Mid-June Garden Update Part 1

Posted on June 15, 2026 by Dave @ HappyAcres

It’s time for another update on the vegetable garden here at Happy Acres. I’ll break it up into two parts since I have quite a few photos to share. To start, the weather here has been fairly dry this spring with rainfall running a bit below average. We have gotten enough rain to get things growing though, and the vegetable garden is looking pretty lush at the moment.

Vegetable Garden in June

Brassicas are usually the first crop to go in, and this year I got ours planted early in May. They have taken off since then, and I have been spraying with Bt and neem oil to keep the cabbage caterpillars under control.

spring brassicas

The cabbage plants are heading up, and the big Kossak kohlrabi will be ready to harvest soon. We mostly use these big kohlrabis for fermenting, and the cabbage for fresh use as well as for making sauerkraut.

cabbage plant

Kossak kohlrabi

I got the pole beans planted in late May, and they have really taken off! My main trellis has quite a few of my old favorites planted. I’m trialing a couple of test varieties over on the other side of the garden, using the remesh trellises I use for the vining squashes. Last year was a terrible year for the beans and I am hoping for a better harvest in 2026. In 2025 much of the seed rotted before sprouting, but that has not been an issue this year and I have a good stand of them.

pole beans

trial beans

And speaking of the vining squashes, they are taking off and climbing up the supports as well. I’ve got a couple planted by the fence that surrounds the garden as well as the ones on the remesh trellises.

Tromboncino squash vines on trellis

Centercut squash vines

I got the tomatoes planted in Mid-May, and they are over a foot tall now and climbing up in their remesh cages. They should begin blooming and setting fruit soon. The first ripe tomatoes are always a treat for us! I set out about 50 plants in all, so hopefully we will have plenty for eating fresh and for processing into sauces and such.

tomato plants

I got the eggplant and peppers planted in late May, and they are just now getting established and starting to grow. Some of the hot peppers are already starting to set fruit though, and the rest shouldn’t be too far behind. I’m using folding cages to support all these plants.

eggplant and peppers

young eggplant

hot pepper with fruit

I hope you have enjoyed this tour of the garden here in June, and I’ll be back with part 2 of the tour soon!

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May 2026 Update

Posted on May 28, 2026 by Dave @ HappyAcres

I thought it was about time for another update as we near the end of May here. Time is surely flying by as I am staying busy with gardening! Spring means asparagus season here, and we’ve had a pretty good year for it. We finished cutting it this week and mowed the bed down to get rid of weeds and let the ferns start growing to replenish the roots for next year’s crop. We cut almost 12 pounds, and we have enjoyed it for many meals. Last week we made a chicken and asparagus stir-fry that we served over black rice, and that is always a favorite here. We also roast it in the oven fairly often, which is a simple but tasty treatment.

asparagus harvest

asparagus stir-fry

As asparagus season ends, I am continuing to cut the spring lettuce on an as-needed basis. Strawberry Oakheart is a variety from Wild Garden Seed that does well for me here. It doesn’t make real big heads, but the long pointed leaves color up nicely and are tender and mild tasting.

Strawberry Oakheart lettuce

I’m also cutting arugula on an as-needed basis. I have plants growing in containers in the greenhouse, and they are keeping us supplied. The plants will begin bolting soon though, and I’ll sow seeds again in late summer for fall and winter plantings.

fresh arugula

Our Crystal Fountain clematis really put on a good show this spring. We have this planted near our front porch, where we can enjoy the large lilac colored flowers as we come and go. It will bloom all summer and into the fall, but the spring showing was really quite lovely this year.

Crystal Fountain clematis

clematis blooms

The vegetable garden planting is proceeding well, and I have things over half planted now in late May. I will give an update on that here soon. So far the weather has cooperated and critters have not been a problem. I am keeping my fingers crossed it will be a better year than last year. We gardeners are ever hopeful I guess, at least I know I am!

young cabbage plant

I hope you have enjoyed this update, and I’ll be back soon with more happenings from Happy Acres!

 

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April 2026 Update

Posted on April 29, 2026 by Dave @ HappyAcres

Most of the month of April was extremely dry here, with very little rainfall. Last year we had a whopping 11 inches of rain in April, which drowned crops and left the soil a soggy mess. This year we’ve gotten right at three inches of rain this month, and most of that fell in the last week. The temperatures have been running a bit warmer than usual, and that helped get the asparagus sprouting up about two weeks ahead of last year. We’ve gotten about eight pounds of it so far, and we have enjoyed it on numerous occasions. One of our favorite treatments is to make Aspargua Mimosa, steaming the asparagus and topping with grated hard-boiled egg and a few capers.

