Late April in the Garden

 There is a lot going on in the garden (and in the house) this time of year.

Fava Beans (that sprouted last fall) are blooming.  We've been eating lettuce and spinach planted last fall.  The lettuce and spinach we planted this spring are almost ready to start picking from. 

The peas are about four inches tall.  We covered them with chicken wire after the birds pecked off a bunch of their leaves.

Purple broccoli that overwintered has been producing a bunch of florets.  We've been eating lots of broccoli lately.  It's very sweet and tender this time of year.

It's nice to know other gardeners because as they improve their gardens, they happily get rid of their old stuff.  Lisa of Sproutingoff.com generously gave me her old double grow light set up.  I set mine on top and ta-da a three tier grow light system.  Not pretty, but it works.  I'm growing a bunch of stuff for our community garden plant sale on May 19th.  Hopefully I can get things up to size and hardened off before then.  

Lots of tomatoes happy under the lights.

Basil- I couldn't resist a taste and made bruschetta last night.  The basil was wonderful, the grocery store tomatoes were not.  I can't wait until mid/late summer when we'll be swimming in tomatoes.  

We stuffed a whole grocery bag full of chard grown at our community garden plot.  The downside to growing lots of vegetables is that you eventually have to clean and process them.  When I harvest I like to pick everything very carefully ensuring no slugs and bugs come inside and to make for easy cleaning.  Terry grabs, cuts, and stuffs the bag and leaves the mess for me to deal with.  I let it sit on the counter for a couple days and then begrudgingly start meticulously cleaning it for blanching and freezing.  I should be thankful for the bounty and while I love growing vegetables, I really do hate cleaning them.