A Sunday planting and harvest

I added four, four foot rows, one row each,
Red Oakleaf lettuce
Baby bok choy
Bloomsdale Long Standing spinach
and Spring broccoli rabe

I have been harvesting Tyee spinach, Purple Top turnip greens,  Dwarf Blue Curled, Vate's Strain kale and lobed leaf arugula.

Interesting about my new one shelf seed nursery, the tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, shasta daisys, pansies and basil seem to love it.  They look great.  The tomatillos, burnet, and thunbergias grew way too leggy and they are now on my kitchen counter! It is definitely spring here.

Sunday in the Garden

So much done this weekend.  I beefed up one of my 4x8 beds.  The tomatoes ate so much soil last year.  I added 12 cubic feet of soil and compost mix to bring the up level to normal. I put in a four ft row of peas from Franchi called Telefono.  The pods should have about ten peas in them!  In two or three weeks I'll put another row in front of them.  At right angles I put in a row each of several other seeds.  Starting along the edge I put in Jolly Jester marigolds.  Next Champion radishes, followed by Early Wonder beets and lastly Little Finger carrots.  There is room for succession rows of each food stuff.  I put two horseradish roots into a large pot  sitting at the corner of this bed.

I fed the citrus and the blueberries and a few other shrubs. 

Planted two hebe ochracea James Stirling (juniper like leaves) and tassel ferns (polystichum setosum) in the front shade garden. The bed is almost done with the plantings.  There is room for some flowers or hostas but mostly we just need to wait and see how it develops.

Along the NW side  where we put the sekel pear last month I transplanted most of my kitchen herbs, thyme, taragon, chives and sage. The oregano still needs to be moved.  I also put in two sets of deep red cactus dahlia bulbs (Chat Noir).

Near this, on the patio, I started a pot with French Fingerling potatoes.  I planted potatoes and carrots in my childhood garden.  It will be such fun to watch how these do and to, hopefully, eat them!  I have two more varieties to put in over the next couple of months.

Along the SE fence I put in a hardinbergia vine and a red leptospermum, the names of which are still outside on the pots!

Great time in the garden!

My new seed nursery

Ah, my sweetheart built me a spot in the garage to start my seeds with a sun lamp and foil sides and top!  It holds three flats. 

Two weeks ago I planted tomatoes, Brandywine, Sweet One Hundreds, and San Marzanos as well as poblano peppers, little sweet cherry red peppers, Japanese Soyu cucumbers, and thunbergias or black eyed susan vine.  They have been living  on my bookshelf under grow light.  So, today, they moved into their nursery.  I then added to my nursery garden by planting tomatillos, basil, both garden grown and saved and Sicilian, chives, burnet, Victorian pansies, Shasta daisies and early Jersey Wakefield cabbages (from Monticello).  Happy day!




 

Plantings added

One day maybe I will find the day to day time to write - week to week would be nice, how about even monthly!

Anyway, I have a number of things in the garden and as I go through my inbox, which includes plant tags, I'll write them  in today.

I just found the tag for the Liberty apple.  "Disease-resistant, cold hard apple. Resists scab, rust, mildew, fireblight. Solid red even in  hot climate. Crisp, rich sprightly flavor. Fresh or cooked.  Early fall harvest...Self fruitful.  And that's why I chose it.

Summer garden step two

Today the Zucchini San Pasquale went in.  I have grown this three years now and just love the flavor.  The vines don't run, but that is not to say the plants are small.  I planted an Italian melon, melon rampicante zuccherino. The melons are 2 to 2.5 pounds and are said to taste great with parma or other hams.  Yum!  I put two short rows of of cucumber beth alpha.  These are a thin  skin, burpless early cuke.   And lastly I planted two short rows of bush bean, Tavera, a french filet type. 

The favas are almost done.  They have stopped flowering.  The snap peas are coming in just on time.  Good luck there.  There was a second fava bed.  They came up from a winter cover crop.  I pulled them this weekend.  The beans were no where like my saved seed.  The pods were small and tough. They will make great compost.

Love working in the garden this weekend.  Loved it.

Transplants and more seeds

I transplanted my starts Saturday. I put in the Basque peppers, the Genovese basil, white ribbed chard and the white eggplants  (seeds from Monticello) as well as the flower, Salpiglosis.  I also purchased and transplanted 4 common sage and a rosemary officinalis named Tuscany. 

I then started some more seeds, one set is a new pepper that a friend gave me, Padron peppers.  These are a pepper that is sauteed and served with salt as a tapas dish. I am hoping enough will come up to grow some for myself and to give her for her garden when she returns from travels. I also planted flat leaf parsley, borage, chives, and a columbine variety, Mrs. Scott Elliott.  I also tucked a few Detroit Red beet seeds directly into the bed with peas and carrots.  It was a lovely day!

Picking favas and lot's to learn about posting photos....

Picked my first big harvest of favas on Saturday!  Oh, so much work to get on the table and oh, so worth it!

I think I will post photos one at a time for now on; look at all that empty space on my iris posting below!  I couldn't figure out how to manipulate the imagines and the language.  There are only so many hours in the day!