Things grow so slow at this elevation. I harvested the last of the leeks I sowed last summer today. We had one of the small leek in our salad tonight, Bobbe plans another meal with remaining leeks. I am so happy with the leeks from last year. I have multiple varieties in the greenhouse nearly ready for out planting for next fall and winter harvest.
The spinach we have been grazing on all winter has gone crazy and beginning to bolt. I will pull the remaining spinach and put in compost pile in a week or so. I have new seedlings in the raise beds and and greenhouse nearly ready for transplanting to garden soon. Another success for Snowshoe Inn garden.
The garlic I planted last fall are looking great (compared to last year). The low tunnel is a great success on this plant. The garlic in the low tunnels are nearly twice the size of the ones from the open garden. I plan to compare total production between low tunnel and non low tunnel garlic when I harvest them in July or August. I am still cooking with the garlic harvested last summer. The hard neck garlic do not keep as long as the soft neck garlic. This year I will cook with the hard neck varieties first and keep the soft neck varieties for later in the season.
The asparagus is a disappointment so far. I have had problems getting it established. I have a few roots that are well established but not enough to provide a real meal at one time. The roots I planted last year are just starting to come up now. Still quite small. I am fertilizing them with compost and keeping them weed free as best as I can. The roots I planted this spring still have not come up. It seems to take forever for first year roots to come up. Last season some of the roots did not come up until very late in the season. We love asparagus but if they do not do better soon I will pull them out and put something in that produces better.
The herbs this year are coming on. The Cilantro Is a real challenge, I need to get in the groove and sow new plants ever two to three weeks. The plants it herb garden are beginning to bolt already. The parcly is fine, Oh, the chives are great for the early season. Everything else is just slow to produce this early in the season. I transplanted my french Tarragon today to a large pot. I am thinking about planting two her gardens, on in pots near the back door, and a second in the fenced garden. It just depends on if I can find the free time.
After nearly 40 years of marriage I learned that Bobbe loves black berries. Very hard to grow here. I had had a couple of plants here for two seasons and no berries yet. I moved the one surviving plant to the blue berry house today. We will see how it does. I am thinking about going up near Sutton Lake a digging a bunch of the native wild black berries from there to my garden. They are great flavor but very low production. Better to have a few great berries than none. I am thinking about the same thing for the native huckleberries. I may make a trip the the east side of Mt. Hood and take cuttings to be rooted and transplanted to my garden.
Well I have stuck my neck out and hung my fuchsia baskets and put out many of the other tender perennials out today. It has been quite mild and no frost for the past few days. I check the weather forecast via the NWS for this area nightly. If frost is in the forecast I will put the plants in the house.
Like I have said in the past it gardening here was easy it would not be as much fun.
Bob
