Veggie bed update

A month or so ago I remade my veggie beds. Again. For the second year in a row.

It appears to be paying off though, as things are getting off to a great start -- but that could be due to the warm weather we've been having.     Let's assume it's all my doing, okay?

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Ignore the fence, as I haven't gotten around to repairing it yet. Everything else is looking pretty good, right?

The peas:

Parsley from last year, overwintered in a pot:

The kale is the star right now though (they're the huge plants in the top photo):

Last year's plants that overwintered and I salvaged when I built these new beds -- they are producing like crazy! It's such a pleasure to be eating as much sweet, delicious kale as we want. It's beautiful too, as there are no caterpillars chewing holes in the leaves yet. If you catch them early enough (before they get woody) the flower stalks are delicious too -- they taste like a cross between cabbage and broccoli.

I've got some new kale plants just starting out too:

Remember my beets that overwintered like the kale did? They're thriving now too, getting ready to produce flowers.

Since we love beet greens almost as much as we love kale, this has been a nice surprise too.

Outside of the fence are chives, onions, and garlic:

I'm excited about the garlic, as this is the first year that I've actually remembered to plant it. Hopefully the first of many, as garlic is delicious!

The most beautiful plant in my veggie beds, with great texture, fragrance, and an interesting anise flavor -- bronze fennel:

The only thing I use fennel for is nibbling while out in the garden, and as a host plant for swallowtail butterfly caterpillars. I'll have to find some recipes for fennel this year, as it's a shame that the caterpillars get it all.

I also have this unidentified native volunteer growing all around my veggie beds:

It's thick, rubbery stems are interesting, but I don't need half a dozen of these plants (they get pretty large). I should try to ID it so I know what I'm dealing with.

My wife laughs whenever she sees me close the "gate", which is
just a couple of boards held together with chicken wire at this point.

So that's my small, but hopefully productive edibles garden. Another update once more of the seedlings attain some size, but I'm pretty pleased with how things are going so far.

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