Garden Update - Early April

There are parts and pieces of the garden which are coming along. 

The wisteria, while not having blooms on it this year, is growing up and over my porch. I do need to get a couple of wires between posts to train it along. Hopefully, next year I will get some blooms. Beside the wisteria, there is something getting ready to bloom and bloom in a big way.

This is 'Christine', my Montana peony which was dragged around for a few years from Montana to North Carolina and finally planted in the ground. Last year I got a few blooms off her. This year...well, let's say I stopped counting at 51 buds and there are more forming. She is going crazy! About 30 inches tall and about a yard across, Christine shot up this spring and said 'Ta-Da'! She is giving Diva Vibes this year. 

Also giving Diva Vibes are my peach trees.

'Contender' and 'Elberta' are going wild with peaches. I have a ton of babies on both. While Elberta has grown more than Contender, it looks like I am going to get more than a couple of peaches off Contender this year. So excited. 

But look at this...

I have nectarines! I was a bit surprised about this as I wasn't expecting anything this year. It will only be 3-4, but I do have nectarines growing.

And not only did 'Lady K' Cherry tree bloom this year, but my Nanking Cherry bushes also had a few blooms on the large one. And I have fruit on both. 

The apple trees did get a few blooms on, but not sure yet if anything 'set'. However, if the number of blooms is any indication, the plum tree will be loaded with fruit this year.

The picture above doesn't show 'Toka' in all his glory. It was taken in his early blooming days. Just waiting for a bit of confirmation I have fruit set. In talking to my Extension Agent buddy, he feels I will probably have to do some thinning of the fruit due to the fruit set he is seeing on other plum trees this year. Such a chore to have to do!

I peeked into my mushroom 'boxes' and the spore is spreading!

Yes, there are threads of mycelium growing! So hopefully, in a few more months, I will have wine cap mushrooms emerging.

Slowly, but surely, the veggie garden is going in. What you don't see in this picture, is to the left, on the other side of my pathway which has crimson clover sown on it, are 15 black buckets with pepper plants in them. Everything from sweet bell peppers to my Megatron Jalapeño. This set-up is an experiment. Peppers like warm. So they are in black buckets and sitting against a cinder block wall which is painted black. So hopefully, they will get all the warmth they want and don't bake!

But I set up the hoop cover to shade some of the greens which might not like sitting in the hot sun all that much. Potatoes are looking good and need some 'hilling up'. Actually, I am dumping straw and grass clippings on them as they grow. 

The asparagus I have harvested a bit this year for the first time. Now I am letting them grown on and get a larger harvest next year. Plus I am hoping they spread more. Will see how that works out this time next year. But the onions are looking great. 

Comfrey is blooming and I'll start harvesting leaves for mulch in the garden soon. I have discovered a couple of places where I have some volunteer comfrey from where I moved it from its original location. Which is good. 

I was frankly surprised my Josephine clematis survived from last year. Between the heat, drought and lack of any care on my part. However, she is covered in buds and started opening up and spreading along the herb garden fence. 

The purple iris and spiderwort are making a great combination by the 'dog pond'. 

And the Carolina Allspice, or Sweet Betsy as I know her, is covered in flowers. 

The Elder shrubs have taken off and I have my fingers crossed for flowers this year. The Jerusalem artichokes I am trying this year have emerged (they are planted like potatoes) and are now growing by leaps and bounds. I was given a few by a gardening buddy. Not sure if I am going to actually eat them or not, but I am definitely interested in the flowers. 

There is a lot more to do in the garden and talked about. I've moved the greenhouse to the yard, in a protected corner. I am renovating the herb garden area with pebble pathways and dividing up oregano and lemon balm and adding the around the yard. I have a patch of sunflowers coming up in the brick pathway from where I flung some out for the birds. I am leaving them there and letting them grow. Tons of tomatoes, peppers and other plants to get into the ground. But I'll save these for later.