Digest

Early spring — before your blueberry bushes start leafing out — is the best time to prune.

Look for these first:

• Dead branches – These will look gray, brittle, and may snap easily. They won’t have any buds on them.
• Damaged or broken branches – Anything that was cracked by snow, ice, or wind should be removed.
• Thin, weak growth – Spindly little branches usually won’t produce good berries and just steal energy from the plant.

Next, focus on opening up the center of the bush. Blueberries don’t like being crowded. If you see branches crossing over each other or growing straight into the middle, trim a few of those out. This lets sunlight and air flow through the bush — which is huge for preventing mold and helping berries ripen evenly. Aim to remove about 20–25% of the bush each year.

Look for an organic, acid-loving plant fertilizer in the spring. Compost with coffee grounds works well. Fertilize your bushes just as new growth starts, but don’t overdo it. Nothing nitrogen heavy, blueberries prefer slow-release nutrients that won’t burn their shallow roots.

Buds can be delicate so cover when there’s a late frost. Blueberries have shallow roots and need consistent moisture, especially when they start leafing out in spring. Water in the morning so the soil has time to dry a bit before evening. This prevents root rot and other water-related issues. Add pollinator flowers to draw in the bees!

Panera Garden Vegetable Soup with Pesto Recipe

Prep Time 20minutes minutes/Cook Time 40minutes minutes/Total Time 1hour hour/Servings 8

Ingredients

• ▢ three 14-ounce cans vegetable broth, or 6 cups homemade
• ▢ 1/2 cup pearled barley
• ▢ 2 Tablespoons olive oil
• ▢ 1/2 onion, peeled and diced (about 3/4 cup)
• ▢ 1/2 red pepper, diced (about 1/2 cup)
• ▢ 2 large garlic cloves, minced
• ▢ 1/2 head of cauliflower, cut into florets (about 2 cups)
• ▢ 8 ounces wax beans or green beans, ends trimmed and chopped into bite-sized pieces (about 1 3/4 cups)
• ▢ 16 ounce can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
• ▢ 28 ounce can Tuttorosso diced tomatoes
• ▢ 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• ▢ 1 1/2 to 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• ▢ 1 1/2 teaspoons onion powder
• ▢ 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• ▢ 1 teaspoon salt
• ▢ 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• ▢ 4 large swiss chard stems, remove stems and chop (about 2 cups)
• ▢ 2 small zucchini, diced (about 2 1/2 cups)
• ▢ store-bought or homemade pesto, optional, for serving

Instructions

• In a heavy bottom Dutch oven, add 1 1/2 cups vegetable broth and 1/2 cup pearled barley. Bring to a boil over high heat. Once it reaches a boil, reduce heat and allow the pearl barley to simmer at least 10 minutes. Check it often and stir as the broth will evaporate. Once the barley has reached its desired chewiness, it’s done cooking. Fluff with a fork and scoop the barley into a clean bowl. Set aside.
• Add olive oil to the Dutch oven and heat high on medium for 2 minutes. Add onion and red pepper, cook for 3 to 4 minutes, stirring occasionally with a rubber spatula. Add garlic and cook for 90 seconds. Add cauliflower, beans and chickpeas. Cook and stir for 2 minutes. Add tomatoes and the remaining vegetable broth and 1 1/2 to 2 cups water. Add thyme, oregano, onion powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper and stir. Bring soup to a boil.
• Once soup comes to a boil, reduce to simmer and cook for 15 minutes. Add swiss chard, zucchini and cooked barley. Cook for another 3 to 4 minutes, stirring to combine. Season with salt and pepper, if necessary.
• Portion soup to serving bowls and serve with a scoop of pesto on top of each bowl.

Lemon Balm Pesto

Servings: 8 2 tablespoon servings
Ingredients

• 3/4 cup lemon balm leaves firmly packed
• 1/2 cup pine nuts
• 3/4 cup Parmesan cheese
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 3 TB lemon juice
• 1 tsp fresh chives
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

• Place all ingredients in a food processor and pulse until smooth.
• Add salt and pepper to taste.
• Store in an airtight container for up to one week in the refrigerator or 3 months in the freezer.
• You can use cashews or almonds

Fence Expansion Plans

Front line:

• Post resets
• Swap metal gate door for wooden one
• Expand trellis to front gate
• Far corner could use cardboard and wood chips. Move sedum to properly flank the bench. Clear everything behind the bench (for now).
• Wooded side, cardboard and wood chips under the chairs, bench and bucket. On the front side of the posts, cardboard and chips to prep for iris bed.

