ex gardens

Most of the month of April was extremely dry here, with very little rainfall. Last year we had a whopping 11 inches of rain in April, which drowned crops and left the soil a soggy mess. This year we’ve gotten right at three inches of rain this month, and most of that fell in the last week. The temperatures have been running a bit warmer than usual, and that helped get the asparagus sprouting up about two weeks ahead of last year. We’ve gotten about eight pounds of it so far, and we have enjoyed it on several occasions. One of our favorite treatments is to make Aspargua Mimosa, steaming the asparagus and topping with grated hard-boiled egg and a few capers. April asparagus Asparagus Mimosa Another dish we’ve made is a Lemon Chicken Asparagus stir-fry. We served this over black rice, and it is another tasty way to use our asparagus. Lemon Chicken Asparagus stir-fry The lettuce in the greenhouse is keeping as well-supplied for salads. The Salanova Red Leaf letttuce is coloring ...

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...