Early Spring Planting

Spring planting is an actual thing where I live. It feels cruel given the arctic chill blanketing most of the rest of the country, but all I can say is, you get summer. We don't.

Getting money's worth out of new spring hat and knee socks from Target

Here during one of a recent string of 70-ish degree days, we planted radishes, lettuce, basil, cilantro, sugar snap peas and broccoli rabe. The kids put in carrots and flowers (ugh). This was all thanks to my husband, who spent a good chunk of time last weekend dealing with the weeds that had crept, then galloped, into the vegetable patch.

Over the winter, about every two weeks I planted lettuce, b. rabe, and a few other things that are supposed to be fine in cool weather. The rabe mysteriously sprouted very tall flowers before eking out a few heads (not edible). I have a few lettuce heads doing fine. That's about it - it has not been a four-season garden this year. In addition to gardener laziness, we did have a crazy rainy December, which definitely washed away a few sowings, and then basically dry for January and February.

"Hmm... where can I randomly scatter more seeds?"

The kids were pleased to get out there today and seemed to forget the squabbling that has dominated this weeklong school break. They even shared seeds. My son had a baggie of harvested zinnia seeds from his Zinnia on Steroids that was the shining star of his garden last year. I think between the two kids, they sprinkled them all on a one-foot square area. Should be showy in a couple months!

More Sowing, Less Reaping

Fall gardening turns out to be heavy on the lettuce sowing, light on the kids helping. They'd rather be making Halloween art than just about anything else. [Sidenote: I cannot believe Halloween is still a week away. I have Spooky Stuff Fatigue!] Today I finally pulled out the Stupid Green Zebra (official new name), and moved my thriving potted mint into its shady spot. The mint has been super-happy ever since I trimmed it back to nubs.

"Can I hold the hose? Can I? Can I? Can I?"

Elsewhere, I squeezed in a new round of seeds between the zucchini and the Sweet 100, both of which I'd intended to remove today but they talked me into a stay of execution for another week. The tomatoes may indeed keep producing; I picked a handful today and there's both orange and green fruit still on the plant. The zucchini has a couple teeny feeble starts, so I caved; I'm a softy.

From bottom: Carrots, cilantro, and assorted seedlings

I planted Salad Bowl lettuce, Detroit Dark Red beets, scallions, and organic cilantro from Burpee. The other recent sowings are coming along nicely, as shown in the photo. We've had a couple mornings of light rain and sunny, warm afternoons; I can only assume they are all loving it. I moved all my other pots into sunnier spots vacated by the green beans. Now that we're getting into what might actually merit the title of a "rainy season", they're going to need all the warmth they can get. My basil in fact still looks great.

Fall Planting

As much as I gripe about the weather around here, we do have the potential for four-season growing. Take that, New England and your beautiful fall leaves! Yesterday, we clipped our pumpkin fruits, leaving me free to pull out the pumpkin plants from the ground, along with my potted tomato that produced a grand total of maybe 6 tomatoes over the course of the year, and one of my two remaining potted basils. I planted from seed:
Bibb lettuce
Carrots
Salad Bowl blend lettuce
Basil (ambitious, I know)
Beets, golden and red
Broccoli raab (last chance for this packet of seeds to impress me after lack of performance last go-round)

I still have four cherry tomatoes, two green beans, and a zucchini in the ground, all of which somehow managed to convince me they justified their dirt for at least another week. I also have a pretty row of leafy carrot greens and just enough cilantro for my own needs. It remains warm in the afternoons and cool overnight, hope my little seeds are cozy!

Normally I would not call myself an optimist, but you can't help it when sowing seeds... definitely part of why I keep at it.

The Lows

With gardening as with childrearing, the highs are very high ("I love you, Mommy!") and the lows are VERY low ("I wish you weren't my mommy!"). Some nasty pest - probably a slug colony - nibbled off all my potted mesclun over the course of 48 hours. So discouraging, I didn't even have the heart to snap a photo of it before I angrily upended the pot and destroyed all the slugs clinging to its bottom. The kids enthusiastically pointed out ones I'd missed until we were sure we got all the ones that were visible.

