today's planting list

Heliotrope, Marine (1 pot)
Lettuce, Prizehead (4-pack)
Broccoli, Calabrese (4-pack)
Broccoli, Marathon F1 (4-pack)
Eggplant, Orient Express F1 (4-pack)

2009 sow-what-and-when

my favorite watering can

Someone recently asked me about my watering can. I do have a favorite.

A small copper can. Long curved spout connected at the bottom. And a nice big handle. It was a birthday gift back when.

I like the steady stream of water. Not too much, not too little. I like the look and feel of metal. I like the weight and feel of the can. Its small, so sometimes I keep a full gallon of water nearby to refill it with.

I like to water and thoroughly wet the soil. Then I wait until the soil top dries out and the seedlings start to look like they are almost starting to wilt before I water again.

skippy loves popcorn

Just a little for Skippy - but its one of his favorite snacks on a weekend evening. With extra butter.

I love to look at my popcorn seed collection:
Baby Golden (a free sample from Sand Hill Preservation Center)
Faribo White
Tarahumara White (oops - this is a sunflower not a popcorn!)

Three types! I can't wait to plant these in a few weeks. It will be my first time growing popcorn. Or any corn at all. I think these are all small varieties. Relatively (4-5 ft tall). We're looking forward to many ears and evenings of buttered popcorn this fall.

Popcorn (Zea mays averta)

sprout photos

I was very happy to spot five or six TINY celeriac sprouts today. Still only one lavender sprout. Onions are getting tall. And the thyme looks good.

Today's seed planting list:
Onion, Ailsa Craig Exhibition (1 pot)
Onion, Purplette (1 pot)
Onion, Frontier (1 pot)

(Tuesday note: two more celeriac sprouts! another lavender! and lots of marigolds today...)

spring is getting closer

More and more signs of spring are around now. Though snowstorms seem to come weekly, it melts fast. Underneath, crocus and tulips are sprouting. Winter hazel is blooming bright. And Skippy's swimming hole has thawed.

After this winter, it seems almost too good to be true.....

today's sowing list

Pepper, Amelia's Cayenne (6-pack)
Pepper, Thai hot (6-pack)
Pepper, Poblano (6-pack)
Pepper, Nardello sweet (6-pack)
Pepper, Costa Rican sweet (6-pack)
Pepper, Quadrato Rosso D'Asti sweet red (6-pack)
Pepper, Quadrato Giallo D'Asti sweet yellow (6-pack)
Beets, Chiogga (6-pack)
Marigold, Fireball
Marigold, Petit mix (4 pots)
Cosmos, sulphureus orange (4 pots)
Butterfly flower, asclepias tuberosa (4 pots)
Parsley, flat leaved Italian (8 pots)
Basil, Nufar (8 pots)

It feels good to be planting again!

I put the newly seeded peppers under my fish tank (78*F) to keep them warm until they sprout. The others are all on my plant shelves.

I have lots of little German Winter thyme seedlings now (sowed 2-21). And my early tomatoes are getting their first leaves. I have 5 New Girls, one Brandywine (Suddoth's Strain) and three Orange Blossom seedlings (planted (2-21). Today I spotted one little lavender and one little celeriac sprout, too. Hopefully more are on the way. My onion seedlings look great (planted 2-12). Germination was slow, but steady. Now I have good amounts of all three varieties I planted. So far so good!

2009 sow-what-and-when

seeds

Two envelopes of seeds were waiting for me when I came home from vacation a few days ago. The ones from Ohio Heirloom were a free gift since this brand new company is using my tomato photo on their website. The seeds look awesome. Nice simple packets. (Thanks for sending them!)

And I love the little packets from Reimer Seeds. I ordered a few extra tomato varieties from them.

This weekend I'm planing to do some serious planting. Its time to plant broccoli, eggplant, lettuce, more onions, peppers, marigold, parsley, basil and beet seeds. Wow!

a few seed quotes

"I don't believe the half I hear,
Nor the quarter of what I see!
But I have one faith, sublime and true,
That nothing can shake or slay;
Each spring I firmly believe anew
All the seed catalogs say!"
- Carolyn Wells

In March and in April from morning till night
In sowing and seeding good housewives delight.
- Thomas Tusser

The mere fact that you get a lot of seeds in a packet
doesn't mean you have to plant all of them.
- Henry Mitchell

a nap in the sun...

seedlings - onions, thyme and tomatoes

My onions are doing well. Also early tomatoes and tiny little thyme. So far, no lavender or celeriac sprouts. I'll keep watching.

my first tomato seedling

Psychedelic celebration...



This is a New Girl tomato seedling planted 10 weeks before the last frost in my garden. That's 4 weeks early. I have 9 very early tomatoes that sprouted this week. I can almost taste sweet red early tomatoes!

tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum)

all about dogs

A post about Portuguese water dogs with a photo of Skippy - the cutest water dog anywhere!

Florida souveniers

Nothing like fresh fruits and veggies from a warm climate - in the middle of winter. I picked these up on my last day on vacation in Florida and carried the box on the plane. Tonight, we squeezed a key lime on the tomato with our salad. Yummy!

Tomatoes $2/5. Key limes $2/7. Giant avocado $1.79. Can't beat it for tasty veggies!

to do list

After being away on vacation, there's always a long list of stuff to catch up on. Here's my list:

1- Take pictures of my new sprouts: tomatoes and thymes! (These were watered well in my absence.)
2- Open a couple envelopes of new seeds delivered by mail in my absence.
3- Catch up on email (its endless) ...
4- Eat my Florida souvenirs: grapefruit, tomatoes, limes and avocado.
5- Finish uploading my photos of Florida flowers, birds and swamps.
6- Edit my planting calculator, based on some very good suggestions.
7- Check out my gardens - but then maybe I'll wait til the snow melts. I really thought it'd be spring when I got home! We have almost a foot of new snow. (Actually its beautiful.)
8- Get ready to plant broccoli, lettuce and eggplant seeds.
9- Hang out with my buddy, Skippy. Nice to be greeted by a wagging tail...

blizzard in Boston

What's with the weather up there?!! I'm flying back tomorrow. I was hoping to see beautiful spring weather in NE. The forecast for my vegetable gardens is 10-15 inches of snow tonight and tomorrow. Hmmm. Well, I'm on the beach again today, so I'll worry about this later.