I have leeks growing at the community garden and in my backyard. It’s my first time growing them. (I know, I say that a lot, but it’s part of the fun — planting something new and seeing what happens.) So, I realized that I don’t know when to harvest them.
As you can see they’re smaller than what you’d find at the farmers market or the store. But does this mean that they’re not done growing? Any tips on when to harvest them?
I’ve written before about my love for borage. But it’s time to revisit and re-love this crazy gorgeous, happy-making, multi-purpose plant.
Today at the community garden:
A couple weeks ago:
And earlier assorted borage pictures:
I had some important work projects this weekend that took up a lot of time, but I also spent some time in my lovely backyard garden (the yarden). It’s been warmish all week, and I watered well last weekend. So today, the garden is looking good, with a definite flush of new growth. Here are some of the things growing that I’m super excited about.
The edibles:
I bought and planted seed shallots in the fall. (Really small shallots meant for planting. The bulb will divide and grow more shallots. Yum! I’m also curious to cook with the shallot greens. This is my first time growing them. I’ve been on a bit of an allium bender recently. (Alliums are the plant family of all things garlic and onion-like.)
Valeriana — also known as mache or lamb’s leaf lettuce. Tender and tasty. I can’t remember now whether I grew this from seed in the fall or got it as a start. My love for valeriana started on a Spring trip in Northern Italy a few years back. It’s a salad green that tolerates cold weather really well. It’s much more slow growing than lettuce though.
Artichoke! There’s nothing quite as gorgeous as a full lush artichoke spreading out its ample reach. This is a purple Roman artichoke (carciofo) in its second season.
This marjoram is going on several years, and is one of the plants I’ve had the longest. I have a special fondness for the plants that came over from my old house. There’s something sweet and reassuring about the continuity of a heart perennial.
Sugar snap pea! This is one of the gems I found while weeding today. A little sugar snap pea is coming up where I had grown them last year. Just one, so it prompted me to start some more from seed (they grow pretty quickly) to join this guy.
The flowers:
Crack poppy. Really. This is one of the California poppies that resurrected itself from where a friend planted them in the cracks of the patio last year. It has its first flower bud and I’m sure it will soon be boomin’. This one is close to two feet in diameter already. I love me some California poppies. Which is why they are poppy-ing (ha!) up all over my yard.
And speaking of poppies! I had one of my squeal in delight while weeding moments when I found this little poppy, which re-seeded from last year. Based on where it’s coming up I think it will be the incredibly gorgeous variety called Drama Queen. One of my favorites, I’m sure you’ll be surprised to hear.
One of my favorite things about this yard is all the calla lilies blooming prolifically in the spring. I mean seriously! This is just a few of them.
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Here in the San Francisco Bay Area we’re having lovely sunny weather this weekend. It’s a perfect time to start thinking about my garden this year. I’ve been massively busy and I’m endeavoring to keep this updated more as garden time kicks into gear.
I planted tulips bulbs for the first time in the fall. They’re starting to come up! I planted a bunch of random colors and varieties so I’m excited to see what they look like. (File this under joys of haphazard gardening.)
My backyard is also full of calla lilies — one of my favorite things about this time of year. I’m feeling extra good about this when I remembered how much it costs to buy them. (At this rate, I’ve got about $100 of super locally grown calla lily stems.)
This is the time of year when flowering trees are starting to bud out, with spray of pink flowers on otherwise bare branches.
Those of you on the Annie’s Annuals email list got the notice that it’s poppy time, people. I loved having crazy gorgeous varieties of poppies last year. I need to find better places to plant them this year though for maximum enjoyment. Check out all the poppy (papaver, if you want to be fancy) varieties that Annie’s carries.
It seems like it’s been a really dry winter so far. This is usually our rainy season, but I’m needing to water my plants a bit — especially the ones in containers — because the rains have only come in short spurts.
Those of you in colder climates can curl up inside with seed catalogs and daydream about your luscious garden this year. Either way, happy gardening!
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(Ok, not really on the Spring part. That’s still a few months away.) I gave my mom paper white narcissus bulbs for Christmas. This is a picture of how well they’re growing + my mom’s beautiful Rocky Mountain view. (The paper whites generally live inside, of course. They go outside for photoshoots.)
