At the beginning of the month my big story was the cabbages. I planted them in September or October, and they were perfect on St. Patrick's Day.

     

Turned out I got invited to a St. Patricks Day potluck, but then it was canceled because of the corona virus. Ended up giving a couple of the cabbages to this Irish guy. I gave another one to Mendy.

  

The big thing I did with the cabbage I brought home was make cole slaw. I had that as a side dish with every lunch, supper, and evening snack for a week. Used up a whole jar of mayo making it. It was my best cabbage crop to date.

Love the grey skies. It's been wet the last week or so. Haven't watered since the end of February. Feels like almost month ago now. My plants are responding well to the moisture and warmth.

     

The Arkansas Traveler is waking up well from its winter nap.

The first night that tomato plant was in my plot some bird brain ate most of the top off of it. I put cages over all three tomatoes the next day.

The goji berry plant is also waking up nicely. Maybe this year I'll get my first goji berries.

This is one of the views of the plot I enjoy.

     

That last cabbage is the runt of the litter. It never had the firm feel of the others. Just kind of left it as a bribe for the aphids. Hopefully they will attract a good amount of lady bugs.

Those chards are turning into a joy to have around. I planted them expecting both Virginia and I would want lots of greens. Since she's gone I'm eating my fill of leafy greens with pretty stems.

This Tomato got munched to, but not as bad. Seems to be recovering from the trauma well enough.

  

This year I'm giving peas a chance. So far I've harvested maybe half a dozen pods from these plants, but they have only begun to grow.

Lots of hairy vetch plants came up, like the plant next door had sown seed and they had come up opportunistically. I pulled most of them like weeds, but this one was in a spot I didn't have a better use for. Besides, last year the bees had loved the vetch. So this year I'm growing that one.

     

One of the chards I transplanted because it was obviously too near other plants that were doing a lot better. Loving how this one looks like a little fire.

The other tomato I planted in mid march. This one is also recovering from the damage of being left out without protection that first night.

That fava bean is getting big enough that I'm thinking it's time to turn it under as a soil amendment. It's shading that chard plant, which I'm much more interested in grazing the leaves of.

     

Lately I've been grabbing whole crown tufts off of this bush. Strip them and bake the leaves into crunchy snacks or add them to soups. Virginia liked this plant a lot, but now it's bolting. I take a crown as the flowers start developing. Now I'm wondering if it will be over soon for this one.

Batina gave me the starts for these Bright Lights chards last fall or something like that. Probably should have planted them further from the kale, but I thought it was almost over for the kale then.

At the beginning of the rainy period that began at the beginning of March I planted this bed. Two rows each of leeks, beets, and carrots. The hope is that the rain will be enough to get it going. Still waiting for sprouts worth watering as I type this, but it has been steadily damp for weeks now.

     

Still wondering what to plant in that blank spot beyond the cards. It's going to get some shade from the big grape, so maybe some summer salad stuff.

Planted that pepper start at the same time I planted the tomato plants. It seems to be not growing well. Thinking that's because the soil is still too cold for that.

Mugwort continues because it's a polite plant that doesn't use that much space. Plus the bugrata bugs avoid it, which I like a lot. That red pail I found in the dumpster with a dead christmas tree in it. Left the tree behind. Thinking that will be a great place to expand the goji berries to when they get tired of the little pot they're in now.

  

The kiwi is waking up again. Wondering what to do with it. It's a beautiful plant, but it takes too much space if I can't get a crop out of it. For that I need a neighbor with a male. Dubious about whether that's going to happen again.

The grape is looking good. Last year I got maybe half a dozen bunches of grapes, each about the size of small woman's fist. Expecting more this year, but only two or three times what I got then.

     

Love seeing the first green buds growing on the plants. Hoping to at least get pretty flowers out of it.

That water cress I planted there a few years ago went to seed. This year I got a lot of those seedlings growing. Gave away a bunch of them. Once I thin this down to a few plants I'll have plenty of water cress.

     

That's my newest grape vine. Those are its first leaves here budding out!

Love cooking these greens! That's a typical harvest I'm getting from the chards maybe two or three times a week.

  

Cynthia dropped by and took a tour of the garden. Emailed me the last two pictures afterward.

That's another typical harvest. If you want a tour let me know. Love doing that!