, you can view Part 1. Now, for pictures of the second half of my garden.

First Harvest of 2014

Compared to most of the country, which is under many inches (or feet) of snow, we don’t have it bad here. But it’s still colder here than it should be. I want to play in my garden. I want to plant my flowers and my veggies. I want spring weather to arrive – and STAY!

Sanctuary Gardener Update ~ 2/24/14

I think spring is just around the corner! This past week, we’ve had temperatures in the 70’s and low 80’s (about 10 degrees above average, but I’ll take it). Although we’re supposed to have two or three nights the end of this week dipping below freezing for a couple hours, I think we’ve seen the worst of the winter now. My tulips are blooming, and yesterday I noticed the clover is starting to bloom along with the henbit and chickweed. The bees are sure to come soon. My winter garden is actually growing (what survived the cold as well as two ice storms), and I’m actually seeing new seedlings coming up.

Sanctuary Gardener Update ~ 12/16/13

It may be the middle of December, but I got quite a bit of work done in the garden this week. I augmented several more beds with cow manure compost and have about five more beds to do. (I ran out of manure!) I sowed red clover seed into the beds that won’t get planted until spring; the other beds are getting a blanket of leaves from my back yard as they’ll be planted next month with my winter crops. We received over an inch of much-needed rain this past weekend on the back end of warmer temperatures. The thermometer is dipping again this week, however. Winter will be here officially in a few days, but there are still things growing in my garden.

How to Plant Asparagus

When I bought my apple trees and grape vines last month, I added a new kind of asparagus to my nursery order – Purple Passion asparagus. It’s a purple variety that is supposed to taste sweeter than the green variety I already have planted. Well, I love my Mary Washington (green) asparagus, so I can’t wait to try the Purple Passion. In the beginning of this year, I posted an article, Sanctuary Spotlight on Asparagus, giving information on the plant, recipes, and a slide show of asparagus growth. I did include information in that post on planting asparagus (along with a hand-drawn diagram), but I wanted to dedicate an entire post on how I planted asparagus and include actual photographs of the planting.