Pollinators, sun showers, and leafy greens: it's Spring on Whidbey!

It's spring, and the garden is sure happy about it! The lettuce, kale, arugula, peas, spinach, and chard are all growing quickly in the hoop house, and we now have lettuce, kale, spinach, chard, beets, peas, leeks, cilantro planted out in the field. Poppies are starting to grow, and bees can be seen buzzing between the red dead nettle and dandelions.Between the torrential downpours and pockets of warmth and sun, it feels like the garden is just itching to take off. We've harvested a little over 20 pounds from our overwintering crops, and expect to quickly be harvesting much more from our new plants.We also have a lot of beautiful starts that are finding beautiful little homes out in the garden. On the work party Wednesday, March 19th, we had 14 students from Whitman College come and volunteer a morning in the rain! Even though the weather was miserable they helped us completely renovate our raised demonstration beds.  Soon we'll have beds that feature an insectary for pollinators and beneficial insects, square stem herbs, woody perennial herbs, cut flowers, annual herbs, and strawberries.With the help of the students we were able to nearly finish this project, and for that we must give a big THANK YOU!Although we got rained out, we still enjoyed our picnic lunch in the hoop house.Stay tuned for more exciting updates on the garden harvest, thanks to everyone who helped out this month, and we look forward to seeing more of you as the weather improves.Join us at our work party every Wednesday, from 9 am - 4 pm. Stay for as short or long as you'd like! We have a picnic lunch at 12 noon, rain or shine, with delicious fresh salad greens from the hoophouse!