KALE | The overwintered kale is flowering. The honey bees will be all over their favorite early spring food source as soon as the temperatures warm. It has been a slow spring for the bees since they haven’t been able to fly much because of the poor weather. However, we are hopeful that it’s going to change this week.
PURPLE BROCCOLI | There are a few purple broccoli sprouts left, but not very many. Anna Ashby, the master gardener, expects most of them to flower in the next 7-10 days.
PEA SHOOTS | The extremely brief harvest window for pea shoots have started. It’s short because the gardeners will be turning them under as soon as the soil dries enough so it’s not damaged by tillage. Unfortunately, it will take several dry days before they can even think about this, so the chefs at JORY will likely have pea shoots longer than a week!
RHUBARB | The gardeners have harvested the first of the rhubarb. It’s more established this year, so it’s looking good. It is much happier in the raised beds than in the garden area that frequently has standing water in the winter.
CAMAS | The gardeners planted camas where the rhubarb was formerly. It is more tolerant of wet winter soils than most other garden plants. Anna took this photo last year when she visited the camas festival at Linfield in McMinnville. The garden’s camas have sprouted but no blooms yet. They will come in a few weeks. Chef Jack is planning something special when the gardeners can harvest some bulbs in late summer.
OREGANO, MINT, AND TARRAGON | Each week, the gardeners can harvest more herbs. This past week they added oregano, mint, and tarragon to their harvesting list. They are indicators that spring is marking on, even though we think we are stuck in winter!
MICRO-GREENS | Micro-greens are holding steady. The gardeners have increased the amount they sow to keep up-to-date with the demand. More varieties will be added as the weather warms.
FAVA BEANS | Fava beans flowers! The garden will eventually have a lot of fava beans, but not for several weeks.
Come out to the garden and see what else we have growing!
–The Allison
