Poking Up & Leafing Out

I love this time of year, because it brings a renewal of life. Seemingly overnight, the landscape changes from grays and browns to shades of green. Everywhere I look, things are poking up and leafing out. And many things are blooming as well. I’ve already been gushing about the asparagus, but it’s a classic example of what I’m talking about, poking up out of the ground and then reaching for the sky. It may not look like much in the below photo, but in one to two days the little shoot will be big enough to cut and eat. Asparagus is a fast grower, almost as if it was in a big hurry to grow after a long winter slumber.

young asparagus shoot poking out of the ground

Hostas are another example. This time of year, they start peeking up out of the ground and then the next thing you know they are a foot tall. I have to remember to spray deer repellent on them or they will be eaten up before they get a chance to grow up.

hosta shoots

The curled fiddleheads of ferns are also showing up right about now. The Ostrich fern is a rambunctious grower that like to pop up new shoots a few feet away from the main plant. My wife encourages it though, because not only is it a beautiful fern but she also likes to use it for sun printing. You can see how she does it here. I love the look of the sun printed material using ferns, and I will be commissioning her to dye me a t-shirt this summer when the ferns get bigger.

fiddleheads of ostrich fern

Another plant that shows up far away from the mother plant is the rugosa rose. At least ours do. They don’t spread quite as much as the ostrich fern, but we still have to keep them reined in or they will take over.

young rugosa rose volunteer

Not poking up yet are the potatoes. There are a few volunteer buckwheat sprouts coming up in the bed though, from the cover crop I let flower and go to seed last summer. If buckwheat is the worst ‘weed’ I have to deal with in the potatoes, I will be lucky indeed!

volunteer from buckwheat cover crop

Also not coming up yet are the carrots. They were sown six days ago, so it will probably be a few more days before they start sprouting. The weeds are already showing up though. they are always quicker than the carrots!

no sign of carrots under Agribon

The onions are up and looking good at the moment. I don’t see many weeds there, but I’m sure that won’t last long. I’m hoping the straw will help keep the weeds down for at least a little while, until the onions get growing.

onion plants

And blooming low to the ground right about now are the dwarf bearded iris. My wife has a bed of them planted out front where we can see them when we are coming and going from the house. I don’t know the name of the one in the below photo, but it is one of my favorites.

dwarf bearded iris

Another dwarf iris blooming now is colored almost like a daffodil. It’s such a cheery shade of yellow, it really looks great in the sunlight.

another dwarf iris

Also blooming, for the first time, are our currant bushes. We’ve never grown currants before, so they are a great experiment for us. They are in the same bed with the rugosa roses, though the currants are much more mild-mannered in their growth habit. It’s hard to see in the below photo, but I am excited to see little currants forming behind the blossoms!

currants blooming

I hope you’ve enjoyed a look at what’s peeking up and blooming here in late April. I’ll be back soon with more adventures as they happen!