Wooded line

• Continue to plan shifted fence line
• Pull turf off piles, fill planter bases up, move piles (identify is shady compost is still around)
• Plan for beautiful azalea, rhododendron, blueberry area with yarrow, hellebore, daffodils, Put in stakes to start to plan locations.
• Move rocks into buckets (and place them certainly somewhere) to be used at a future time

Open line

• Request 3 or more loads of wood chips, move fence line to include them
• Start at the back corner and push the line back by approximately two feet, continue it forward along that line

Back line

• Sort temporary gate in back corner.
• Reinforce fencing of old farm fence
• Decide where extended fence line should go

Garden Bed Refresh

• Shift garden bed size of front section
• Removal of grass between beds; pull off sod, fill planter bases up, spread extra soil on beds
• Fertilizer options: use 2-3 lbs per 100 sq ft.
• Add cardboard and chips between all rows

New Beds

Replanting Asparagus 

Make a mound of soil mixed with compost in your prepared trench. Arrange the mounds so that each asparagus plant is about 18 inches apart. The top of the crown should be about two inches beneath the soil surface. Spread the plant’s roots over the mound, and make sure the emerging spears are facing upwards. Cover the crowns with the soil and compost mixture until the trench is filled. Cover the soil surface with three inches of mulch. Mulching will stop weed seeds from germinating and preserve moisture for the newly planted crowns.

Adding a row before and after the new side rows. Try to remove all the grass from the growing grid area.

I always like to support Annapolis Valley even as I scale down from previous years.

Muncher Cucumber
Annapolis Select Peanut
Wild Leeks
Ruby Moon Hyacinth Bean
Cardinal Rose Iberis
Xsenia Cosmos

Gathered Plant Advice

Siberian iris 
Spring division is recommended:
Keep the new planting moist for six to eight weeks.
Using a shovel, pitchfork, or even an axe, dig down around the entire root clump and rock the tool back and forth to loosen the rhizomes. When the clump is fully loosened, carefully lift it from the ground. Prune off the foliage to six to eight inches tall, then use a sharp knife to cut away divisions, each having at least two tufts of foliage. Discard the woody center portion. Plant each division in a new location, spacing them one to two feet apart, and covering them with with one to two inches of soil.
-Siberian iris prefers a slightly acidic to neutral soil pH (6.5 to 7.0). In alkaline soils, a yearly feeding with an acidifying fertilizer might produce more blooms.
-Applying a layer of mulch offers two benefits: keeping the soil moist and cool and preventing frost heaving in the winter.
-Siberian iris performs best if fertilized with a balanced 10-10-10 fertilizer in early spring, then again after flowering is complete.

Sedum
Propagate sedum in water, and then transfers the plants once they root to a container filled with potting soil. Ensure the plants are in the ground in the fall, so they have time to become established and survive the winter.
How to propagate sedum from stem cuttings in water: Choose a stem from a healthy sedum plant that’s about six inches (15 cm) long, and make your cut using a clean pair of scissors below a leaf node. Gently remove any other leaves that would be sitting in the water. Place your stem in a jar filled with room temperature water or rainwater, so that it covers the leaf node (but not any leaves). Place your jar in a bright area, like a windowsill or outside on a sheltered patio table. Be sure to change the water every few days to prevent it from going stagnant and your stem from rotting.

List of Requests

• Wood chips, so many piles of wood chips
• Fencing on all sides to be adjusted (requests for holes to be dug in advance detailed below)
• Gate to be added to front entrance
• 
  

Fencing Plans

Buy one or more new rolls

Front:

• Gate and what’s right of gate remains where it is, however multiple fence posts need to be replaced and the fencing needs to be reset
• What’s left of gate can remain for this year, but I’d love a bump out in front and an extension for greenhouse times.
• Gate added to front entrance

Right side:

• So many new posts need to be dug and added
• Fencing should likely be reset entirely
• Can we add another square post to make a future entry way to the shade garden?

Leftside

• Some posts may need rejigging, and re-spacing should be a priority for both the front and back sections, however the back section should move a foot or two wider
• Depending on how manure situation goes, the diagonal section could be shifted to encompass that drop zone.
• An access gate could be added.

