March

Already March. Wow. We never even got winter and it is almost spring. We've had temps in the 60s and the garden will probably get tilled this week(end). I can't believe we don't still have snow. The tomatoes and onions are up in their flats. I checked around the yard the other day and I found all sorts of plants poking up. Some sort of flower that someone other than us planted (Bulbs that come up first thing. Even before my crocus.), horseradish is starting to peek up, the irises are a couple inches tall, and the garlic has an inch or so. Also the chervil, strawberries, and chives are starting, but just.

I'll be amazed if we don't have a wicked fire season this year. I hope not for our area, but I do hope so at the same time. Last year there weren't many fires and business was awfully slow.

False Spring

I know it isn't really spring being the 12th of February but we hit 55 degree F today. Our snow is gone (has never really showed up) and we had spurts of great sunshine. Oh it was nice to have sun. It has been very gloomy lately and I've missed the sunshine.

I went out and cleaned up the garden from last fall. I never really cleaned up before winter. Our ground isn't even close to being frozen. A little too wet to till, but it won't be long if we keep having days like today. I will be happy to get out working in the garden again. Sure makes me a happy camper.

On to actual garden updates: Seeds are purchased. I didn't get a ton, but I bought more than I had originally planned. They are so hard to resist. The soil pods are soaking as we speak and I'll be starting my tomatos today.

My varieties this year: Black Krim, Cherokee Purple, Brandywine, a couple of paste tomatos (I don't remember which variety I bought this morning), and a tomatillos for my salsa. On a side note. I need more tomato cages. Good thing we have wire left over from the fence. I'll build 'em as needed.

I think I'll be starting everything else outside this year. Other than maybe one or two herbs. Haven't really decided there yet. We'll see how it goes with Bear getting into things. He really wants to play with the soil pods.

Weather

We haven't had much of a winter. Lots of rain this year. There are days like yesterday where the precipitation comes down as snow but it is warm enough not to stick. Bum deal. We really don't have any snow to speak of. The weather-man has been talking about numbers of 50-75% below normal snow pack. Kinda scary.

I wish we'd get some of the snow that is dumping back East. They are getting 18 inches plus at a time. Apparently this isn't normal for them. Schools are closing and stores are running out of food. I am fasinated by this. I don't understand not being prepared for winter weather. I know we aren't as prepared as we could be, but we would be okay for awhile. Little things like having powdered milk and flour on hand. Having a heat source other than electricity. Even if it is just candles or a camping stove. Those things make sense to me, but the running around in a panic like the articles talk about doesn't make sense. I assume most people aren't really doing this and it is just the media hype. They like to make a big deal out of a small deal.

Several years back there was a small washout of our road out by the highway from the high spring runoff. The "flood" encompassed all of about 3-4 feet worth of road and a couple of inches of water. This wasn't the case if you watched the evening news. Boy, the whole Valley was flooding and it was a big issue according to them. Funny, it never slowed us down.

At any rate, I'm hoping we get some decent snow between now and spring. The ground sure could use it. We'd rather not have lots of fires around next summer.

It has begun.

I've done it. I started my first seeds this evening. Walla Walla Sweet onions from seed. We tried a few last year and loved them so I'm doing a flat of them this year. Also, I'm trying out a soil pod/greenhouse set up. We shall see how it works. So far I like the lack of mess it makes. I'm still not sure how I'm going to do this with a toddler in the house. Might get interesting.

I'm thinking I'm going to only start a few things from seed early this year. I'm going to try direct seeding a lot of what I grow. I don't know if we have a long enough growing season but I'm going to find out.

Welcome 2010!

New year, new garden, fresh starts. Nice to have a clean slate. I'm planning away on the garden. I'm going to rotate the directions my rows go. Last year they ran East to West. Everything did all right but I think I may get more stuff in my garden if I do a North/South row that is shorter. I'm still planning on running my beans and peas along the fence that runs East/West though. Just on my North fence so they don't block the sun.

