The winter covers have been pulled off, the fencing put back up, and the raised beds ready for another season.
The overwintered chard and kales are thriving, providing plenty of greens.
There wasn’t much left of the chard as we entered winter but, left alone, grew back.
The garlic is twice as tall as compared to this time last year.
A new generation of kale, chard, lettuce and arugula.
While inside, Lane’s companion marigolds, newly transplanted, remain under grow lights alongside pomodorini, fennel, leeks and celeriac seedlings.
We also started some Duborskian rice, a dry land variety and one of this year’s experiments. Link to article: Harvest Kitchen: Growing Rice in Central Maine.
Diary of a Tomato 
Your greens look fabulous! I just love experiments. Good luck with the rice. Can’t wait to see how the Puntarelle experiment will go for us!
I’m counting on you, Amber, with the Puntarelle!
Your overwintered greens are gorgeous. I am looking forward to hearing about your rice experiment.
Credit for the greens goes to the mild winter we had! We have no idea what to expect on the rice… but are willing to give it a go!
The garden is ready – like a canvas for a painter! The overwintered chard and kale looks lush and healthy and all the new seedlings are growing along nicely. I have wanted to try some dry land rice too so will be interested in how this goes for you.
Perfect image, kitsapfg, we have that same sense of expectation as with a blank canvas! I’ve added some links above — the rice article is written by the woman who trialed our seeds in Maine.
Me too-can’t wait to hear how the rice experiment turns out…
We can’t either ;-) and have only that MOFGA article to go on…
Your garlic looks great. I thought mine looked healthy, but now I am wondering. Not quite time for me to take the hoophouses down. Maybe a couple of more weeks. We did plant some chard though. Yours looks good.
Hi, Vickie, we do pamper our garlic! We rotate their bed each season, and mulch heavily over winter to keep the soil from drying out and getting depleted. After that last snowstorm, we even shoveled extra snow on top to add moisture. I lost a lot of plants, especially herbs, this year due to lack of snow cover…
Rice- I can’t wait to hear how that goes!
We promise to keep you posted, Barbie!
your garlic is looking awesome, sure to be a wonderful harvest and beautiful greens. I too am curious about the rice! I do hope you will keep us posted!
Curiosity is what led us to rice! Now, we wait and see what germinates…
Rice! Neat. I have never thought of growing that. I will be interested to see what develops.
You probably have more conducive growing conditions, Cristy! Some of the rice described in the article came from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, if you’re interested…
Your overwintered greens look amazing! I too will be watching the rice experiment.
It’s not too late to join us and try it out also!
I didn’t know there was a dry land rice, and so it never occurred to me to grow it. How much do you have to plant to have enough to do anything with?
http://planetpooks.com/?p=4552
Hey, Pooks, thanks for visiting! All I can say is we have no idea, and are hoping to find out! We bought the 1g packet, which is supposed to have 50 seeds, and held some aside in case the ones we planted don’t germinate…
I do like the idea of a land rice, will be interesting. I was wondering about lentils the other day have you investigated them?
We just might be too far north, but a local bean farmer says he’s had trouble growing both chickpeas and lentils, which was very disappointing to hear…