re: 2022 Spring Garden Thread

I'm pretty annoyed. I hit the Gurney's BOGO for 1 cent deal a few weeks back and loaded up on potatoes. I got an email this week saying they were out of stock and canceled my order.

Last weekend I took out about a quarter of my tomato plants and put a couple of pumpkin seeds in to start germing. The tomatoes slowed way down on producing but my creoles are still holding up, flowering, and have new tomatoes on them so I'll let them hold on as long as they can. The forecast looks stupid hot thought with multiple 100+ temp days so they probably won't make it much longer.

I got in a trimmed up the blackberry bush. Took out all but 2 old canes and trimmed the tops of the new ones to get better lateral growth this coming year. The bush was kind of a mess this past year but I couldn't keep up with picking so it wasn't all bad.

I've got my first couple of okra so far. They are loving the heat and dry weather. Same with the peppers.

I'm still waiting on the garlic. I've got my first scape that I forgot to go back and clip yesterday so I'll grab that today. I planted them a little late in December so they probably have a little while longer until they are ready.

Yard long beans are going nuts. I can't give the beans away fast enough. Going to try blanching and freezing some tonight then thaw and cook this weekend. If they hold up ok then I'll bust out the vacuum sealer and get to work.

Something new I'm trying is planting some sunflowers. My goal isn't to get seeds as much as it is to provide a pollen/nectar source for the bees. Apparently the Lemon Queen variety is especially attractive to them. I found out about this a couple weeks ago so I'll be late providing for them during dearth but next year I'll be sure to plant early and get them blooming June/July.

I've got a couple watermelon that are doing good too. I can't remember how long it takes them to ripen though. Seems like it was a while. Hopefully they are ready for 4th of July.

The bees are doing really good. I have been holding off on adding another brood box. They have another 1 1/2 to 2 frames to draw comb out on. Idk how much more they will be doing though with the lack of pollen and nectar now. I may have to wait until the fall.