Random Garden Pics

Well, the two weeks off work due to a periappendiceal abscess and appendectomy have given me way more free time than I really know what to do with. I'm not supposed to "work in the yard" while recovering. The JP drain sticking out of my old c-section scar for the past week has sucked the fun out of most activities anyways (as well as 150 cc's per day of infected fluid out of my abdominal cavity). This morning said buh-bye to the 2' of tubing and attached squeezie bottle and look out world! (I have my 5-year old convinced my JP drain is a special "juice box" the doctor wants me to keep attached to my belt).

It is so nice to have a garden to come home to:

Pencil-sized purple passion asparagus spear

Potatoes have been hilled up-Green Mountain on the right, and Tom Wagner's selections in the two left rows

Yacon from an ebay seller in California


Garlic, Shallots and Potato Onions 8 months after planting

2" tall okra seedlings seem to be struggling a bit. They were planted out about 2 weeks ago, just as all the cloudy rainy weather started. I suspect they will take off as soon as we get some clear hot dry days.

Finally the first strawberry flower! Time to break out the bird netting.

Lettuce looking cool and crisp in the east bed, which is up against the house in afternoon shadow.

Pole beans of various makes and models prepare to send their first tendrils skyward

Wall O'Peas. To date, all pods have been eaten in situ.

Baker Creek's Topaz

These tomatoes are grown from a seed I saved from a Yellow Pear tomato which I crossed with Cherokee Purple pollen last summer. I know the cross took, because the shape is definitely not pear-like, and the one is already much larger than its Yellow Pear parent. I was actually hoping for a small purple pear yielding the rich Cherokee Purple taste; looks like I may get a beefsteak type instead--keeping fingers crossed for taste genes inherited from pollen parent.

Do not adjust your color settings-yes Virginia, there is a Blue Tomato.
These are currently smaller than golf balls. Very excited to see how this one progresses.

More later. Right now, I have to get back to "not working in the yard".

Garlic, Shallots and Potato Onions

A sure sign that winter is on its way--allium planting time in the garden. Garlic and and shallots are planted in the fall, just like tulips and daffodils. So, after digging some bagged manure, high nitrogen fertilizer and peat into one of the old tomato beds, I laid out my new allium bed.

I got some French grey shallots from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange-never seen them at my local vegetable market, but I understand they are the ultimate gourmet shallot. I'm also trying something new I read about and found intriguing called "potato onions", which is a type of multiplier onion. They look like regular onion sets that you plant in the spring, except that when these grow the bulbs are supposed to divide, alot like garlic and shallots. Come next August, I could get 5-8 fair sized onions from a single bulb planted now, so they say. They're supposed to be very winter hardy, and excellent for storage. Word is, if you get your bed growing properly, and set aside a few bulbs at harvest for replanting, you shouldn't have to buy onions ever again. Sustainable agriculture. cool.

I am also going to start some garlic "bulbils" I got on the cheap from tomatobob.com. Bulbils are the topsets from hardneck garlic varieties that have "bolted"; not a clove from the actual bulb, so these will take 2 years to make a full-size head of garlic. The names sounded interesting: Shvelski, Music, Ontario Purple Trillium and Persian Star. And while I was at it, I threw in a few dozen cloves from the white supermarket garlic I always have on hand in the fridge. We shall see if there really is a taste difference between garlic varieties.

(8" apart-hope I didn't plant them too close together!)

Well-Groomed Onions

Gave the onion sprouts their first haircut the other day....don't they look just all spiffy with their new do? It's been a week of scrapbook milestones hasn't it. They were growing all crazy falling over each other and up into the growlight, so I must have read once upon a time that you're supposed to snip them down to get them to grow straight and bulk up. So I did. And if I were really frugal and resourceful I would have made a lovely pesto with the trimmings...but I just composted them instead. I know, how original. Oh, and by the way, my Baker Creek order came today, and guess what? They sent me an Orange Fleshed Purple Smudge, just exactly like I ordered! Except that instead of the 10 seeds per pack listed on the site, there must be about 30 in there! The seed envelope was just plain white, instead of sporting the typical Baker Creek artwork, so they must have scrambled and found an outside source. Two thumbs up Baker Creek! Plus, my free bonus seeds are yellow marconi peppers-something I don't already have and will definitely enjoy growing.

Seed Starting Frenzy

YAY! We're officially in Countdown Mode...It is now 12 weeks BLF (Before Last Frost) 'round these parts, so according to several different and sometimes conflicting recommended planting time-lines, it is now time to sow the onions, celery, celeriac, selected brassicas, peppers and eggplants, and possibly early tomatoes indoors. Which is exactly what I did this weekend. Well, actually, the pepper and eggplant seeds were put in ziploc baggies and left to simmer in my fancy high-tech seed-germinating cabinet, shown below. I checked them this morning, and after only 3 days I am ecstatic to report that some of the peppers are showing signs of life! Which means I'm going to have to move them to cells pretty quick, which in turn means a trip to Lowe's in the near future to buy a couple more shoplites and a laser level, because God knows nobody in their right mind would attempt to hang a temporary grow-light shelf without a laser level (at least that is what I have lead Pakman to believe.) In my house, the colder it is outside, the faster seeds in the fancy high-tech seed-germinating cabinet sprout. I believe it is because during frigid weather the furnace kicks on more often and for longer periods of time, which provides the nice constant warmth to the underside of that cabinet where the air vent is located.

In all, I have planted approximately 800 onion seeds into saved freezer-entree containers. There were about 600 Yellow Valencia seeds in a pack for $1.35 from Peters Seed and Research, and about 200 Long Red Florence in a pack for $1.75 from Tradewinds Fruit. Also I planted 3 flats each (actually cut off gallon plastic milk jug bottoms) of Redventure Celery and an unnamed Celeriac variety, also from Peters Seed. I have never planted onions or celery/celeriac from seed, so we'll keep our fingers crossed. Believe it or not, I did not broadcast-sow the onions, I actually sat there and poked 600 holes in the soil and meticulously placed a single seed in each. I hate waste. For the celery/celeriac, I sprinkled a pinch or 2 of the microscopic seed over the soil and pressed them in with the back of a spoon. Keeping the soil moist with a mister and whispering sweet nothings to them at regular intervals is the recommended procedure, which I am so far following without fail.

Some of the peppers, eggplants, lettuce and brassicas are from seed I obtained for seed trials for this guy who I became aware of through the miracle of internet forums. I'll be posting with regular updates on the Seed Trials, as this was part of the deal—in exchange for free seeds and the resulting veggies, I'm supposed to keep records, notes and impressions and pics of what grows, all raw data for his new seed company venture. I'm glad to be a part of this interesting project. Also I plan to save lots and lots of seed. Stay tuned for plenty more on that.

And finally, the first round of tomatoes are: An old early variety, Wayahead Red, obtained for free from wintersown.org's SASE tomato offer, and Stupice, another early variety that sets fruit in colder weather, as well as three “dwarf” or “rugose” tomatoes destined for porch containers named Matchless (red), Coastal Pride (orange) and Bushy Charbarovsky (fuzzy red), with seed obtained from these fine folks. Val and Dan have an amazing garden with many rare and unusual tomato varieties, some developed from their own breeding operation and available nowhere else! Their garden is also featured on page 196 in the 2009 Farmers' Almanac. Besides all that they are also the nicest people you'd ever care to know. I also santitzed the starting mix using hydrogen peroxide per their instructions, so hopefully this will greatly reduce damping-off, a fungal disease that can plague seedlings, especially slow-germinating ones like celery. I'm so excited that the countdown has begun! Bring on spring!