Towards the end of April we had a hard frost, which unfortunately came after several days of unusually warm weather. A few of my fruit trees had buds that were starting to open, and the cold weather would have frozen them off. We spent several hours wrapping and covering them using frost cover, garbage bags and bubble wrap. Thankfully they pulled through just fine, lost a few branch tips that were touching the edges, but right now three of the trees are covered in flowers. I might get a few apples and pears this fall!

Pear tree covered in flowers, with a bumble bee

apple blossoms

The potato grow bags are all looking good out in the greenhouse. As the stems have grown taller I have been backfilling the bags with soil to keep them covered over. This will provide a bigger harvest in a few months. Once the soil level reaches the top I will mulch with straw.

I managed to do very well with the fresh indigo seeds I bought this winter. Very high germination rate. I have since potted them up into 6-1 trays, most have two plants per cell. I started a second set to have as backup, and they have all sprouted as well.

I got a bunch of free gladiola bulbs and started a few of them in 6 inch pots. They all sprouted and are now out in the greenhouse until the fear of frost has passed. I’ve never grown them before but I’m going to try. I just started a second round too.

gladiolus

The fig trees are all awake in the basement and waiting to be moved outside. A couple have tiny figs started as well. Should be able to get them outside in about a week. Most of the cuttings I took over the winter have also survived, and I now have way more than I need.

This month we replaced an old rotten wood raised bed with a new, larger one. It has hardware cloth on the bottom to keep out the voles, and I recently planted out a couple of kale plants, and a row of onion starts.

I reset the strawberry vertical tower. Several of the plants did not survive the winter in the basement, probably due to lack of light on the side facing away from the door. I bought a set of 25 bare root plants and replanted all the empty spaces. I added a bit of compost on top and then mulched all the layers with straw before restacking the tower.

The first couple of strawberries are already growing

I took my first harvest from the garden! Mixed lettuce and several sprigs of sage from the greenhouse.