Get ready. Get set. Start #gardening.

If you live in the greater Seattle area you likely know about McLendon Hardware stores. Yesterday I found early transplants at the Woodinville store and got some spinach and lettuce to plant in our mini-greenhouse.

Actually I planted spinach seed last fall to overwinter except some critter got in there and ate the plants - roots and all! 😟

At least that critter left the Walla Walla onions alone. They will get transplanted into another part of the garden in a few weeks.
#Gardens #FoodGardeners #FarmersEatFirst #PNW #GrowFood

Got spinach?

It is my turn to cook tonight so the menu will include some tasty fall spinach from our mini greenhouse. These plants will survive temps into the teens and produce our first garden-fresh produce next March.

Also in the pic are some Walla Walla onions. Next spring I will transplant these into a different part of the garden and they will be our first onions.

At the other end of the same greenhouse bed are hardy lettuce varieties to overwinter. But it looks like I planted too soon so I plan to plant more lettuce in the other greenhouse bed. Meanwhile, we have all the succulent tender lettuce we can eat.
#Gardening #Gardens #FoodGardeners #FarmersEatFirst #PNW

Pole bean revival.

In early September it looked like our garden pole beans were done producing for the year. Turns out they were just taking a bit of a break. The daily yield is way down but it is still more than we can keep up with eating fresh. The plants are really beat up since I have been pawing through the leaves picking beans all season. But as long as the plants are producing, I will let them keep going.
#Gardening #Gardens #FoodGardeners #FarmersEatFirst #PNW

Got beans?

File this under gardening lessons learned.

We had an early warm spring and so I took advantage by planting the pole bean crop earlier than normal. We had a great harvest, froze 10 quarts and shared with friends and local food bank.

But now the plants are almost done producing. Usually we have fresh beans later than this. Next year I plan to plant half the crop ASAP and then wait 2-3 weeks before planting the rest.
#Gardening #Gardens #FoodGardeners #FarmersEatFirst #PNW

Got food?

Making a run to the local food bank with some tasty organic goodies.
#Gardening #Gardens #FoodGardeners #FarmersEatFirst #PNW

#Blueberry jailbreak!

No, the blueberries did not tunnel out. Instead, the dang Juncos tunneled in under the wire!

Juncos are ground birds and the scratch with their feet foraging for food. A couple of days ago I let a Junco out of the jail and carefully inspected for holes in the net and tunnels. This morning there was a Junco (same one?) in the jail and, yup, a new bird tunnel.

I have now armored the ground outside the wire. #Gardening #Gardens #FoodGardeners #FarmersEatFirst #PNW