Late Spring Update

It happens every year.  I get going on the garden and everything else goes by the wayside.  Here's a little update on what's been happening here at The Slice.

Onion plants

After trying to start onion seeds and wasting three packages of seeds in the process, this is what I have.  One onion.  I hope it gets big enough to eat.  I had ordered a bunch of onion plants online,  I was sorely disappointed in what I got in the mail.  But, I planted them anyway.  A lot of them seem to be doing okay in spite of their spindliness at the beginning.  Good thing my neighbor gave me the rest of his sweet onion sets.  They're growing really well.

Watermelon radishes

Germination was iffy at best for me this spring.  Every last one that did start to grow almost immediately bolted and set seed.  I will try again in my fall garden.

Cabbages

Holy cow have they been growing like mad!  I discovered that one of the cabbages I bought is actually a cauliflower, but what the heck?  Let's see how this turns out.  The broccoli, cauliflower, and brussels sprouts are all doing very well.

Sweet potatoes

Following the disasterous results of the first attempt at growing sweet potato slips, I tried again with a new potato and got some very small slips.  They were really tiny so I just planted the whole potato in the pot.  We shall see what happens.  I also bought a couple plants at a local garden center as well as some mail order slips.  I was deeply disappointed in the slips when they arrived.  But, I planted them anyway and more than half of them have new growth.  If I actually get enough sweet potatoes, I plan to try canning them this fall.

Okra

The okra was a last minute addition to the garden plot this year.  I impulse bought a fifty cent pack of seeds at the local dollar store. I think every last one of them came up. I don't even know if I like okra.  Guess I'm going to find out.

Chamoe

Chamoe is also called Korean melon.  I totally blame Hollis for this one.  I ordered the seeds and planted them out about 10 days ago.  These are the babies. 

Infrastructure

My hubby built a new trellis.  By the time it was done, most my vining crops had been planted elsewhere.  So I plan to train whatever sweet potato vines I get if I get any at all.  I also planted a few Sweet Dumpling squashes in the farthest pot.  They will probably climb the trellis all by themselves.

Eggplant

Other than a little flea beetle damage and a healthy coating of weeds, the eggplants seem to be doing just fine.  I planted three varieties...maybe four...and they're all growing well and fixin' to flower soon.  I tried an eggplant recipe that a friend cooked for me last week and it was edible.  It is my goal in life this year is to find an eggplant recipe that I like.  We shall see if my hopes are in vain or not.

Tomatoes

My beefsteak plants have set their first greenies.  The Homestead plants were first to the mark this year and I noticed some Romas today as well.  The plants are looking fabulous.  I added some 'Jubilee' tomatoes that I impulse bought.  They're orange tomatoes and I love them.

Squashes

I have severely curtailed my squash planting habits this year.  I've planted only delitica, sweet dumpling, black beauty zucchini, and yellow crookneck.  Above is an image of my delitica seedlings which were ALREADY being menaced by the evil and dastardly squash vine borer just today!  Blasted things anyway.  My plants are small on purpose to hopefully avoid infestation.  We shall see how it goes. I'm hoping to avoid the use of the dreaded garden dust.  But, I will if I have to.  I've also found a few squash volunteers from last year's plantings.  I've decided to let them grow and see what I get.  And maybe the vine borers will menace the volunteers instead.

Melons

In addition to the chamoe melons, I have Sugar Baby watermelons and Minnesota Midget cantaloupes.  This picture is the watermelons.  The cantaloupes have only just sprouted in the last couple days.  Hoping for some juicy melons this summer.

Well, that's about it.  See you later!

Coming out of Hibernation

Wow.  Winter has been brutal this year.  The storms have been vicious in these parts.

This morning as I got out of my car in the parking lot at work, I saw two big, fat robins bouncing around in the dormant grass.  It was a refreshing sight.  Winter winds have been whipping and screaming around my little haven for a couple months now.  I’ve spent a good portion of those dark, winter evenings surfing gardening blogs, enjoying the offerings on Netflix, crocheting a ton of baby things for my Etsy page Curiosity's Piqued and making lots of cool costume stuff for Tadasana Tribal also on Etsy.  It’s been a productive winter.  I can say with all frankness and sincerity that I’ve had just about enough of that.  It’s time for spring to get here.

It hasn’t been easy, but I’ve managed to distract myself from the biting cold and drifting snow with seed catalogs and planning my garden, like any normal gardener would do. A few weeks ago I set up my seed-starting light rack and now there are dozens of little seedlings emerging from their little pots or peat pellets and stretching towards the light.  It’s a very restorative sight for me.

So far the emergent seedlings have been tomatoes, peppers and some flowers I’m toying with this year.  I’m also trying out some herbs like spearmint and chamomile for the first time from seed. I admit it.  I probably got a little carried away.  Maybe more than a little.

I really can’t help myself.

There are four kinds of tomatoes:  Roma, Beefsteaks (leftover from last year), Rutgers (a new variety for me) and Super Sweet 100 cherry tomatoes (also leftover from last year’s seeds).  They’ve all germinated nicely and little bitty, leggy seedlings have emerged.  Maybe I should up the wattage on my lights.  Mmmmm...cherry tomatoes!  I can't wait for them!  I started several plants so we'll have plenty to dry for next winter.

 

The peppers include: Jalapeno, Sonoma Sunset Sweet, California Wonder and something called Chili New Mexico.  We’re going to have peppers coming out our ears if we’re lucky.  It’s a salsa-making year, so I hope so.

There are also numerous flowers: Pinks, moonflower, 4 kinds of marigolds, corn poppies…and many others that I would have to get up and find my notebook to remember.  I write it all down, of course.  I’m turning 50 at the end of the month and I trust very little to my memory anymore.

Of course, there will be more soon.  I’m planning to start all my squashes and gourds inside in the little newspaper pots I’m trying out.  I'm hoping for better germination of the gourds.  And I have plans in the works for those squash plants and my nemesis, the squash vine borer.  A POX ON THE MOTH!

 

Good Friday is coming up so that will be potato planting day. After the smashing success last year growing potatoes in containers, I’m ramping that up from last year’s 4 little pots to 6 big plastic totes and 3 different varieties:  Yukon gold, Kennebec and a red that I've forgotten the name of.  They say the Yukon Gold doesn't keep very well, but we had the last of ours at Christmas and that's pretty darn good to me.  I’ve also got three kinds of onions in the standard red, yellow and white varieties and plenty of each of them.  I discovered last fall that drying and storing onions is an imprecise art form.  I hope to improve this fall.

I have plans to try many, many new things this year.  I finally got myself a pressure canner this winter and I'm anxious to give it a try canning some of those things I've never been able to can before.  A whole new world of canning awaits me!  Also,  I splurged on a Victorio food strainer and sauce maker  on the recommendation of another blog and I wish I could remember which blog it was.  That food mill looks like a dream come true for sauce and salsa making.  I also got the 4-piece accessory set to use for things other than sauce.  I expect this single purchase to take much of the tedium out of canning season.

But the very best thing for this season?  That's the subject of an entire blog all on its own, I think. 

It feels like there should be pictures of all this stuff, but I don't have them ready.  I hope to have some pictorials of all these goings on in the coming weeks.  It’s going to be a busy spring and summer...aaand fall at Almost An Acreage.  I can hardly wait.