After bedtime, my son called me in to tell me that he couldn't stop thinking about "things that I know probably aren't going to happen, or not for a very very long time" like meteors crashing into our house or volcanoes erupting. I told him that scientists now can detect those things before they happen and they give people warning, so our family and all our friends can go to a safe place far away. I couldn't help adding, "But I won't tell the slugs, so the meteor will crash into them." It's like war up in here.

Shy Green Beans and More

This morning I harvested my second zucchini, the first round of G3 (third sowing this spring-summer season) lettuce, and was surprised by a handful of ripe green beans from my bean volunteer that I always forget to water. My stepmother-in-law once referred to "shy" green beans, and she is absolutely right; I almost overlooked them! So discreet amongst their foliage.

My lemon cucumber is looking beautiful, even if barren of fruit to date. I had one two years ago that produced sparsely and late; this one appears to be on the same track so maybe it's a climate problem. (A much better explanation than human error...) This year's model is potted, and previously I had it in the ground. The berries continue to do their thing. A bunch of sugar snaps are also ready to pick, but I'll leave them for daughter when she gets home from school today. They are the only green vegetable she will eat, and then only if she picks them herself and pops them in her mouth on the spot. The word picky really does not do her justice.

I discovered some weeds in my basil pot! That's a first for me. Finally, lots of green tomatoes on our plants, tantalizing us! We need a burst of really high temperatures to get them off the dime. Ripen, ripen, ripen...

Four Season Gardening

Every climate is different of course, and one benefit of my cooler, foggier one is that at least theoretically, I can grow lettuce from seed year-round. I put in some Salad Bowl and Winter seeds today in a pot, placed right next to where an earlier round of Salad Bowl did great and is just now winding down. Meanwhile, I had to discard the transplanted radishes that were started indoors from seed (so the kids could watch them). I think I waited too long to transplant them and they got irredeemably overgrown. I could probably start more radish seeds but... eh. Nobody really likes them so there's not a warm feeling of success when they do well and no hard feelings when they fail. I'd rather have a bit more emotion at stake in my dirt.

Wordless Wednesday

Single-serving side salad

Toward a Year-Round Harvest

Yesterday's harvest: winter peas, mesclun lettuce, and cilantro - which is growing like it took steroids. We've had rain this week so the plants are happy, but the kids and I haven't got out there much to see what's available for spring planting. That will be next week's project!

Planting on Impulse

Speaking of garden planning... didn't do any of that, but did get inspired by the warm weather to put a lot of shoulder season seeds in the ground this afternoon. The kids participated - not saying "helped" because that sets expectations incorrectly - with digging in compost, sprinkling seeds, and watering. I insist on covering up the seeds myself because "gentle" is just not in their vocabularies.

We sowed beets, green onions, cilantro, sugar snap peas, and lettuce in the ground, and basil in a small container. We didn't put in too many of any one crop. It was a bit of a frenzy to use up the 2013 seed packets. (Although my husband says that doesn't matter.) Can't wait to see the results!

Basil (or Lettuce?) from Seed!

So exciting - my basil pot indoors is finally putting up some teeny little shoots! (Or maybe it's lettuce - I had labeling issues. Hmm.) Compared to the cilantro next door, which is practically ready to harvest, it's miniscule, but for a novice like me it's a thrill. Outside, nothing quite so exciting is going on. Something has been nibbling on the beet leaves down to the ground, so I've pretty much lost track of where they are. More cilantro is coming along nicely but the adjacent lettuce is not. So disappointing - I really thought there was a good shot here, in my moderate cool microclimate, of lettuce being a 4 season crop. Not only is it NOT, but I'm not even sure what season it does like!

