Planted Leafy Greens Today In Perfect Spring Weather

It is 63 degrees outside right now.  I can't believe I am inside typing this blog instead of sitting outside.  I think I got enough sun on my face earlier, though, while I planted the leafy greens and fava beans.

I have never grown fava beans before, so I tried a little experiment.  Last week I planted four of them in toilet paper roll seed starters.  Today I noticed that they were all growing.  They are so huge when they sprout that I was instantly scared that they would be harmed by being in those small tubes.  I planted them outside in a pot. You can see three of them in this picture if you look very close.

Here is an up close look at one of them.  This sprout is as big as a nickle.  They each had a huge thick root sticking out the bottom. as well.  The seed packet says you can plant them the same time as peas outside so I went ahead and planted the rest of the seeds directly outside.  They should be done in time to pull them out to make room for the warm weather crops.

This bed received a bunch of new seeds today.  On the right, I planted three types of kale.  Since kale grows very huge I planted three to four seeds in three different spots for each variety.  I will thin them to just one plant each. I hope they do well.  I love kale.  The far right corner was planted with two small squares of greens. One square is arugula and the other a mix of romaines.  The far left corner is a mesclun mix that looks really tasty on the package.  I also added a very small rectangle of sparkle radishes right behind the cherry belle radishes that have started sprouting.

Here are those radishes. I planted them a week and a half ago.  You can see the rows now.  They each have their seed leaves out now

This is a close up of one of them.

When they first push their little leaves through they look like this.

The spinach is just starting to poke out.  This is a close up of one of them. You can only see three or four so far.

The garlic is growing very tall and green.  I think it is the prettiest thing in the garden so far.

The peas are getting loads of leaves, but up until today they had kept them folded up pretty tight.  This warm sun must be coaxing them out because they are starting to open up.

Close up.  I love peas.

The onions I planted from bulbs are looking really strong.  After this year I might decide that this is the way to go.  Only the harvest will tell.

I planted my potatoes outside today.  I didn't have room for them all in this one bed, so I didn't plant all of the russets.  You may recall that I wasn't that excited about them to start with, so it isn't that sad.  The potatoes are in the ground in the trench. As they sprout, I will keep taking dirt from the hills and piling it around them so they have to grow higher and higher.  This encourages them to make more tuber producing stems.  I learned this from my good friend, the potato guy.  He had to figure out how to grow potatoes in every season and condition for his master's degree in entomology.  He did his research on a potato pest, the potato psillid.

Here is a look at my rhubarb plant.  I planted it from a sickly looking start I bought at Bimart a few weeks ago.  At first I wasn't even sure it was alive, but then it started growing inside so I planted it outdoors.  It is actually looking pretty good.  I bought a package that said it had two rhubarb starts in it, and it had only one very sickly one.  If this guy makes it through the winter this year to next year I think I will be happy enough, though. I really only wanted one plant.

Here is a look at one of the leafy green patches.  This is the spicy mesclun salad mix.  I put seeding potting soil on top of the seeds to keep it from crusting over them.

I used the pots from the pansies and violas to start some more eggplants and some bell peppers.  I keep saying I won't waste any more space on growing bell peppers, because I never get enough peppers to make it worth it, but I can never resist planting them in the spring.  Here goes.  Hopefully, I will discover the secret to making them productive this year.

Yay! Surprise! The grass we panted in the front yard is finally coming up.  From far off you can't really see it very well yet, but especially in the warmer, sunnier spots it is coming up pretty strong.  Suddenly, all the time we have spent watering it feels a little less wasted.  I am still a bit disappointed that I gave in and agreed to plant any lawn at all, but it is always exciting to see things sprouting and growing when you plant them.  The yard that we planted is very small and won't take too much water, because it is a drought tolerant fescue.

Things are getting exciting out in the garden.  I can't wait to see what is sprouting next week.  I am scheduled to plant another biweekly row of peas on Thursday.  I have also been transplanting some of the seedling I planted indoors, tomatoes, peppers, collards and celery.  They have been a bit disappointing so far.  It seams like I have one strong sprout for each variety.  I planted between six and 18 of each so that is not good odds.  I dug up one of the peat pellets to see what was going on inside there and I found seeds with roots, but no shoots so they will probably come up eventually as long as they don't get sick.  The seedling trays have not been keeping as warm as they should.  I added my reptile heat mat to the bottom of one of the trays.  I will see if that helps.  I think I will build a heated seed starting table for next year.

Happy planting to you all.  Hope you get out and enjoy this weather.

Staying Organized, At Least I'm Trying

Okay, I have to admit that I am the worst one to try and give anyone advice about staying organized, but I am trying.  I think it can be really important to keep track of what and when and where things were planted, what seeds you bought and/or have and what techniques you have used.  If for no other reason than to avoid making the same mistakes twice.  It also helps you remember what worked really well before so you can remember to do it again.  I have started a few different methods to help me keep track of things.  Originally, this blog was supposed to help me by being a sort of journal, but I have realized that I am not keeping up with blogging everything like I would need to for that to be useful. So I decided to keep a real journal.

