This Can Only Mean One Thing (onion experiment part one)

Uh oh.  This can only mean one thing.

Yep.  It has been a while.  The last couple months have dashed by in the particular way that only the holiday season can do.  I've been busy with craft shows and market store and my job and my home and my family and...

I think you get the idea.

Now that the dust has settled somewhat, I'm back to thinking about my slumbering garden.  I didn't get nearly enough done this fall to put things to bed out there. I'll have quite an undertaking getting things ready in spring.  But, it is what it is.

Today we are in the midst of an old fashioned January ice storm.  We have about a quarter inch of ice on the trees.  The streets are ridiculously slippery.  But the worst part is the sidewalks.  I nearly crippled myself getting to my car after work last night.  I cursed myself as I remembered my Yak Traks sitting on the shelf at home.  Dangit.

However, today I am toasty warm in my little house and I'm thinking about the garden.  I joined a group on facebook called Grow It Cook It Eat It.  Together with a bunch of other gardeners all over the world, I am learning to grow some new things.  I decided to join the 'growing onions from seed' group there.  Today, I started my onion seeds.  Yep, it seems early to me, too.  But I'm assured that 10-12 weeks is not too early for onion seeds.

The two brown containers are Sweet Spanish onions.  The black containers are Lisbon bunching onions.

Here they are on the plant starting shelf.

Every year I look for things to try to make my seed starting more successful.  This year, I'm sprinkling my seed starts with cinnamon to help ward off fungal infections.  I'm also using a small fan to gently blow on the seedlings. This is supposed to make them tougher and stockier from the get go.  We'll see.

I hope to keep up on my blog with the progress of my onion experiment.  Meanwhile, I'm going to go work on my latest personal crochet project.  I am in the midst of crocheting a collection of afghans for my living room.  Snug Netflix binging awaits!

Spring Fever 2015

Caught this robin in the act of stealing my dead grass for his nest last year.  The dirty bird!

I've got it pretty bad, I guess.  Spring Fever.  I know it's bad because after work today, as I sat in my car preparing to go home, I saw a flock of small birds feeding on the ground near my car.  I tried my damnedest to make those juncos into robins.  But, in the end, I realized my error and rather sheepishly went on my way taking solace in the knowledge that I had not jumped up and down shouting, "Look at the robins!" as I was tempted to do.

When I got home, I was greeted as per usual by two overly excited dogs, my dear husband, and the latest in seed catalog offerings from Burpee and Gurney's.

There is little this time of year, save spotting that first robin, that can match the joy inspired by the brightly colored covers of my beloved seed catalogs.  I fear the day when they all finally go completely electronic and I won't be able to leaf through the pages at my leisure circling all the things I must get for my garden this year or next.  It's an annual rite that I relish greatly...almost as much as the gardening itself.

This year is no exception.  After my husband retired to bed complaining of a vague sense of illness, I sat and perused my catalogs by lamplight.  So many seeds; so little space.

But the thing that caught my eye was not a seed, but a shrub.  A blueberry shrub.  You might remember that a couple years ago I purchased two Top Hat blueberry shrubs from one catalog or another.  They do, in fact, survive the winters here in central Nebraska; but, only just.  I have yet to see a single blossom much less a fruit on either of the bushes I planted.  Seems Top Hat just isn't really hardy enough for my neck of the woods.  You would think that a shrub developed in Michigan would do well here.  Not so much.  It doesn't die, but it does winter kill back so badly that it never really recovers over the summer.

Enter Dwarf Northsky Blueberry.  I am so excited.  This shrub stays small, although not as small as the Top Hat variety and the hardiness zones are 3-7 instead of the 5-7 of Top Hat.  I can hardly wait to plunk down my cash and get the order put in.  According to the literature available, the Northsky does well in containers and I found several images of purported Northsky bushes growing comfortably in half barrel containers.  I will probably not grow them in containers though.  No, I have a spot in mind if I can convince my ailing husband of the perfection of that particular location for blueberry culture.

