When I planted horseradish the first time, I was planting it for the root but quickly discovered that the greens were the best part of the plant.
They can be a bit strong, especially when they’re farther along in the season, so I usually mix collards and horseradish. The two bundles on the right are collards; horseradish on the left. For these I simmered them til they were tender, in broth with a little bacon grease.
Once the leaves get larger, I make a stuffing similar to what I would put in cabbage rolls, roll them up and bake them with a tomato gravy.
Currently in the garden, we have: horseradish root, asparagus, green onions, a couple of kinds of lettuce and rhubarb. There are several varieties of Bok choy, collards and spinach that will be ready by the end of this week. The collards in the photo above came from the farmers’ market.
I’ll watch the weather but I plan to plant tomatoes in the ground around May 1 and probably peppers by the middle of May. My experimental “crops” this year are going to be peanuts and amaranth.
Potatoes are planted in grow bags and mineral tubs. They’ll probably be ready by the end of June or the first of July. Once they’re harvested, I will not plant anything else in the bags because it’s too hard to keep them watered enough in the hottest part of the summer. Depending on how my peppers are looking, I may plant more peppers in the empty mineral tubs. Peppers will produce right up until we get a frost.
Two of my 4′ x 8′ beds have garlic and that will get harvested in late June. Usually the same day I harvest the garlic, I plant okra in those two beds. Once the lettuce, arugula and other greens are done due to heat, probably about the same time as the garlic is harvested, I will plant purple hull peas (cow peas) in those two beds.
Last year we planted a cherry tree. Almost every day I say “I hope we get cherries this year!” Vince will always say “We just planted it last year!” I didn’t say “I KNOW we’re going to get cherries!” I said “I HOPE we get cherries.” I was so happy when I saw that it’s blooming.
In Texas, even though I was 99.9% sure I would never get cherries, we planted 5 cherry trees. That was my idea. 
Every year, we we would get ONE cherry from two or three of the trees. There would be a dozen or so blooms and I would get so excited. The fact that this little tree is blooming gives me hope that it may some day, while I’m still around, produce a few cherries. I would be happy if I got enough to make one pie and one batch of cherry jam.
The raspberries we planted last summer are also blooming. I’d be very happy to get a few raspberries off those plants. Our older raspberries produced a good bit last summer so I’m hoping they do the same this year.
I’m sure there’s something I’m forgetting.
Nelle Coursey says
I had to laugh when I saw your comment about peanuts. We used to plant acres and acres of them. Where we lived it was all sand and we would not plant them until July so they could be harvested in October. We also had 3 to 5 acres of watermelons. Red Diamonds and Orange Meated Tendersweets! Bakers calls the orange ones something else now. But our Red Diamonds weighed in at about 50 lbs and the Orange ones were 75-90 pounds each. I sold those from our front porch 3 for a dollar and I always ran out! We always rotated the crops with black-eyed peas to replenish the soil. Plus they were the best peas you ever put in your mouth! Good luck with yours!
judy.blog@gmail.com says
I remember now that you told me that. Thanks for reminding me.