So here's my basic list of what I think I want in the garden this year:

Tomatoes: Brandywine, Cherokee Purple, Black Krim, and maybe an Amish Paste?
Tomatillos
Carrots: Chantenay and Danvers Half Long
Potatoes: Haven't picked varieties yet, but at least one fingerling type
Zuchinni: Green, Yellow didn't do so hot last year
Pumpkin: I have a sweet pie pumpkin seed but also I've composted several pumpkins that may or may not sprout on their own. I had a small decorative pumpkin come up last year this way. Obviously my compost doesn't get very hot.
Peppers: Haven't decided here yet either, but will do plants instead of from seed
Cucumber: Have Straight Eight and National Pickling
Lettuce: I like the mix of leaf lettuces
Onions: WallaWallas and red (I planted the reds last fall. We'll see what we get)
Beans: Kentucky Blues and Bush Blue Lakes
Peas: Mix of sugar and snow peas along with some regular shelling
Beets: Detroit Red
Turnips: Purple Top

I'm debating radishes with my carrots. I just don't know how many we'll eat. I also have lots of herbs I want to put in. I just haven't decided if they will go in my veggie garden or elsewhere around the property. In addition to the herbs Tom would like me to put in some hops. This way he may start brewing beer. That would be kinda fun. We have the cellar for it, and I can put the hops around the garage or along our fence. I haven't decided which yet. Also, I'm debating brussels sprouts and cabbage. Both take up lots of room and we don't eat that many of them. Plus my brussels sprouts didn't mature until almost Dec. Maybe a corner of the garden where they can just be ignored for the summer. They were delicious, but didn't yield much.

Anyone have any luck with copper to deter slugs? Beer traps work well, but I always forget to refresh the beer so they get really gross and the slugs quit going in.

Planning and thinking

I was just reading one of my garden books and realized as I put it down that I planted daffodils and tulips that should come up in the spring! Also, I have irises that should bloom again. I can't wait to see what all comes up this year. I spread lots of random flower seeds around the house and along the new fence. It will be fun to see how many hollyhocks and others come up around the fence posts. Also with some of my amazon.com gift certificate (Christmas present thanks to Ginna) I ordered some tomato seeds. Brandywine, Black Krim, and Cherokee Purple. I'll also end up getting some paste tomatoes for drying and making paste, but they can wait. I think that and some different kind of potatoes will be all the seed I have to get this year. I still have tons from last year. Although, now that I think about it I may not have zucchini seeds. Not sure what happened to them. Guess I'll add that to the list.

End of 2008

Well, I harvested the brussels sprouts a week or so ago. They were frozen right on the plant and I harvested in several inches of snow. I didn't even wash them. (Beauty of knowing exactly what wasn't put on them.) Just plopped 'em in a casserole dish laid the last 4 pieces of bacon in the package that needed used up over the top and tossed them in the oven. At somewhere around 300 degrees F. I baked them for awhile. I basically forgot about them until I got the rest of dinner going and realized I could smell the bacon. Opened up the oven and mmmm... Poor little brussels didn't even make it to dinner. I ate them all up. Just a handful is what I got but they sure were good. There were two more plants but they never could seem to muster sprouts. Don't know if they didn't get enough to eat or what. Oh well.

We've had our cold snap, snow, and now it is raining. While it snowed the other day I started planning next year's garden. I'll try to be a bit more disciplined this year. I'm going to try to not totally cover my shelves in seedlings. If nothing else because Bear will probably pull them up. I'll have to enlist his help this upcoming year outside. He loves to play outside and helping me in the garden will be the perfect excuse. Not yet two should still be plenty old enough to play in the dirt with Mom. Hopefully he'll still enjoy all the peas and tomatoes straight from the garden next summer. I never could get a basket of tomatoes in without Bear-bites out of at least one tomato, if not two or three tomatoes. I think he was what they call quality control.

Speaking of tomatoes, I want to try several different varieties. Brandywine, Black Krim, Cherokee Purple, and a paste tomato are on my list. I wonder what a good paste variety would be... I haven't really heard anything one way or another. If only I can keep myself under control when obtaining seeds this year. I want to go more the heirloom route with most of my veggies. Mostly because of the history behind them. I like the idea that I can grow something my great-grandmother would recognize.

Off to build more wish-lists for spring...