ex gardens

The lineup of 2025 AAS Winners has been announced, and in the edibles category it includes four national winners and one regional winner. For those who might not be familiar with it, All-America Selections (AAS) is an independent, non-profit organization that tests new varieties of flowers and edibles in trial grounds all over the U.S. and Canada. I grow quite a few AAS Winners in my garden every year, and I always look forward to trying the new winners here at Happy Acres. There are two squashes, one tomato, one pepper and one kohlrabi that made the Winners list for 2025 as well as ten ornamentals. Kohlrabi Konstance is a new purple skinned hybrid kohlrabi that promises to be crack resistant, and with good flavor. It compared favorably to Kolibri in trials, and one judge noted “ This entry impressed me against the comparisons, having significantly more uniform, rounded, crack resistant fruit.” We love our kohlrabi here, and I look forward to growing this one for sure. Kohlrabi K...

Today I thought I would recap some of what I did in 2024, 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 Big Island of Hawaii. We divided our time between Hilo on the east side of the island and Kona on the west side. We toured the Liliʻuokalani gardens in Hilo, which is a lovely Japanese-style garden right in the heart of Hilo, near the bay. And we always enjoy visiting the farmer’s market in Hilo, which I think is one of the best in all of Hawaii. While on the Kona side, we made a trip to the  Paleaku Gardens Peace Sanctuary , a 7 acre tropical botanical garden overlooking historic Kealakekua Bay. It’s full of many different tropical plants, and scattered around the gardens are various shrines, including a Hawaiian Heiau, a Native American medicine wheel and a labyrinth that my wife walked. bridge over pond Hilo farmer’s market Stupa Ba...