The first fig on the "Peters Honey" fig in the Med. bed.

Butch is making sure that Deano is doing everything the right way. He makes a good job supervisor.

Sunflower and California poppy blooming

Here you can see the peas are starting to really take off. I did try one and they are so good!

There are more artichokes putting in an appearance. The warm weather and longer days are a relief after the dark days of winter.

Even though Kim is not here to watch over things the crops continue to grow and boy am I relieved. The ladybugs are still at work doing their best to rid the area of aphids. The Mango is putting on new buds and our papaya tree is holding on to the "large" fruit that has set in spite of a couple of cool days with not much sun.
I have been busy doing a lot of harvesting. Arugula, greens, dill, parsley and chard were all harvested this week and sold to Sweet Pea Market. Doing this harvesting does point out the need for a large table and the walk in cooler to keep things fresh until we can deliver them.
I have pulled up the older bed of encore mix and all greens mix to make room for new crops. There were a few aphids on some of the scarlet runner beans and I went after them with a combination of soapy spray and wiping them off then set out the remainder of the lady's to do their thing. I will see this morning if that did the trick.

Peas, broccoli, Chinese kale, beets, and chives transplants are in the ground, as are newly seeded beds of carrots, onions, and plenty of greens: mache, spinach, more arugula, bok choy, more chard, tatsoi, cilantro, sorrel, and lettuce. We're trying some romaine head lettuce too, which is different from our "cut and come again" approach that we've taken so far with greens. I'm using the back, north wall to trellis peas, and will likely do beans back there too. I also have peas growing up the east trellis in the Med bed. I'm really trying to start new beds every week to keep our succession successful. So, right now I have 3 beds of arugula: one that's almost done, one that's almost ready, and one that's still tiny and a few weeks out.

I have been trying to always be starting new seeds. Along with the plants that I just mentioned, we have seedlings of beans, 2 types of basil, thyme, rosemary, oregano, sage, and more peas in 4 " pots. In our seedling trays, we have tomatoes starting, and cucumbers, peppers, tomatillos, and leeks; we have spilanthes, lavender, chia, cumin, lovage, garlic chives, Tulsi basil and Thai basil newly seeded in the seed trays; and plenty of flowers, too: calendula, sunflowers, and morning glories.

We also have been releasing lady bugs. They are hard at work eating aphids. Our giant dill is starting to flower, which hopefully will make any beneficial insects that we have in here a little happier.

I'm thinking that we will keep the tomatoes, peppers, cukes, and other tender annuals in the greenhouse this summer. I'm planning on using the herbs to fill in inside as well, but hope to incorporate the hardy perennial herbs into the plan for the outside gardens, too: lavender, thyme, oregano, lovage, and chives could all work outside.

The water tanks along the north wall are filled, and heating up. The average water temperature is about 60*. We are investigating pumps, filters, and plants for them to avoid having a lot of briney, dead water come summer. I think we'll wait to try fish in there until perhaps next year. But, I do plan on trying beekeeping this year!

My last post showed the pomegranate budding out. Since then, we're seeing new buds and leaves on many perennials: both figs, the mango and lychee, and the two grapes are all waking up.