This is it. I write everything in it as soon as I do it.  When I plant something, I take the seed envelope or the plant tag directly to the journal and write it down.  I have drawn garden bed plans in it and I also have a master list of all the seeds and plants that I have. I also keep the empty packets and tags after I plant things, just in case I need to refer to them.

 

I have found a box that is the perfect size to "file" all of my seed packets (empty as well as full) and plant tags.  I keep them organized in groups of related plants and by planting time: earliest in the front, for the most part.

Another big part of staying organized as a gardener is labeling everything right away.  For me it only takes a few minutes before I forget exactly what variety I planted where in a flat of seedling starts, so I label things right away, even before I plant the next row. This year I already have a mystery variety of peas growing.  The first pea seeds I planted were from a small package that didn't even finish a row.  I somehow misplaced the package and I didn't make my master list of seeds until after that day, so I may never know what variety I planted there.  What if those pea plants are the best ones I have ever grown.  I won't know what to buy to repeat them next year.

 

With any luck I will either find the packet when I clean up, or those peas won't be anything special, so I won't have lost anything.

 

I am chitting 4 varieties of potatoes in my window.  I though you might like to see some pictures of what is going on with those:

 

This is a Dark Red Norland seed potato from Irish Eyes seed company.  They are very dirty, but also look very good.

Here you can see all four varieties: Dark Red Norland, Warba "Pink Eyes", Yukon Gold and Russets. I think Pink Eyes is a horrible name for a food item, not very appetizing.  Those potatoes also seem to have very deep eyes, which is not a good thing when you are trying to clean the dirt of of them for eating. They are a white potato.  My mom chose them. They are also from Irish Eyes.  The Yukon Gold I bought at the local feed store and the russets I bought at Bimart.  I have never grown russets before.  I decided to try them this year as an experiment.  I want to see if they are better than the ones at the store and I also want to see if they are better for basement storing.

 

Many people say don't grow potatoes in your garden if you have limited space, or for that matter carrots either because they are so inexpensive to buy at the store and you aren't saving yourself any money.  I disagree with this philosophy wholeheartedly. I believe that you should grow what you eat most so that you are in control of everything that goes into your body. Besides, does a store bought carrot compare at all to a freshly picked carrot? No.  How can you assign a monetary value to that crisp crunch and sweetness? Store bought potatoes and carrots have been so disappointing to me lately with brown spots inside them and large sections that have to be cut off and thrown away.  Even the Yukon Gold potatoes I bought at Costco two weeks ago had so many problems I ended up having to use almost 50% more potatoes to make the same amount of potatoes au gratin.  Potatoes and carrots are so easy to grow that I can't think why a person wouldn't try to fit them into their garden plans.  The plants are very pretty as well and they come up and fill in bare ground really fast for those people who are concerned with making their garden look good from the street like I am.  I know that it would probably be healthier to eat more leafy greens and less potatoes, but I think that as a starch serving goes fresh, peals on potatoes are pretty healthy.  After all, you can get all of your essential nutrients from a diet of just potatoes and dairy.  I don't advocate trying that, but in a pinch it will do.

 

Okay, that is enough ranting.  As you can tell I feel very strongly about my potatoes and carrots. Sorry.  Everyone should just grow whatever they want.  As long as you grow what you like and eat what you grow you can't go wrong.

 

My favorite things to grow, in order of importance to me, are: tomatoes, leafy greens (spinach, collards, kale, lettuces, beets, mustards, etc.), herbs (basil, dill, thyme, rosemary, mint, sage, lavender, cilantro, parsley, etc.), peppers, cucumbers, beans, squash, peas, broccoli, cabbage, onions, beets, carrots, potatoes, garlic, eggplants, sunflowers, celery, artichokes.  Celery and artichokes are last because this is the first year I am growing them and I don't know if I will like them or not. I always grow eggplants because they are beautiful and grow well in containers, but my daughter won't eat them so it is hard for us to eat what we grow.  Not many of our friends and/or neighbors eat them either so it is hard to use them all. I also plant radishes because they grow so fast that it is fun and instantly rewarding. I just planted a rhubarb plant and will soon be planting some asparagus, so we can add those to the list. I think that if you don't grow your own tomatoes or know someone who does, there is no point in eating them.  Those things they call tomatoes at the grocery store are not really tomatoes.  The are bland tasteless grainy imitations. Give me food with taste and personality or none at all.

 

Woohoo, I finally have my first tomato sprout.  It has been 13 days.  This is a beefsteak.

 

I also found this collard sprout coming up.  I think I must have dropped one of the seeds down the side when I was planting.  I don't think it will survive when I move the pellets and replant. It might.

 

Have a wonderful day. Get outside and grow something. It feels great. I hear my chicks calling me upstairs. They are so cute.