Photo Friday: May Blooms

Posted on May 23, 2025 by Dave @ HappyAcres

I’m taking a break from edibles today to showcase some of the things we have blooming here in late May. We have a lot of irises planted here, and while most of the bearded ones are done for the season, we do have a few late bloomers showing up now. Red Velvet Elvis is a Louisiana Iris with large red flowers is one of them.

Red Velvet Elvis iris

And Concord Crush is a Siberian Iris with ruffled violet-blue flowers. It is a stunner for sure!

Concord Crush iris

While the irises are fading out, the hardy hibiscus are just beginning to flower. Luna White is a short variety with large white flowers that have bright red centers. More varieties should be blooming in a week or two.

Luna White hibiscus

And some of the coneflowers are beginning to bloom as well. This short red flowered one was the first bloom this year.

Panama Red echinacea

We have quite a few spiderworts planted, and they have been blooming for a few weeks now. They come in all different colors, and the bees seem to love them all! One of them came from my wife’s house before we moved here, and another came from a friend. We also have several named varieties we have added over the years. Each bloom lasts for just one day, but is quickly followed by more.

purple spiderwort

spiderwort covered in blooms

Ocean Blue spiderwort

We have a few annuals planted here, especially petunias. Butterflies love them, and they provide a spot of early color in many spots. Shake Raspberry is a new variety and a 2025 AAS Winner. Misty Lilac Wave is a long-time favorite of mine that has pinkish flowers with splashes of white. I grow the petunias in containers, and they provide color for us all summer long. Easy Wave Burgundy Star is a new favorite, and I have it planted in pots on our front porch.

Shake Raspberry petunia

Misty Lilac Wave petunia

Easy Wave Burgundy Star petunia

And we have one ‘surprise’ plant blooming now. When my wife and I visited our friends Steve and Sharon in Alabama couple of years ago, we brought back a ‘mystery’ plant we found when we were helping renovate one of their flower beds. Sharon couldn’t remember what it was, and while the leaves looked familiar I couldn’t place it either. But as soon as I saw a flower bud developing on it this year, I knew it was a Red Hot Poker plant (Kniphofia). I had trouble getting it to grow before, but this plant seems to have happily survived its move to Happy Acres!

Red Hot Poker plant

I hope you have enjoyed this look at some of the blooms of late May here at Happy Acres. I’ll be back soon with more happenings!

 

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Harvest Monday May 19, 2025

Posted on May 19, 2025 by Dave @ HappyAcres

It’s time for Harvest Monday, where gardeners from all over celebrate all things harvest related. The weather has still been rainy and wet here, but I did manage to get some work done in the garden last week. I hope to give another garden update soon. Meanwhile, lettuce and salads are still on our menu here often as the spring greens keep on producing. I cut the lettuce on an as-needed basis, and last week it was a big head of Teagan leaf lettuce. I used some of it to make a fish taco salad bowl we had for dinner one night. It featured crispy baked fish sticks, mango, avocado and cheese on a bed of lettuce, and topped with a cilantro crema sauce.

Teagan lettuce

fish taco bowl

And I made a cutting of arugula last week to go on a pizza. This is Speedy, and it is beginning to bolt to flower so this will likely be the last cutting until I replant in fall.

Speedy arugula

Of course the asparagus is still coming on strong, and we’ve harvested over 11 pounds of it so far this season. We’ll likely keep on cutting it for another week or two, as long as the size of the spears holds up. We used some of to make a Chicken and Asparagus Lemon Stir Fry last week, which we served up over some black rice.

asparagus harvest

Chicken and Asparagus Lemon Stir Fry

In non-harvest news, the bluebirds are continuing to visit our feeders. I managed to catch a shot of the male and a young juvenile last week. Meanwhile, mama bluebird has laid four eggs in the nest box for the second brood. Both parents should stay busy for some time to come now!

male and juvenile bluebirds at feeder

I also baked a loaf of Easy Everyday Sourdough Bread  last week. It baked up nice and tall, and should make a good base for our sandwiches as well as for crostini.

Easy Everyday Sourdough Bread

Harvest Monday is a day to show off your harvests, how you are saving your harvest, or how you are using your harvest. If you have a harvest you want to share, add your name and blog link to Mr Linky below. And please check out what everyone is harvesting!


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Harvest Monday May 12, 2025

Posted on May 12, 2025 by Dave @ HappyAcres

It’s time for Harvest Monday, where gardeners from all over celebrate all things harvest related. The asparagus slowed down a bit last week, but we’re still getting plenty of it to keep us supplied. We’ve harvested nine pounds of it so far, about on par with last year’s haul. The spears are trending smaller too but still quite tender and tasty.

daily asparagus harvest

Needless to say, asparagus is on the menu often! Asparagus Mimosa is one of our favorite treatments, and makes for a light but filling lunch when served with some of my focaccia bread. We also roast it for a side dish quite often, tossed with olive oil and topped with a bit of grated Parmesan cheese.

Asparagus Mimosa

roasted asparagus

The lettuce is hanging in there too, and I cut a big head of Grazion last week for our salads. I am surprised how mild tasting the leaves are, given the sometimes hot temps in the greenhouse this time of year.

