A Spring Garden Tour

By Jason Von Kundra from Sprouting Hope in Marion, VA

Spring has officially arrived with warm days, cool nights, and plenty of rain. Thanks to our dedicated volunteers who have come out for our three work days so far this year, we are kicking it into high gear. Here’s a quick tour of what has been going on in the garden and what we have planted!

Honey Bees

Thanks to Chris Stevens, with the Hungry Mother Lutheran Retreat Center, we now have two hives out at the garden this year to increase productivity of our vegetables and help fund the garden with honey sales. Chris will be maintaining the hives and look forward to some bee keeping lessons at the garden this year!

Donated Greenhouse

Also new this year, Helen and Pete Conley have donated their pop-up greenhouse for us to grow squash, cucumber, and other starts.

The garden has 72 annual beds that are about three feet wide and twenty feet long. We have about a quarter of the garden planted now for spring crops.

Overwintered Kale

Overwintered Spinach

With the help of row cover, we were able to keep Spinach, Collards, Kale and a few other greens through the winter for early spring harvesting.

Black Seeded Simpson Lettuce

Head Lettuce from transplants

Garlic

Cabbage

We just transplanted five beds of broccoli and cabbage!

Young Beets

Our blueberries, raspberries, and asparagus are part of a memorial perennial section of the garden in honor of Reverend Bowman and others in the community who have passed but live on through our community through their persisting impact.

Blueberries

Thornless Raspberries

A couple new rows of raspberries planted in April.

Second year asparagus bed

Looking forward, we have plowed and tilled the soil where our hoop house will be built on May 16th!

Future site of Hoop House