Backline

• Check the stability of the posts come spring and see what needs adjusting or replacement
• Add a post to the back right corner

Neat Extras

Fern propagation from spores

Lentils
Companion plant herbs like summer savory, basil, or chives, which repel aphids.

Harvest: You’ll know that it’s time to start harvesting lentils when the plant turns yellow and the pods begin to turn brown. It’s similar to harvesting dried peas or beans. It takes 80-110 days to harvest lentils as a dried plant, though a few varieties take up to 130 days.

You also can eat and harvest lentils as a snap bean. If that’s your plan, harvest 70-80 days after sowing. They’ll still be green at this point, but they taste amazing.

When you harvest the lentils, be sure to hold the stem and gently pull the pod. You don’t want to snap the entire stem. You also could use gardening scissors to clip off the pods. If you plant to dry them, lay them out in the sun or in an area with good circulation in a single layer. You can also bundle and hang plants to dry, but if you go this route, be sure to cut the pods with a bit of stem attached. Thrash the lentils by rubbing them between your hands until the seed separates from the stem. Winnow the remaining seeds and chaff by turning on a fan and pouring the lentils from one buck to another until all the extra stuff blows away, leaving just the seeds.

Blue Butterfly Pea
This is a fast-growing tropical legume that is a stunning member of the garden. Butterfly pea plants can grow six to ten feet tall and spread slightly over three feet wide. The flowers can be dried as a soothing, nervine tea or added to clear liquors to produce a gorgeous purple, floral flavored drink. The purple liquor turns bright pink when citrus or tonic water is added.

Can be a a finicky germinator. The seeds have a thick, waxy outer coating that can make germination hard. When you’re starting butterfly pea seeds, nick each seed once with a knife and soak the seeds in warm water for 24 hours before planting.

When starting indoors, use a warming mat to start the seeds. Butterfly peas are a tropical plant. It germinates best in warm weather. Soil temperatures between 80-86°F produce the best and most consistent germination.

When the young plants are fully established and about six inches tall, transplant them outdoors after hardening them off.

Like many legumes, butterfly peas improve the soil themselves. These peas draw nitrogen from the atmosphere and build nutrients into the soil.

In fact, you can use butterfly peas as a cover crop, similar to clover, and rotate it through the garden to boost soil nutrients and improve the soil overall.

Allow about 8-10 inches between butterfly pea plants. While they can be left to trail along the ground, butterfly peas do best with something to climb on.

Butterfly peas need about 90 days between germination and flowering. Once flowering begins, it’s abundant and long-lasting. 

Once the flowers bloom, they’re harvestable for a day or two before starting to fade. Allow a few flowers to stay on the vine if you want to have pea-pods and seeds to save. Once the flowers are harvested, they’re easy to dry on a screen.

Let them sit in a dry place, out of the sun, until they’ve dried out. This usually takes about one to two weeks. Then, store them in a sealed jar.

The young pea pods are edible as well. Pick the pods while they are small and tender, then cook them before eating. They’re most often cooked in curries or tempered and fried. The pods are not very flavorful, though. They taste best when incorporated into flavorful Indian and Southeast Asian dishes.

Butterfly pea flowers, like daylily flowers or squash blossoms, can also be battered and fried. Lemon juice can add nuance to the light, floral flavor of the blossoms.

Can be dried for tea.

Evergreen list

Blue spruce, Douglas fir, Norway spruce, Arborativae, Eastern white pine, American holly, Japanese holly, White fir, Nootka cypress,

• Norway spruce (zones 3-7): A strong, fast-growing evergreen that tolerates various soils
• Green giant arborvitae (zones 5-7): A fast-growing evergreen with a classic pyramid shape
• Eastern white pine (zone 3-6): A conifer that grows up to three feet per year
• Colorado blue spruce (zones 3-6): An evergreen with unique color
• White cedar (zones 3-7): A popular conifer with a long cone shape
• Douglas fir (zones 4-6): A sturdy tree that’s perfect for snowy and icy climates
• White fir (zones 4-7): A short evergreen commonly used as a Christmas tree
• Rocky Mountain Juniper (zones 4-9): A hardy tree that is a good replacement for Eastern Redcedar when conditions are too dry.

