The planting is all done!

Yay, the garden is finally all in! For those living in warmer areas it may seem incredible that we are just finishing up the planting at the end of May, but for those of us in the less temperate regions of Canada (most of us) our final frost date is not technically until June 1st. That means we’ve got to squeeze an awful lot of growing into a mighty short time period.

I love the garden at this stage. Actually I love it in every stage – especially since Steve has decided that the hoeing of the weeds is his personal mission – but right now, before everything gets wild and huge, the garden seems so neat and tidy, and full of potential. I’m not sure what it is about us humans that loves the orderliness of a straight line but it seems quite universal. I love seeing all the rows of tiny pea and carrot shoots, garlic, lettuce and cukes.

Last year I purchased a 6 pack of curly kale and another of swiss chard on a bit of a whim. I had been making green smoothies pretty regularly so I figured having fresh greens in the garden would be a bonus. Sometimes these kinds of plans go well and sometimes not so much but this was one impulse buy that turned out great.

It was awesome to be able to go out into the garden and pick whatever green I chose, whenever I wanted. The greens went into smoothies and were sautéed with onion and garlic to be eaten both as a side dish and under my morning eggs. In the fall, I froze a bunch for winter smoothies. Since they were going into the blender I didn’t even bother to blanch them. Not much went to waste, though the cabbage loopers eventually got into the kale, making cleaning it a pain in the backside. Those little buggers can hide in a curly kale leaf like nobody’s business and even after multiple washings and a soak in salt water I was still finding them. I’m sure I probably ate my fair share of them. Eew. 

This year I’ve planted double the greens that I planted last year by including some collard and mustard greens. I’ve switched to lacinato or dinosaur kale, which is a bit less curly and therefore hopefully not so easy for the worms to hide in, and I’ve put it all under a floating row cover.

For anyone unfamiliar a floating row cover is a very lightweight, permeable fabric that is placed directly over a row of plants. The edges are buried in the soil keeping all but soil dwelling bugs off of your plants. The fabric is so fine that the sunlight and rain can go right through it and the plants can push up against it so they don’t get flattened. It will also provide a minimal frost protection.  Honestly, to grow cruciferous crops like broccoli or cabbage it is a necessity if you want to have a chemical free garden. Home grown broccoli is like no other either in taste or in nutrition, but it is full of worms! After trying it one year I realized just how much chemical likely goes on most crucifers.

We are just in time with the planting too as it is expected to be rainy here all week so I can get back to the kitchen and wait for my veggies to grow.