Maintenance

The 3 y.o. and I are loving the "winter peas" (actually snow peas) - we get a handful or so a day and share them. The 5 y.o. and their father turn up their noses at them. This week I also started some seeds indoors, for the first time ever. This is such a mild climate I never felt the need before - it's an experiment with cilantro and lettuce. I got 4 packs of seeds for $1 at the dollar store so felt it was worth the risk. But did I still think to myself while planting them - "wait, let's not use them ALL up"? Of course I did! I am the world's frugalest undergardener.

Unseasonability

I took advantage of both kids being out of the house to dash outside and sow some seeds that might actually have more than a 50% chance of developing without my "assistants". I put in Bibb lettuce, beets, and another round of snow peas. My first set of peas are doing great (by my low standards, that is) - we get a few off it every day and they are crunchy and tasty. At least that's what my kids tell me; I hardly ever get to try one myself. My existing Salad Bowl lettuce and cilantro are doing fine; some beet leaves are peeping up, and I do believe that the radishes are up to something in their container. Otherwise, nothing the kids and I sowed a few weeks ago is visible. That's how it goes in the wide world of potager-ing. The forecast is for 70F today. What the what! I can't blame my seeds for getting confused; I know I am. My toddler wore shorts yesterday and I didn't have a leg to stand on to tell her she shouldn't.

Let's Plant Some Plants

Yesterday was more summery than the average summer day in my microclimate - almost 70 and no clouds. It put me in the mood for gardening - funny how much more appealing it is when you don't have to bundle up to weed. But with other things going on, we didn't have time to get out there much. Today, though, my 3 y.o. and I had the time and energy - well, she always has the energy - to sow some more "winter" crops (honestly, like Dora, I suffer from mixed-up seasons in this crazy weather).

We put in American Flag leeks, Salad Bowl blend lettuce, Tokyo Long White scallions, and slow-bolt cilantro. She reminded me to add "fresh dirt" (compost blend). Thank you, helper, because I sure would have forgotten. As usual, I sprinkle a bit of straw around the new planted area and water with a gentle sprinkle for 15 minutes. As usual, with my helper helping, the row distribution was imperfect. I hope some of the seeds are drifting off to sleep in their new home.

Last night I read Jen Lancaster's Tao of Martha; I particularly enjoyed her gardening chapters. I too have an imaginary love-hate relationship with Martha; I too am not going to have a "cutting garden" in this lifetime.  Martha, Martha, Martha...

Winter Harvest

Peas! My very first snow peas ever, few in number but mighty in crunchy taste. I also picked blackberries. While I was inside getting a colander for the lettuce, my son gobbled down all the berries. He reported they were good.

Winter Gardening

Positioning the marker just so in the pot

After my last post, I fully expected to stay indoors for a couple months. Then my gaze fell on my in-box, and on the radish seeds someone gave my daughter for her November birthday. "Come on kids!" I shouted. "Let's go plant these radishes real quick!"

"Okay!" responded my 5 year old son enthusastically. "And carrots too! They're a winter crop!"

Well. Can't argue with his garden savvy or his gusto, so the three of us spent an hour in the vegetable garden this afternoon. It was in the low 60s, I'd say, a welcome respite from the recent "bitter" (by Bay Area standards) cold. We planted radishes in a pot, and in the ground cilantro, mesclun, beets, and carrots, all from seed. I pulled out my sad, sad plants formerly known as tomatoes, clicked my tongue over my peas, and weeded. Grr. Also tried to redirect some sneaky bamboo, grr x 1000.

Any excuse to practice those kindergarten writing skills

The kids spent their time messing around with the seed packets and decorating plant markers (craft sticks). That was actually a good use of their time, as opposed to having them sow the actual seeds with me, which is a great way to have your lettuce row sprout a big ol' cilantro in the middle. It will be handy to have a visual marker of what went where, since my memory is obviously deteriorating rapidly.

I think the Vitamin D did us all good. Whether we'll reap anything more tangible, time will tell.