Grazion lettuce

I also cut baby greens from our container plants of Green Curls Kale and Miz America mizuna. Both made good additions to salads. Miz America is spicy on its own but adds flavor wherever you use it.

baby kale and purple mizuna

Our salads are never really the same twice. We use what we have available, and often use nuts and cheese for the protein source. Dried and fresh fruit also go on top, and I always make a homemade vinegar and oil dressing.

main dish salad

We’ve had a lot of rain here the last couple of months, historic levels in fact. Thankfully we’ve had no severe weather. But last week we had a thunderstorm that dumped 2 inches of rain in a short period of time, accompanied by half-inch sized hail. The hail did a number on things growing and blooming outside, including my wife’s beloved irises. The tender leaves of the container eggplants took a beating as well. They should recover, but I’m guessing it set them back a bit. It’s hard to do photosynthesis if half the leaves are missing!

eggplant leaves with hail damage

In non harvest news, our baby bluebirds have fledged, and I sometimes see them flying around or at the feeders. This one had its back to the camera, but there’s no mistaking the speckled feathers of the babies.

young bluebird

Harvest Monday is a day to show off your harvests, how you are saving your harvest, or how you are using your harvest. If you have a harvest you want to share, add your name and blog link to Mr Linky below. And please check out what everyone is harvesting!


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Early May Garden Update

Posted on May 8, 2025 by Dave @ HappyAcres

It’s time for another update on the garden here at Happy Acres. We had record and historic levels of rainfall here this spring, and I dumped over 11 inches of rain from our rain gauge. That has made it difficult to get much done outside in the garden. I have planted a few things though, and they have been loving all that rain. In early April I planted one of the cold frame beds behind the greenhouse with curly kale, and it has really taken off. I tucked a few lettuce plants in there too between the kale plants.

curly kale plants

About two weeks ago, I got another cold frame bed planted in kohlrabi, and that is also doing great. I set out 24 plants in this 4 foot by 8 foot bed, then mulched with shredded paper and cardboard.

kohlrabi plants

In mid-April I potted up the eggplants I am growing in containers. These varieties (Fairy Tale, Gretel and Icicle) all do very well grown that way, and give us an abundance of early eggplant. All are AAS Winners, and very prolific for me here. For more into on growing eggplant this way, I did a tutorial back in 2012 on Growing Eggplant In Containers. Since then I have been growing them every year in both Smart Pots and plastic containers.

eggplants in containers

The greenhouse shelves are still bulging with plants, which is typical this time of year. Keeping them watered certainly keeps me busy!

plants on greenhouse shelf

I have finally been able to begin planting in the vegetable garden area though. My wife got a pic of me installing some new weed barrier a week or so ago. I have been getting about three years from most pieces, and one of the oldest ones needed replacing.

me putting down weed barrier

After securing the edges with landscape staples, I cut planting holes using a culinary torch. I got the idea of using a torch from Sue and Martyn Garrett (Our Plot at Green Lane Allotments) , and I am so thankful they shared this valuable tip! The fabric is hard to cut with scissors, and then it frays afterwards. The torch leaves edges that stay intact, and the whole process doesn’t take nearly as long either.

cutting hole using culinary torch

I was able to set out 30 brassica plants last week, just before another round of rains came. That has helped get them off to a good start. The rest of that bed will get planted in bush squashes in a week or so, once those seedlings get a bit bigger.

brassica plants

Next in line, I need to get a bed ready for planting main crop tomatoes. That bed had sweet potatoes planted in it last year, and I will pull any large weeds before spreading compost and fertilizer. Then I will move the weed barrier I use for tomatoes from last year’s bed to the one I will use this year, since I rotate my crops each year. There’s a lot of ragwort in this spot, and I might just get the mower in there and mow it down before I put down the fabric.

spot for tomato plants

I’m hoping to start planting those tomatoes soon, and after that I will move on to prepare other beds for planting. I hope you have enjoyed this tour of the garden here in May, and I hope to give another planting update soon.

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Harvest Monday May 5, 2025

Posted on May 5, 2025 by Dave @ HappyAcres

It’s time for Harvest Monday, where gardeners from all over celebrate all things harvest related. The asparagus is coming on hot and heavy here now. We’ve harvested right at seven pounds so far in the first three weeks. We generally harvest for about eight weeks each year, before letting the ferns grow out to replenish the roots for next year’s crop.

daily asparagus harvest

I sautéed some one night for a side dish. Cooked briefly in a little olive oil, it was tasty and made good use of the smaller sized spears.

sautéed asparagus

To season the asparagus for the stir fry, I harvested some garlic chives for the occasion. I don’t usually get pics of them, but this time I did since I went to the trouble of digging up the bottom part instead of just clipping off the tops like I usually do.

garlic chives

We’re still getting a steady supply of lettuce here too. I cut another giant head of Starfighter that weighed over 1.5 pounds. This is one of my favorites of the green leaf lettuces.

Starfighter lettuce

Some of that big head went into a wilted lettuce salad we had one night with our dinner. This is my wife’s old family recipe, and it’s always a treat for me when she makes it for us.

Wilted Lettuce Salad

I cut other lettuce last week for salads, including Teagan and Strawberry Oakheart.

Teagan and Strawberry Oakheart lettuce

The Strawberry Oakheart is a Wild Garden Seed introduction, and has long pointed leaves with a great color and texture. I’ve grown quite a few of breeder Frank Morton’s lettuces, and this is one of my favorites.

Strawberry Oakheart lettuce

And in non-harvest news, we had a new visitor to our feeders last week – a Rose-breasted Grosbeak. We’ve had a lot of birds migrating through our area lately, and this one was likely on the way to breeding grounds a bit north of here. The female is not nearly so highly colored, and resembles a small sparrow. It’s possible I saw her and didn’t recognize her. There was no mistaking the male though!

Rose-breasted Grosbeak at the feeder

Harvest Monday is a day to show off your harvests, how you are saving your harvest, or how you are using your harvest. If you have a harvest you want to share, add your name and blog link to Mr Linky below. And please check out what everyone is harvesting!

 

 


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