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!

Mid-July Miscellany

It's mid-July, and while I've got a continuous harvest going, I do feel like it's not as much of everything as this time last year. (Except berries, which continue to deluge the household.)

The tomatoes, it must be confessed, are not producing anywhere like they should. See the Green Zebra at left - nada. What a waste of time, water, and dirt. My son's Sun Gold has one or two a day. My other cherry has one or two every couple days, and the Indigo remains disgusting - just tastes unripe, no matter how big it gets. Let's blame the drought, or possibly Flora Grubb Gardens for selling it to me.

I am getting - literally - a handful of green beans and sugar snap peas daily. That, at least, is perfect. Can't stop congratulating myself for not overplanting!

Between the two pumpkin plants that came up (out of I can't even tell you how many seeds), we've got two well-established baby pumpkins, with a couple more tiny possibilities. At least all my potted herbs are doing great, for once.

Heating Up

We got back from a five-day vacation (Legoland's strawberries are doing much better than mine - maybe the slugs are made of Legos), and it was the cutest thing to watch the kids rush through the house to get to the backyard upon our return. "Mommy! Come here! Your tomatoes are growing! The zucchini is big! There are LOTS of peas!" Homecoming was pretty sweet.

And in fact, things are looking great. My new pot of lettuce is sprouting merrily, my new little pot of cilantro is ready for harvesting (mental note: time to sow again), and 4 out of our 5 tomato plants have the teeniest little green fruits on them. All the green beans I sowed are coming up - wow, are we going to have a lot of green beans for the crop swap - and even my pathetic little yellow squash finally has a blossom on it. I love June in the garden! Hope is still alive, blackberries are ripe for the plucking, and all is well.

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!

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.

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.

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