In other news, gardening . . .

Our extra-special Sunday distracted me from other weekend-activity posts, including some stories from the garden.*

I joined Matthew again at the garden on Saturday.  With all the rain we got last week, it was too wet for planting, but we worked on moving/turning a couple of compost piles and laying out the irrigation system.

While relocating the compost piles, we were on the lookout for the friendly garter snake, which Matthew suspected made it’s winter home in the compost pile.  He hoped it would slither out as we started working on the pile and find a place safe from our pitchforks (snakes help control garden pests, so he is a welcome addition).

We saw movement, but instead of a snake-slither, we spotted a rodent that looked like a large mouse or a small rat, but with a fuzzy tail (rather than a naked tail).  Regardless of it’s exact identity, rodents in a compost pile near the garden are not ideal, so we Matthew embarked on a bit of critter-ridding.*  Not pleasant, but sometimes necessary.

The artichokes and garlic are the two prominent growers in the garden right now, the artichokes having survived a Missouri winter in the low tunnel.

The artichokes are the crazy huge plants in the foreground, and you can see the garlic bed in the background.

After his nap, Sir drove pedaled up in his tractor.

As far as harvest, we’re continuing to get a bit of fresh spinach, as well as some asparagus.  Peas, lettuce, carrots, beets, broccoli, cabbage, and potatoes are all in the ground and growing.  As are the perennial fruits: strawberries, red and black raspberries, and blackberries — can’t wait!

Back at the apartment, we have some crazy huge tomato plants (too big to be called seedlings, I think), waiting to be transplanted into the garden.

What’s growing in your garden?  Or, if you don’t have a garden, have you started getting local produce yet?

*As for the bed bugs, I am currently hoping that Sir eliminated them with his particle thrower.  That could happen, right?

**A bit of internet searching that evening revealed that the rodents in question were probably voles, which, as herbivores, actually cause more garden damage than carnivorous moles.