Day 70: We Have Edibles!

After five great days vacationing with family in Texas, we're back home to find deliciously sweet and tender snap peas! The plants struggled a bit in the heat while we were away, but pea pods are a-hanging, and blossoms are abundant. I was looking forward to making some stir-fry meals with the snap peas, but I don't think we'll be able to resist them in their raw form right off of the plant. So good.

How is everything else doing? Some really great, some just okay ... of course, given the return of early heat here in Michigan, the insects are running rampant. You can see their effect on the Brussels, broccoli, kale, and cabbage. The white seen on the leaves and in the mulch below is ordinary white flour -- reportedly, cabbage worms eat the flour, bloat, and die. We'll see if it works.

We have baby fruit on the tomato plants (this particular variety is the yellow pear tomato), and blossoms on nearly every pepper plant.

The heirloom tomato and pepper plants that I started from seed are slow to grow, so I have yet to transplant them into the ground. They will likely end up in pots on the patio. The varieties pictured here are heirlooms from a local farm.

I also picked up some cucumber and broccoli plants from a local farmer, and these plants are THRIVING in the heat. I planted marigolds throughout my veggie beds as they are said to help with nematode and aphid problems.

I love the cucumber plant's curly-cue tendrils -- if you watch for long enough, you can practically see them growing in front of your eyes.

The lettuces in the window boxes are growing strong--they really love their east-facing spot, thankfully. The green shoots emerging from the soil to the left of the lettuce below are Parisian Market Carrots, a chunky, round variety that should grow well in the shallow soil depth of the window box. 

And all of my herbs are thriving. I have two kinds of basil, rosemary, and some coleus (mixed in for color) in one pot, and a tall plant stand that holds mint, parsley, and cilantro.

I really dig the plant stand, which is from Crate and Barrel. It allows me to stack these herbs vertically (remember that I have very little patio and yard space). It also lets me easily swap out or move around plants from this stand to adjust for shade/sun.

As my garden grows, I am beginning to think of new dishes to cook using these plants. Tonight I made grilled chicken and yellow squash, and worked in the parsley and cilantro, as well as my many-year-old chives that originally came from my mother. Do you have favorite recipes that feature any or many of the ingredients in my garden? Pass them along, please!

"Shall I not have intelligence with the earth?

Am I not partly leaves and vegetable mould myself?"

--Henry David Thoreau

Day 58: Getting the Heck Out of the House

It's been nearly 60 days since my first heirloom seeds went into soil, and I'm tickled to see this day. I've mixed potting soil, sowed seeds, watered, done the daily find-the-sun dance, sang the snappy "grow-plant-grow" ditty about a zillion times, plucked out my seedlings, and prepped my beds.

Seedlings toward the end of April, gathered at a south-facing window for Grandma to plant-sit while we're out of town.

The day to put the seedlings in the soil outdoors, under the sun and moon, 24-7, is here. The seedlings have been hardened off, or have spent increasingly more time outdoors to get acclimated to their new environment. In the ground as of this hour are tomatoes, peppers, onions, and lettuce. And I also direct-seeded spinach and carrots today.

Brand new transplants of onions and tomatoes, with their favorite companion flower, the marigold. The twine marks the line where carrot seeds were sowed.

The snap peas are reaching for the sky and beginning to move beyond the trellis in the pot to the larger trellis on the patio. In a few more weeks, if all goes well, we should see blossoms.

Amish Snap Peas, 41 days after sowing seeds.

The Sugar Baby Watermelon plants are happy. Their outdoor beds and climbing structures are almost ready. Another day or two, and they'll be in the ground.

Sugar Baby Watermelon, 41 days after sowing seeds.

Filderkraut Cabbage is good--and I'm happy to report that there is no sign of cabbage moths or worms! The kale is slower, but is coming along nicely. Red Cabbage and Brussels Sprouts still need a few weeks to mature.

Filderkraut Cabbage, 56 days after sowing seeds, crowding each other and ready for transplanting.

Lacinato Kale, 57 days after sowing seeds. Slower growth than expected, but growing just fine.

Lettuce and Parisian Market Carrots (those small, round guys) are in my east-facing window box. I hope they'll get enough sun. I'm temporarily reserving space in my two south-facing window boxes if they don't work well here in the east.

A blend of lettuces in an east-facing window box. Also planted here are Parisian Market Carrot seeds.

Also, I continue to share seedlings. To date, friends and family members have taken about 1/4 of what I've grown. I still have a good amount left that I won't be able to accomodate in my yard--what to do with them? Two more weeks, and most everything will need a home.

And Then There Were Many

"One for the rock, one for the crow,

One to die, and one to grow."

- English saying

Heck, I have enough seedlings for the rock, the crow, and for the entire neighorhood to grow. My mother has always recommended "everything in moderation," but I've always been a bit of a rebel.

This past week I've been thinning out my little seedlings, getting many into larger pots of their own. And what I've realized? I sowed a BOAT LOAD of seeds! A good majority of them have germinated (see below), which, hey, kudos to Annie's for sending healthy seeds, and to myself for providing them the right conditions for success. They've now taken over my house ... which is good and bad.

