chores

it's been an interesting spring so far. the sun is warm and inviting, and the air is cool most days. in other words, ahhh perfect weather. also very helpful for getting yard work done.. and the whole house comes out to play. our friends upstairs have decided to try their hands at gardening this year with us, and have started some cukes from seed. also, their pepper patch is coming along nicely.

the entrance to the main kitchen garden is lined on either side with strawberry plants. they're already producing fruit, but it's up to us to beat the squirrels to the finished product. once they fill in, they'll make a really nice perennial ground cover to keep the soil together. most of the outer edges of the food garden are now perennial, including the far row of sunflowers that sow their own seed. with the help of the squirrels of course.

in other excitement, in the next few days the side of the house will be bursting with bright pink wild roses. what an amazing perfume.. you can smell them all the way down the road when the wind picks up. can't wait!

sprouts and perennials.

taking a look around the garden, we can see many things that have returned from last year. it was fun to watch the rhubarb come out of the ground. at first it sort of looks like a clump of crumpled up foliage that could be mistaken for garbage or kitchen scraps. now with all the rain we've been getting, the plant seems to have exploded over night!

rhubarb

this year hopefully we will actually get enough off the plant to make something from it. last year it didn't do so good, and we actually weren't expecting to see it survive the winter, but we're glad it did. next up, classic chives. they were probably the first thing to come out of the ground at the beginning of the season, their distinct bright green cylindrical sprouts are a giveaway.

chives

last year was the first year we had planted them, so this year we are hoping to see flowers. last year's lettuce had also gone to seed, and we were surprised to find little lettuce leaves in the back bed where they had been the year before. tiny tender green and purple leaves!

lettuce

something else we're hoping for this year is for these lovely blueberry bushes to make some fruit. at our last house it took a couple of seasons before we fianlly got berries, and then we had to leave them behind. though we hope to be here a few more years still, it'd be nice to see some berries this time around.

blueberries

the blueberries aren't the only berries making a comeback, the blackberries look like they are really taking off this year. they started as a small transplanted cutting from the old house, and now seem to be making a cozy home in the back corner of the yard.

 blackberries

this year we're hoping to expand on our variety of fruits. we already picked up a flat of strawberries, and we've been told by a friend at the farmer's market that we should be able to get gooseberry bushes from her this year. how exciting!