The asparagus is starting to pop up! And not a minute too soon, as the winter broccoli is starting to flower and frankly, I was getting tired of eating it. This is nice timing with some King Oyster mushrooms just now fruiting. They are being grown from a kit by Field & Forest Products — an excellent source for mushroom-growing projects. It makes me happy that these mushroom kits are a food-growing option for gardeners who live in apartments! It looks like the King Oyster kits are currently out of stock, but their stock rotates in and out and they always have treasures available.
We’re getting some much needed rain here in Sonoma County today, and I hope it won’t be the last. The kitty has foregone her outdoor roaming and has opted instead to be curled up next to me on the desk. It’s one of those days.
Any rainy days here I like to utilize by spreading wildflower seeds in the fields, like California poppies and lupines. Also a good time to plant any remaining bare root plants you haven’t done yet, or hardy shrubs. And, if there are shrubs or plants I’ve been needing to move to a better location, wet weather keeps their roots moist while digging up and transplanting them. We’ve gotten most of those done already this winter, except we may try to move a couple of kiwi’s at some point. They need more space.
In our micro-climate, we often get at least one more frost, if not two, on the full moons of April and May, so I’m holding off putting out anything tender just yet. The tray inside the glass door and the sunbubble are starting to fill up with these tender treasures!
If you missed the last post on when to prune which plants in the garden, you can read it here.
Stay safe and happy early spring!
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Asparagus, I’m waiting on ours to poke up here in Kansas, but its usually late April when that happens. Morel mushroom hunters are getting ready for a warm sunny day.
I never knew there were morels there! How thrilling. Do you cook with them? Thanks for writing in!
Growing mushrooms inside sounds like fun. I was given a mushroom kit once which involved drilling holes in a log that you filled with the provided mushroom starter. The log had then to be partially buried. I shared this with a neighbour but unfortunately neither of us were successful. Your kit has been much more fruitful. Amelia
How fascinating! Do you remember which kind of mushroom it was? We grow shiitake mushrooms in oak logs outside. They are not buried, but holes are drilled, and plugs inoculated with shiitake spawn. We then stack them, cover with bird netting (I think our wild turkeys eat the mushrooms) and put an irrigation mister on them for a few minutes daily during summer. They’ve been fruiting for several years. My husband is adding some fresh ones right now since we got some free oak logs from another friend who had to trim some oak for firetruck access.