I've quite liked caring for my heirloom seedlings. I move them around to find sunshine each day, take them outside on nice days, bring them back in, water them, gaze at and admire them ... I nurture them. I'd rather have a new baby (okay, that's a ridiculous understatement) or a puppy, or both, but for now this will have to do. The bad is that they've taken over my house. I'm beginning to tire of the indoor follow-the-sunshine dance, and the daily vacuuming of the small remnants of soil found on windowsills and floors. I'm now officially ready to get them outside and into the ground. Another week or two are needed yet, I know, so I'm practicing patience.

So how many seedlings do I actually have?

• Filderkraut Cabbage: sowed 180 seeds; 146 seeds germinated (81% success rate)
• Red Rock Cabbage: sowed 150 seeds; 120 seeds germinated (80% success rate)
• Long Island Brussels Sprouts: sowed 200 seeds; 174 seeds germinated (87% success rate)
• Lacinato Kale: sowed 100 seeds; 97 seeds germinted (97% success rate)
• King of the North Bell Pepper: sowed 25 seeds; 25 seeds germinated (100% success rate)
• Bianco di Maggio Onion: sowed 100 seeds; 95 seeds germinated (95% success rate)
• Sugar Baby Watermelon: sowed 25 seeds; 21 seeds germinated (84% success rate)
• Lettuce blend: sowed 100 seeds; these are hard to measure, but they are growing like mad (I'll call them 100% successful)
• Amish Snap Peas: sowed 80 seeds; 80 seeds germinated (100% success rate)

That makes 858 individual seedlings...so far. I haven't even begun to direct-seed my carrots, spinach, kohlrabi, and herbs yet. Zoinks! Have I mentioned how small my yard is?

Then there are my tomatoes...these haven't had as much success. I believe this was my fault, though. I'll post separately about that.

In the meantime, it's due time to start sharing the many.

The Sun Was Warm But the Wind Was Chill

Geez Louise, it's windy out! I know that wind is important, especially in the Spring--many plants rely on it to disperse their seeds. But wind is tough on vegetable plants, especially on new seedlings, so it's been a challenge to keep my plants healthy this week. The wind has been whipping about, tree branches falling all around, and after seeing my snap peas' twines get ripped from the trellises, I brought them inside.

I know, though, that pea plants love the cool weather, and they need at least 8 hours of sun. Keeping them indoors under a hot grow light wasn't doing them much good in the long run. I'm an admitted over-protective mother to my daughter, and now an effort is on to "toughen her up" ... a little. I want to do the right thing for my pea plants and not coddle them too much early on. So back outdoors they go--but not without a little wind protection. Bubble wrap comes to the rescue again! I placed the pots in a slightly sheltered but sunny area next to the house and created a simple wind shield with the bubble wrap. The wrap is not touching the plants.

I tried taking my more fragile and heat-loving seedlings outside for a while yesterday afternoon, but the wind started to sock them pretty good (they were wilting in less than an hour), so they'll stay snug indoors on their windowsills for another few weeks yet. Or at least until the wind dies down.

Filderkraut Cabbage on the first-floor sun ledge.

Sugar Baby Watermelon on the second-floor sill.

And just for kicks, a lovely pansy in my yard (photo taken by Mackenzie, age 9).

The sun was warm but the wind was chill

You know how it is with an April day

When the sun is out and the wind is still

You're one month on in the middle of May

--Robert Frost

Snappy-Growing Snap Peas

Vining plants amaze me...twining vines even more so. Never is it more evident that plants are *aLiVe*! 

The heirloom Amish Snap Peas seeds that I purchased from Annie's Heirloom Seeds develop into just that: a twining, vining plant, and so I was excited to get them going. I expected a lot, but I tell you, these guys caught me off-guard. They are developing incredibly quickly...I swear I see them growing before my eyes. The photos seen here were taken just 13 days after sowing seeds.

On April 4, I planted the seeds in two large pots. Nighttime temps were still dropping to the low-30s, so the pots were in the house except for the warmest hours of the day. Before taking them outside most days, the tops of the pots got a loose application of bubble wrap. Nine days after sowing, clumps of dirt were being pushed aside by green pea plants. The seeds had germinated. Two days after that, the plants were already reaching about three inches tall, and thin shoots were searching for something, anything to grip onto to get them closer to their almighty god and savior: the Sun.

The plan is for the plants to grow up the metal framing of a canopy that's on my brick patio. We'll see how that goes.

In the meantime, the pea plants' shoots are working up metal trellises that I placed in the pots just this morning. In fact, within an hour, the shoots seen above were fully gripping the trellis--so fast, it's creepy. It brings to mind Cleopatra, the fast-moving, man-eating plant on The Addams Family. I'll do everything in my power to ensure the health of this plant, but I'm going to watch my back around these fabulously vigorous, snappy-growing snap pea vines.