Sunday, April 10, 2011

“in the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt.” -margaret atwood

i haven’t had much time to write out a proper blog post lately, which sucks because this is an important time of year--this blog serves as my journal, and i didn’t make enough notes in it last spring (as far as when i planted things and when they came up, etc.)...information that would be helpful right about now.

this year i planted my peas on st. patrick’s day (march 17.) i did a much nicer job than ever before: fluffed up the soil,

placed them in neat little rows (“like little graves for little goals,”)

erected branches strung together with yarn for support,

andy checked my work...

then the sky promptly vomited about two inches of rain over the following two weeks, along with some pretty chilly temperatures. i figured the peas might rot in the ground, but yesterday:

three little sproutlets popped up!

most of the seeds i sowed outside at the end of march (around the 24th) have come up in the last week. i planted seven types of radishes: purple ones, black ones, white ones, red ones, pink ones...i can’t remember the names but i’ll sort them out once i start harvesting. almost all of those are up.

lettuces and spinach have all sprouted too. still waiting for mȃche, carrots and broad beans:

it’s my first time growing favas. the beans are huge! easily the size of a quarter. i made this plant tag out of part of a coors light can i found by the side of the road.

the raspberry canes are flourishing. for every old cane there are probably three new ones coming up, and surprisingly they aren’t spreading too far into new territory, so i won’t have to beat them back into their corner.

both of my leftover kale stumps are sprouting new leaves. it’s a biennial, like parsley, so i expect all those plants to bolt really soon, but for now they’re growing pretty well. i harvested parsley from year-old plants to make hummus yesterday and it still tastes good.

i’m letting the kales grow because i read bees love kale flowers, and once it goes to seed you can use them like you would mustard seed.

it’s so exciting to see little tomatoes growing! starting just a few plants crazy early was a good idea.

8 comments:

Victoria Williams said...

I love your photos, very pretty. Everything is looking great. We did have some scary cold weather for a while didn't we?

Emily said...

thanks, victoria. yeah, i'm pretty disappointed with a lot of the weather this spring.

Potted Farm said...

Everything looks great! Nice to get further confirmation that Spring is finally here.

Garden Girl said...

I didn't know that about kale seeds and flowers. I have some kale plants that survived winter that I'll leave to see what happens. Nice blog.

Bumble Lush Garden said...

Wow you already have tomatoes growing?!? Soooo jealous. I am excited that your veggies are starting to grow. Mine aren't doing much yet <>

I understand completely about not having time to blog/journal, but getting in a quick post & picture is better than waiting too long.

A. K. Francis said...

I adore your blog. This is beautiful. And your plants look like they're doing so well! You must be very good to them. :)

Cynthia said...

Your garden is looking great compared to mine right now! I love the idea of using the recycled can for making the plant label. I'll have to remember that one!

Emily said...

potted farm--thanks! yeah, i think spring is past the tipping point...no more winter weather. i hope.

garden girl--i'm glad you're trying it too, it should be interesting to see what they look like when they flower.

bumble lush--hehe yeah, just one plant has tomatoes on it, and it's growing inside. and i agree about the quick post/picture. i'm going to try to do more of that.

firespark--thank you so much!

cynthia--it is neat making tags out of aluminum can, but it sorta seems like more work than it's worth.