Of COURSE you need to bring out about 50 craft sticks to choose from. All the markers too. You never know what you'll need.

Our Garden is Beautiful

My 2 y.o. and I spent some time this morning gardening together. No matter how little I feel like gardening, or how little I'm looking forward to the drudgery of winter gardening, just getting out there and doing it with a little helper puttering nearby is sweet. Bonus: It leaves me with an (undoubtedly illusory) feeling of accomplishment. Today, after I turned over a patch about 4'x4', she and I planted cilantro, beets, carrots, and "Salad Bowl" lettuce (the latter in ground as well as in a pot that I had just yanked basil from - call it an experiment). I enhanced the soil with some of my special Recycling Center compost; fingers crossed. I pulled out the basil (sniff; it was so good to me this year) and a Roma tomato. I showed the baby how to break up soil clumps with her little shovel, and she trotted after me when I took things out to the green waste. We picked a few golden cherries and took a break to munch them. And when we were done, she wiped her hands on her jeans and announced, "Our garden is beautiful!"

I had to agree.

Fall Planting: Beets, Peas, Lettuce

Checking out the last of the golden cherries

Planted today - it had been on my to-do list for about two weeks but everything else - such as planning for the world's best Angry Birds birthday party, coming up this weekend - took precedence. On a lovely 70-degree day, took the 2 y.o. out there for some "help" (company) to plant a third sowing (this go-round's count) of salad bowl lettuce and cilantro. Planted two rows of beet seeds, one from this year and one from 2008 that my husband had saved (they WERE yummy golden beets, but my hopes are not high), and - a first for me - snow peas. Mixed advice from Pam Peirce on all the beets and peas but I figured worth a try. Anytime I have the time and ability to plant, I try to, with whatever *could* theoretically work at that time of year, +/- a month (or two).

The contemporary seeds I planted today (2008 beets not shown)

My "helper" hard at work dropping pea seeds all over the place

Early September in the Garden

Things are looking pretty good. I planted three pumpkin plants and have one pumpkin to show for it - but it's like a magazine-quality pumpkin. A nice high-end magazine, like Martha Stewart Living.

Elsewhere, the prolific mini-Romas are slowing down, but still coming, as are the golden cherry tomatoes (two of those, and that wasn't too many). Since we have a long, strong Indian summer, I should probably be more patient and plant my tomato plants after the traditional Mother's Day date. I bet I'd get more, longer. Hmm. I just can't wait... the sight of all my neat little tomato plants lined up in the ground makes me happy!

A benefit of our generally mild-to-cool climate close to the bay is that lettuce and cilantro are - theoretically - year-round crops. This is the first year I've tried cilantro. The photo shows my 5th sowing ready for picking, and my 6th sowing coming in. I cook with cilantro frequently so I'm motivated to figure out this fussy-ish crop. It didn't like my pot or some other locations in earlier sowings, but so far so good in the lettuce zone. You don't get a ton of seeds in each pack, and my "helpers" always scatter the seeds like crazy, so this is probably my third or fourth pack.

Lettuce is a finicky crop for me. I had wild beginner's luck with it in 2010, our first year in this house. We ate salads straight from the garden for a couple months straight. My husband was in awe. And then... and then... virtually no luck in 2011. 2012 was a rebuilding year. And now in 2013, I've been doing monthly sowing and getting small heads fairly regularly, as you can see in the photo. We like Salad Bowl and butter varieties. I've also done okay with microgreens in a pot. I have a feeling that lettuce might be one of those crops that would prefer being in a planting box instead of directly in the ground. There's also a watering conflict with the tomatoes, in terms of the frequency they want it. I do hand or sprinkler watering instead of drip irrigation - I am interested in drip but haven't gotten around to educating myself enough to implement a system. Maybe I also think it's overkill on my small plot - about 6x15. But clearly over/under-watering is the #2 issue in my vegetable garden.

The #1 issue ... bamboo. Grrr.  Photo shows uninvited guests coming in from neighbor's yard.