April asparagus

Asparagus Mimosa

Another dish we’ve made recently is a Lemon Chicken Asparagus stir-fry. We served this over black rice, and it is another tasty way to use our asparagus.

Lemon Chicken Asparagus stir-fry

The lettuce in the greenhouse is keeping as well-supplied for salads. The Salanova Red Leaf letttuce is coloring up well, as is the Strawberry Oakheart. I’m also growing Bergam’s Green leaf lettuce, which gets large heads of tender leaves that are great for our salads.

red leaf lettuce

Bergam’s Green leaf lettuce

Salad with Apple and Cheddar

I’ve got arugula growing in containers in the greenhouse and it is beginning to produce for us now. We don’t use a lot of it, but it is nice to have the homegrown leaves which have great flavor I think.

mixed arugula

In other news, I have planted the container eggplants outside the greenhouse. I’m growing Fairy Tale, Gretel and Icicle again this year. All three are AAS Winners and do quite well for me in containers. This gives us a jump on the season while we wait for the main crop of eggplant I grow in-ground in the vegetable garden.

container eggplants

In closing, our Encore azaleas are blooming now and putting on a lovely show.

Encore azaleas

I hope you have enjoyed this update, and I’ll be back soon with more happenings from Happy Acres!

 

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Photo Friday: Early Blooms

Posted on April 3, 2026 by Dave @ HappyAcres

Today I want to show some of the things we have blooming here in late March and early April. I’ll start with the daffodils. We have quite a few of them planted in various locations, and they have been blooming for a couple of weeks now. They always lend a bit of cheer and color to our garden when little else is blooming.

early daffodil mix

bicolor daffodils

white daffodils

Another early and dependable bloomer are the hellebores, and we have several different ones blooming now.

hellebore

hellebore flower

The first iris of the year is always exciting to see, especially for my wife (aka The Iris Queen) who has quite a collection! This first one is a short but sweet and well-named dwarf: Riveting. The second to open was another dwarf named Cherry Garden. Last year she had 51 different irises that bloomed, and we always look forward to the annual parade.

Riveting iris

Cherry Garden iris

Our traditional azaleas are also beginning to bloom now. The red ones are especially pretty so far, and the pink and white ones are beginning to show color.

red azalea

And last but not least, our Korean Spice Viburnum is covered with fragrant blooms that will scent the air while they are open.

Korean Spice Viburnum

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

 

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March 2026 Update

Posted on March 29, 2026 by Dave @ HappyAcres

As usual, I have been busy this March with seed starting activities. So far I have started seeds for the brassicas, petunias, parsley, eggplant, tomatoes and peppers. Next up in the lineup will be the cucumbers and squashes. It keeps me busy with watering duties, and I am looking forward to getting some of them in the ground and containers next month.

brassica seedlings

I’ve been harvesting greens from the greenhouse and vegetable garden. About half of our collards survived the winter and I have been cutting leaves from them for our use. I got a nice haul a couple of weeks ago, almost three pounds of them.

Nancy Malone Wheat Purple collard plant

harvest of collard greens

I’m also cutting lettuce as needed from the greenhouse. I brought in two large heads of Bergam’s Green leaf lettuce, along with other varieties as well.

Bergam’s Green lettuce

mixed lettuce from greenhouse

The Bergam’s Green went into a wilted lettuce salad we had for dinner one night, which is always a favorite of mine.

wilted lettuce salad

I’ve been cutting the kale in the greenhouse as needed for soups and such. It’s a mix of curly types including Winterbor, Starbor and Scarlet. I used this batch to go in some bean and farro soup I cooked up. The kale does quite well in the winter greenhouse, and it is nice to have available this time of year when harvests are sparse.

curly kale

bean and farro soup with kale

And I’ve been busy baking bread as needed. I ground up some heirloom Turkey Red wheat berries to go in a loaf of sourdough bread and a batch of hamburger buns I made recently. It’s a tasty wheat for baking into breads, and I also used it to make a batch of dinner rolls recently.

Turkey Red sourdough bread

Moomie’s burger buns

We have a lot of early flowers blooming, and I will share pics of them in a later post. I hope you have enjoyed this update, and I’ll be back soon with more happenings from Happy Acres!

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