Snow Capped Tulip
Snow! I have lived in the North long enough that it doesn’t surprise me when it makes a spring appearance. There is that fresh new snow smell and the little puffs look quite exquisite balanced on my red tulips. At least that is how I felt yesterday, but it is still snowing a day later. Our world went from spring green to winter white. I just can’t bring myself to make a snowman, a couple of snowballs was where that game ended for me. As for the garden, I am not too worried. Peas and spinach are up, but will be fine. My nearly planted delphiniums with their fleshy green stalks and leaves are looking droopy. But my most worrisome thought is of the fruit trees. Our apricots were covered with blossoms for the first time this year and the bees have been humming. If temperatures drop the next couple of nights we may have yet another apricot-less year. And then there are the cherries, pears and apples.
There have been greater garden challenges of late, though. A little mouse ate all of our pepper and eggplant seedlings. He is known around here as the Mexican mouse, due to his love of hot pepper plants. And the tomato seedlings have ceased growth and are now turning yellow with only their seed leaves emerged. I am questioning the soil mixture, although all other plants are growing fine. I have reseeded everything in the same soil as a test. I am having serious doubt of early tomatoes and peppers right now and am wondering if summer’s bounty will in fact materialize. Although, the abstract brilliant green under the pine tree gives me hope.
Posted on April 27th, 2010 in Garden Planning, Planting, Spring | Leave a Response »
Tags: fruit blossoms, Peppers, snow, Spring, tomatoes
Spring Greens
Hoop House Compost Material
“I saw another sign of spring!” This is the battle cry against any lingering winter at my house. My children are very into pointing out the signs- a warm day and short sleeves, crocuses in the green grass, twittering birds, pussy willows and forsythia, daffodil buds, a bee, and lots and lots of fresh air. Our windows are now open at night to hear the spring peepers. The buds on the trees are showing a little color, a tinge of pink and green. I have seeded spinach and peas in freshly raked beds prepared with a layer of crumbly compost. But I am enjoying salad greens from the hoop house above and beyond anything else.
We have been eating our own greens for about a month now, but the warm weather of the past couple weeks has made them abundant. There is a lettuce mix and spinach that was seeded in the fall, chives, arugula and miner’s lettuce. Whatever was in my salad bowl this winter is not worthy of mention compared to what graces it now. I am not sure how to describe how wonderful these greens are and do them justice. I stroll out to the hoop house, colander in hand and start grazing like a hungry, growing lamb. The bounty feels decadent.
Greens is not all the greenhouse is providing this spring. There are lots of weeds, one large patch in particular, that for once I am pleased with. I am not sure what the weed is, but it comes up easily, is not rhizomatous and has not gone to seed, making it great green material for my ComposTumbler, at a time of year when green material is lacking. I also trimmed the rye grass I seeded in the pathways last summer. It was almost a foot tall, making it fantastic green compost material as well.
Spring is happening around here. There is a little harvesting, more seeding, some composting and multiple daily trips through the perennial beds to see what has emerged. There is something new everyday. At times I feel like we are entering the growing season with unstoppable speed. I panic with so much to accomplish and then I set myself straight. What I have been waiting for is here and I am loving it.
Posted on April 15th, 2010 in Compost, Harvesting, Spring | 2 Comments »
Tags: Compost, greens, hoop house, rye grass, salad
Tomato Seeding
Germination!
Most of my seeds are nestled in their warm burrows now and some have dared to sprout! The beginning of a whole new season. One week ago, March 20th, I seeded my tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, celery, parsley, basil and a few flowers. With such a short tomato season, I am desperate to prolong it if even for a few days. I have been of the mindset that if I don’t get my plants started by March 1st I am doomed to be the last eating a sun warmed tomato plucked from my garden. Unfortunatley, even with my early seed starting I am usually the last. It is tortuous to walk through the farmers market in midsummer watching customers buy ripe red tomatoes, knowing the pleasure they will have, while I refrain, because “I grow my own”. Then I think of the tomato days I am missing and hash over what I could have done wrong.
So, with some investigation, I have discovered that most of my farmer friends start their tomatoes weeks later then me. Perhaps, my plants are siting in their pots, stressed, waiting for that last frost date, setting back their fruiting. This year I patiently waited a couple more weeks into March to seed. I also seeded a super early variety, Glacier. I know that gardening is not a competition, but I am really hoping to start my tomato eating frenzy a little earlier this year, at least at the same time as my farmer friends.
Posted on March 28th, 2010 in Garden Planning, Planting, Spring, Vegetables | Leave a Response »
Tags: eggplant, Glacier, Peppers, Seeding, Tomatos
