End of Spring garden

Spring Harvest

This spring garden turned out decent. The lettuce surprised us and produced to the very end of spring! I will note that although, the lettuce has not bolted it taste bitter. I believe temperature has some control over the taste of lettuce.
 We harvested quite a few carrots. I learned that although the idea of a cutting an inch off the top of the carrot to replant, is a nice idea they wilted for me. Instead, I kept a few carrots in the ground to harvest their seeds next year, hopefully.
Peas grew beautifully! 60 plants is still not enough for a family of five. I will plant another variety this spring. I was able to harvest two quarts and over 20 seedlings. They even tried to produce a second time! The problem with peas in the summer in NC is that the humidity rots the pods before they finish developing.
I planted the celery too late or they only grow around here during the fall. I am not sure. I just know they bolted well before they were ready due to the heat.
Onions are still growing beautifully. I'm beginning to think they take over a year to grow. I will say you do have to continue to had dirt as they grow because they enjoy pushing through the top.

That is all I can think of. I know I planted a few more plants, but they were either unsuccessful or escape my memory at the moment.

Spinach Seedlings

Spinach Seeds

I was able to discover some plants with seeds. Apparently not all plants turn to seed. The first plants I picked were nothing but golden pollen of sorts. You can either slip the plant into a paper bag and let them fall off in the bag or let them dry on the plant and fall off.

Now the test will be to plant them this fall and see how well I harvested them!

Seed Saving Spinach

I am so excited to reach this part of my vegetable gardening. I have never saved seeds prior to two years ago. The first seed saving endeavor I attempted was peas and it was so successful! I was hooked after that.

My goal is to save seeds from everything heirloom I plant. I will not only save money but also I will ensure  my garden will have the healthiest plants.

bolted spinach

My first attempt at saving spinach seeds turned out to be a disaster. This is the plant I harvested. More about my harvesting disaster in my next post. So far, I have discovered that seeds not inside the plant are hard to determine!

Canna Lilies

Our Neighbors

Ours

Our neighbor kindly gave us some of her canna lilies. In comparison, you can see that it takes over 2 years to get a good hedge going. June is the time of year for calla lily blooms, tiger Lilies, Magnolias, and hibiscus to name a few.
Funny update. I thought these were canna lilies, but spell check does not like the word so I "googled" it and musta entered the words wrong because it came up with calla lilies orignially. A kind reader cleared up the matter. I have canna lilies in my yard.

Harvesting Peas

I am harvesting the last of the peas. This is about the only plant I am truly successful with. You can plant them in the middle of February and harvest them by the end of May.

I am successful planting peas and saving seeds from peas, harvesting peas is another story. Peas aren't fussy. They love water, but can stand lack of water. They enjoy 8 hours of sun.

When you want to open a shell. You can pop it open by squeezing the end of the pod. You can pull up the entire plant at the end of the season with on pod left and let it turn light brown. This ensures the peas are dried out. You can store your dried peas in a dry area for next planting season.

I will say it takes a lot of plants to harvest enough for more than one person. I will plant these again for the fall garden.

Magnolia

This tree has been through the wringer. Due to the low humidity and extreme cold we experienced, it has quite turned brown. Keep in mind, magnolias shed their leaves year round. This was entire branches dying on me. I went to further investigate and to my horror discovered mold on the leaves, spiders, and all sorts of bugs. I hope some of the bugs are helping the poor tree.

I ran inside to do some research because it is not doing well, but the verdict was pretty hopeless. They develop diseases in the soil. Apparently, Magnolia roots are shallow. Advice discourages the use of fertilizer....pretty much anything to aid the trees.

I can cut the branches off that died, but truly much of anything you do to mess with the tree, hurts it. Basically, from what I understand, your best time to ensure a healthy tree is when you plant it initially.

So before I throw up my hands in despair completely, I tossed some rotten tomatoes around it to up the acidity level, and covered it with mulch. The only help I can truly give it is to cover the ground in 3 inches of mulch.