Ridge Berry Farm: Transition to Summer

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For our international readers, the 24th of May (or May Two Four as it is known here) really marks the transition from Winter to Spring. Our Springs and Autumns are short and this date which marks a long weekend celebrating Queen Victoria is often the time when gardeners of all stripes begin to plant. By this time, we're usually assured that we will no longer suffer a frost.

So for us, this was a time to begin transplanting plants from our greenhouse nursery to our raised beds. We're far from done, but at least our Scarlet Runner beans and Peas are now well established.

Some of the Scarlet Runners transplanted in the back of our barn.

Last Fall we also decided to see if some plants could simply self seed in their own raised beds. In particular we did this with our Borage. The results are promising since we're already noticing quite a few plants at an early stage of growth.

The Borage has self-seeded remarkably well

We also attempted to self-seed our Ground Cherries but of course not everything we do goes well. In this case, we actually forgot which bed the plants were in. Unbeknown to us at the time, we had tilled the soil to plant strawberries. We'll just have to try again next year.

Meanwhile in the Tea Room, we had to resolve a problem with egg whites. Simply put, we had way too much of these. They are the result of making our own mayo and pastry cream from scratch.

For us, the solution was to produce meringue cookies. We decided to make chocolate marble meringues. Easy to make, they've proven to be a hit with kids and parents alike.

A great way to use egg whites: chocolate marble meringue cookies

We'll close this week with a few pictures of some of the plants now flowering in our beds. Not only did our Chervil, Chives and young Asparagus survive this hard Winter, they are now thriving and in full bloom.