Mulberries

Cut a fresh twig, 8 to 12 inches are the best size. Remove all but one leaf, dip it in rooting hormone, and put it in fresh, damp potting soil. Bury it at least 4 inches deep, but not more than half way up the branch.

Place it in dappled shade and keep it moist (not wet) for a couple of months and when new leaves start to come out, you know the roots are growing too. Harden it off for about a week and then it will be ready to be planted in its permanent home.

Water – The first year it should be watered deeply once a week to help it establish deep roots. Once established a mulberry is very drought resistant though lack of water will cause fruit to drop.

Fertilizer – Though not absolutely necessary, a good fertilizer (1 cup for every 1 inch of the trunk’s diameter) 1 to 3 times a year, depending on how poor your soil is, will increase the fruit yield. A 5-8-5 is recommended as the extra potassium will increase blossoming. Compost and worm castings can be a tremendous addition as well.

Pruning Your Mulberry Tree – Although pruning is not necessary. It is helpful to limit its size. If you do prune, it’s best to prune when the tree is dormant. But remember, heavy pruning will reduce the fruit that year. As fruit buds are on last year’s limbs.  The mulberry’s sap can irritate some peoples’ skin, so be sure to wear gloves and long sleeves for protection while working on this tree.

Mulberries are a favorite food of chickens and ducks. This would be a great tree to plant in a poultry garden or over a poultry run, as they can eat the fruit as it drops. This can provide both food and shade.

The leaves are also good to feed to poultry and also for goats. Such a big tree has leaves to spare. And the prunings make good fodder. In fact, the leaves have a protein content of about 20% of dry matter. You can make mulberry leaf tea as well. Can be dried.

Timing

8 Weeks
Mar 30th
12 Cell – Mini Peppers, keep inside until June. Plan to pot up.
12 Cell – Petunia
12 Cell – Figwort (require light to germinate) Perennial!
Bin before tray – Snapdragon
Bin before tray – Foxgloves
Bin before tray – Pansy

7 Weeks
April 6th
12 Cell – Laverta – 15-20 days to germinate, don’t disturb the roots when transplanting
12 Cell – Verbena
12 Cell – Feverfew – Mat. Light required for germination. Keep surface moist. Transplant once true leaves emerge.
12 Cell –
Tray – Aster

6 Weeks – April 15th
Bin before tray – Basil
12 Cells – Tithonia
21 Cell – Perennial Sweet Pea
Tray – Scabiosa
Tray – Celosia

5 Weeks
Sweet Pea – soaked for 24h, planted April 19th
April 20th
12 – White Columbine
Tray – Amaranth
12- Broccoli
Bin? Foxglove
Photo updates
Wind:WNW 41 gusts 72 km/h

4 Weeks
? Red Shisho
6 Cell – Borage
12 Cell – Cosmos
12 Cell – Cosmos
32 tray – Morning Glory
32 tray – Moon Flower
Bin – Nasturtiums (also plant some outdoors)
Cell Tray – Zinnia

3 Weeks
6 Cell – Ruby Moon Hyacinth Bean
Cauliflower
Sorghum
Brussel Sprouts
Cucamelon

2 Week
Bush beans and scarlet runner beans 21 tray
sunflower
corn

1 Week

*Start in bin

Full Cell Trays
1. Scabiosa
2. Celosia
3. Zinnia
4. Aster
Start in bins
5. Basil
6. Foxgloves
7. Pansy
8. Snapdragons

12 Cell
1. Cosmos
2. Cosmos
3. Red shisho
4. Peppers
5. White Scabiosa
6. Rubymoon Hycynith
1. White Columbine
2. Sorghum
3. Petunia
4. Amaranth
5. Tithonia
6.
1. Lettuce
2. Other greens
3. Laverta
4. Verbina
5.
6. Nasturtium (start in bin)

6 Cells
1. Sunday Purple Celosia
2. Borage
3. Cabbage
4. Cauliflower
5. Broccoli
6. Rab
7. Brussel Sprouts
8. Ruby Moon
9. Morning Glory
10. Moon Flower
11. Cucamelon
12. Ruby Moon

Other Trays
1. 128 Sunflower
2. 128 Corn
3. Hex cells for peas

32 Pot Trays
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6. 12 Peppers,

21 Cells
1. Bush Beans with Scarlet Runner Beans
2. Sweet Peas
3. Bush Beans with Scarlet Runner Beans
4. Perennial Sweet Peas