It’s purple broccoli season! However, as you can see, it is growing rapidly through the bud stage toward the full-on flower stage. We are harvesting as much as we can before they flower.
Cauliflower
We finished harvesting the purple cauliflower. The white cauliflower is still to come, but it takes longer to mature. I think we are 2-3 weeks away from harvest.
Germinating Peas
Our exciting news is that the peas have germinated and are off to a great start. We removed the black plastic covering early because some mice made their homes underneath. The tunnel, which still covers the peas and warms the soil, is open so the cat patrol can keep tabs on the mouse community.
Sunchokes
Sunchokes will not be suitable for use for much longer. When we harvested this week, the tubers were starting to bud. Shoots will follow shortly. We’ll see if they’re usable after they start growing.
Honey Bees
Earlier in the week, we checked the bees to ensure they had enough food to get them through the rainy spell when they could not get out to forage. We discovered that a few of the hives had gotten creative and were building comb in the space where they had eaten the food given to them for the winter. What a mess! We straightened that out, then gave them enough food to last through the upcoming deluge. This coming week, we will inspect each colony thoroughly as it’s supposed to be warm enough to open the colonies. No doubt, we will find more comb to clean up.
Spring Rain In Chef's Garden
Thursday and Friday were wet, wet, wet. In that 48-hour period, we received 1.5 inches of rain. The soil was already saturated, so there was a lot of standing water around the Garden, including inside the greenhouse. Fortunately, there was no damage to the plants inside the greenhouse, as they were either up on tables or in stock tanks.
Come to the Garden to see what is growing, but you had better wear rain boots!
-Anna
