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Photo Friday: Early Blooms

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Today I want to show some of the things we have blooming here in late March and early April. I’ll start with the daffodils. We have quite a few of them planted in various locations, and they have been blooming for a couple of weeks now. They always lend a bit of cheer and color to our garden when little else is blooming. early daffodil mix bicolor daffodils white daffodils Another early and dependable bloomer are the hellebores, and we have several different ones blooming now. hellebore hellebore flower The first iris of the year is always exciting to see, especially for my wife (aka The Iris Queen) who has quite a collection! This first one is a short but sweet and well-named dwarf: Riveting. The second to open was another dwarf named Cherry Garden. Last year she had 51 different irises that bloomed, and we always look forward to the annual parade. Riveting iris Cherry Garden iris Our traditional azaleas are also beginning to bloom now. The red ones are especia...
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March 2026 Update

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As usual, I have been busy this March with seed starting activities. So far I have started seeds for the brassicas, petunias, parsley, eggplant, tomatoes and peppers. Next up in the lineup will be the cucumbers and squashes. It keeps me busy with watering duties, and I am looking forward to getting some of them in the ground and containers next month. brassica seedlings I’ve been harvesting greens from the greenhouse and vegetable garden. About half of our collards survived the winter and I have been cutting leaves from them for our use. I got a nice haul a couple of weeks ago, almost three pounds of them. Nancy Malone Wheat Purple collard plant harvest of collard greens I’m also cutting lettuce as needed from the greenhouse. I brought in two large heads of Bergam’s Green leaf lettuce, along with other varieties as well. Bergam’s Green lettuce mixed lettuce from greenhouse The Bergam’s Green went into a wilted lettuce salad we had for dinner one night, which is alway...
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February 2026 Update

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It has been a quiet month here when it comes to gardening. The weather was cold and snowy early in the month, and harvesting was minimal. I was able to cut some curly kale from the greenhouse, which was a mix of Scarlet and Starbor. It has held up well in the cold, and usually does well for me in the winter greenhouse. I lost some of the lettuce I had planted in there, but over a dozen plants survived and should give us leaves in a week or so. curly kale I used the kale and one of our Purple sweet potatoes from storage to make kale and sweet potato hash one night for a side dish. I cooked it in my ancient cast iron skillet that is well-seasoned from years of use! kale and sweet potato hash Earlier in the month I cooked up some ‘fried’ collard greens from the last of the leaves I cut back in January. I sliced the greens into fine shreds and cooked them in olive oil, and seasoned with a bit of salt. The leaves are so flavorful they don’t need more than that to suit my taste buds....
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Let the Seed Starting Begin – Again

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Once again it’s time to begin starting seeds for the garden. This time of year I start all of my seeds indoors using fluorescent lights setup in our basement. It’s way too cold out in the greenhouse, and this year I had to wade through the snow to even get in the greenhouse and bring some potting supplies indoors. Note to self – plan ahead next year! That said, it is unusual for us to have this much snow hang around. The cold is normal, but not the snow. starting seeds I start most of my seeds either in individual 3.5″ plastic pots or in plug flats. For a starting medium I use either a potting mix made for seed starting, or else an organic potting soil that is fine-textured without a lot of big, rough pieces in it. I prefer to use a seed starting mix without added fertilizer so I can add my own as needed. Once the seedlings are a couple of weeks old I will use a weak fish and seaweed fertilizer like Neptune’s Harvest to give them a little food. I like the seaweed fertilizers becaus...
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January 2026 Update

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This month we have gone from one extreme to the other. We left behind the cold to visit Maui mid-month. We had a lovely time there, enjoying the warm weather and sampling foods we got from local farmer’s markets and restaurants. One of my favorite markets is held three times every week at the Queen Kaʻahumanu Center mall. There are usually eight to ten vendors there who have just about all the fresh produce you need, plus other items like baked good as well. farmer’s market at mall We typically eat our breakfast and evening meals at the condo where we stay, and those meals feature the local produce. One night we enjoyed a meal of roasted eggplant, okra, baby bananas and pineapple along with macadamia nut crusted mahi-mahi. Everything was local including the fish. We love eating local food whenever and wherever we go, and Maui is a great place to do it. dinner with local goodies We also ate salads on several occasions, and they featured local goodies including lettuce, carrots, ...
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Looking Back On 2025 – By The Month

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Today I thought I would recap some of what I did in 2025, in a month by month format. It was a busy year, with a lot happening both in the garden and outside it. My wife and I spent some time in January someplace sunny and warm: on the island of Maui in Hawaii. We visited Iao Valley one morning to see the sights and do a little hiking. The weather was cool and fellow hikers were willing to snap our pic for us. We also visited several of the Maui farmer’s markets, including the Upcountry Market where we got lots of local goodies and saw a lovely double rainbow as we were leaving. waterfall at Iao Valley overlook at Iao Needle double rainbow at farmer’s market Back home in February, we had snow. It wasn’t enough to have to shovel, but enough to make the roads slippery. It didn’t bother the lettuce in the greenhouse though, and I was able to keep us supplied for our salads. February snow snowy lettuce harvest In March we saw the first of the daffodils blooming, they are a...
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