Not my picture...found this one on google.  Nice shot though.

I do love blueberries.  The first batch of jam I ever made and canned was blueberry.  Now that I think of it, that was a very long time ago.  At least twenty years.  I'd say I'm due for a second batch.

Do You Know What Time It Is?

I got a little email from myself this morning that said, "Seven weeks until average last frost date!"  That means it's time.

Tomato time.

This year's seed selection is large.  Almost vast, actually.  Some of these I bought, some I was given by a friend.  No, her name is not 'Burpee.'

• Super Sweet 100 hybrid cherry tomatoes.  I've grown these for the last 3 years out of the same seed packet.  I finally planted the last of them today.  These things grow cherry tomatoes by the gross.  70 days.
• Yellow Pear heirloom.  This is my first time growing yellow tomatoes.  I've eaten yellows grown by others and they were okay although I don't believe they're any less acidic than their red brethren.  These seeds were handed to me by a gardening friend, so I'm planting them.  We'll see.  76 days.
• Mortgage Lifter heirloom.  The tomato of myth and legend that, allegedly, helped a man who was down on his luck save his home.  That's good enough for me to try them.  80 days.
• Bloody Butcher.  The name says it all.  55 days.
• Independence Day hybrid.  These are almost the earliest of the lot at 56 days to maturity.  Hence the name.  I want to see if they really will be ready by the 4th of July.
• Big Pink hybrid.  Pink tomatoes just seem wrong.  I want to see if they are any good.  75 days.
• Roma hybrid.  Your basic paste tomato.  76 days.

I planted all but the roma tomato seeds today.  All except the romas are indeterminate types.  They look a little bit exactly like this right now:

Yep, that's three of each.  I'm not taking any chances on misfires.  I'd much rather have extra plants to try to get rid of gift to my gardening friends than not enough of something for my own purposes. I'll get to the romas tomorrow, maybe.  I need to make some more paper pots and I'm too tired to hunt for the pot maker right now. 

Now there's a spiffy little gadget!  It makes biodegradable seed starting pots out of newspaper.  Mine is made of maple, I think, and I got it on Etsy.  This isn't the one I got, but that shop is no longer on Etsy.  I sorta wish I had the one in the link.  Looks kinda like the Cadillac of paper pot makers.

Oh, and for the record, this is what some of the peppers look like.  Come to think of it, the eggplants look rather the same:

Lots of the peppers still look more or less like the tomatoes do right now.  I think my seed starting shelf has been too cold.  Time to dig out the heat mats.

Tomorrow is the farmer's market sellers meeting.  I. Can't. Wait!

The Planting is Done! I think....

Finally we have stable, reasonably warm weather.  What an odd spring!  I've been remiss in taking photos the last few weeks.  Life got busy.  I was out and about on vacation last week, so my pictures are more like this:

and this:

than this:

But here's an update on the garden goings-on.

• The potatoes are officially dead.  I took the soil from the pots they were in and mixed it with peat moss and vermiculite and used it to fill my new...
• Asparagus bed.  I may have mentioned my extreme love for asparagus before.  I planted 30 asparagus plants.  Pics as soon as the 15 I'm expecting to sprout show up.
• The radishes and spinach have come and gone.  Tasty and wonderful!
• The peas have finally flowered and I have a few tiny little pods forming.  Only about half the pea seeds I planted have sprouted so the harvest will be small.  It's okay, though.  They rarely make it to the kitchen anyway.
• I'm impressed with the Brussels sprouts plants!  I gotta get some pics of those, too.  They are growing like crazy.  I guess the cool, damp weather is perfect for them.
• The onions are also doing really, really well.
• The new plantings include cucumbers, tiny pumpkins, zucchini, winter squash and yellow wax beans.

Lots more has happened and I'll get to it in time.  Right now, my bed is calling.  I'm still adjusting to getting up for work in the morning after my vacation.  It's painful.

But all is well.