The Farmer’s Almanac predicted with 30% accuracy that March 31 would be the last date for a spring frost. We have had two frost advisories since but this weekend was definitely one to work in the garden. I am just waiting for three more asian pear trees to be delivered and my garden staff will be done planting trees for this year, maybe for a few years.

I started two of the raised garden beds in the upper vegetable garden. This year I’m planning to work harder at companion planting. Companion planting might help ward off the nasty pests, can improve the flavor of vegetables and add nutrition back into the soil. I’ve made little sketches in my gardening notebook and we’ll see if I have better yields this year.

Inside the greenhouse, the various squashes, cucumbers and tomatoes are starting nicely. I had problems with round one of tomatoes so I have round 2 in the yellow tray and started round 3 of some tomatoes plants this week indoors. I really dread putting the squash plants out because I have a terrible time with squash bugs. I’ll be wrapping the stems in tin foil and using some more chemicals liberally.

The tea plantation is not doing great. Perhaps it needs some more water. I really don’t want to move it again so I’ll try adding some feed and more water. The raised beds I used this winter are now growing spring spinach and lettuce. The chickens have managed to stick their heads into the beds and eat everything within reach. No spinach and pretty gem lettuce for us.

The blueberry patch and the raspberry hill are promising. It will be a battle against the japanese beetle on these plants. More frequent spraying will be required.

I have my long term nuts growing. The hazelnuts will take about seven years to produce bountiful crops. I have some no name hazelnut bushes in the first photo below and actual named varieties in the second photo below. Nine hazelnut bushes seem a little excessive but hazelnuts are favored by the wildlife as well as me. I’m hoping to make some hazelnut butter, hazelnut and cocoa spread (Nutella), use hazelnuts in baking and today I was reading about hazelnut milk. The chestnut trees are primarily for visual interest.

My original idea for a fruit orchard was up by the barn. There are nine trees – asian pears, peaches and a fig. They struggle with the wind and the first year needed to be sprayed more regularly with fruit tree spray. The trees are on the smaller side compared to the ones in Nadine’s pasture.

We thought it might be nice to have some fruit trees outside our front door. The peach trees made it through winter and we have added a cherry tree line (Rainier and Black Tartarian). These trees should only be 12-15 feet in height. I see a lot of fresh fruit, cobblers, pies, dehydrated fruit, fruit spreads and jam from these trees.

A lovely gift from some of the best women I know – a satsuma mandarin tree! This tree sits in our backyard and provides fruit in early winter. This variety is very cold hardy and since we are now Zone 8, should do just fine. I will most likely wrap this tree the first winter. The tree came with some “citrus soil” – the tree planter said it contained chunks of citrus skin within the potting mixture.

The fruit trees in Nadine’s pasture do much better because it’s less windy, still a lot of sun, and we think the soil is better. The flowering apricot trees are for beautiful spring blooms and pickling plums (umeboshi), the apple trees are so-so, the peach and plum tree should give us more fruit this year, and we have more cherry trees here (Rainier and Stella cherry). There is a lot of fruit I plan to dehydrate and use on my charcuterie boards.

A major success this year is the ramps patch. After last year’s failure, I moved the ramps box into the woods. A small patch is growing and the key is to harvest only 10% of the patch. It’s a very slow growing perennial and many patches have been over harvested. Ramps do not do well in garden beds so most market ramps are foraged. While guides tend to estimate prices around $20 per pound or $5 for a small bunch, ramps went for $34.99 per pound last season from the specialty food purveyor D’Artagnan. They are garlicky deliciousness when sautéed. It looks like this year we can harvest two plants. My hope is to continue to expand this patch in our woods.

Near my immature asparagus bed is another garden for less common items I like. I’m growing some Flowering Quince “Toyo Nishiki” which has some brilliant blooms in early spring. But the real reason I want it for is to make membrillo (quince paste) to eat with manchego cheese. It’s an ugly bush but the the fall fruit is good cooked with pears, maybe a compote, maybe a jam. The lingonberries are a relative of the cranberry – good for jam and dehydrated bits. I plan on only making syrup out of elderberry since it’s poisonous when eaten raw. Then again I might skip preparing this source of cyanide.

Over the next few weekends I’ll be planting more raised garden beds in the upper vegetable garden. Then it’s establishing routine of spraying plants with assorted organic chemicals, battling the summer pests, watering, harvesting, preparing, and preserving food. I think there will come a time when I will have too much food to deal with. Right now I can only dream of that scenario.

I’m also thinking about the white truffle. I saw a video in the Wall Street Journal about Burwell Farm in North Carolina . They grow white truffles under loblolly pines! I’m pretty sure that if they are growing those about 100 miles away from me, I certainly could try growing one loblolly pine that has been inoculated with the white truffle spore. So maybe the tree planter might have to plant one more tree this fall, but it will be small. This is the link to the video that is stirring up my imagination!