Garden Season 2011!!

I know. It's February. There is snow on the trees. But, I don't care. It's time to grow! This is probably the earliest start I've ever had and I think this is for the best. My plan this year is to stick with some tried and true staples, while branching out into fields uncharted!

I started these stupice tomato seedlings around February 15th and sowed them today. Although I've never grown these from seedlings, I did receive one plant from a very kind gardener back in 2007 and it was the most prolific and easy to grow cherryish tomato I've had. This will be my only tomato variety this year:

Another basic staple is some sweet basil, sown a couple weeks ago, and struggling a little, perhaps from fungus in the soil, but I'm hopeful these will be ok. Besides, I'm in no rush for basil. I just harvested a plant that has been growing for almost a year and made a nice batch of pesto I'll save for later:

Now, the new items I am trying this year!!

- King of the North red bell peppers (seeds started on 2/15)

- Blue potatoes (ordered from Seed Savers Exchange and arriving when it's time to plant)

- Asparagus (ordered from Gurney's and will take 2 years before first harvest)

- Anne Raspberry, a yellow variety (ordered from Gurney's) to replace the Summit Raspberry that died in its first season.

- Scallions (seeds started 2/15, but not sure if they'll sprout. Seeds are old and the chives and gao choi below already sprouted.)

Also, things I haven't tried to grow from seed before (seeds started 2/15):

- Chives (I just love those purple flowers and aphids ate mine to the ground last year)

- Chinese Chives (Gao Choi) (These are a must with shrimp and eggs. Sounds weird but tastes amazing)

In fall, I also want to try growing Crocus Sativus, whose stamens are the source of saffron, the world's most expensive spice. I want my own supply of saffron!!

I'm sure there will be other new things to try this year, as well. I'll be replanting my strawberries, as those that are planted have been growing a bit wild. I've read that you have to replant strawberries every few years, as the runners and plants start to return to the wild strawberry state. These are tiny and strange, and I've noticed this is happening to mine. I'm going with 100% Honeoye june-bearing strawberries. I believe these are the kind that my family enjoys best. Hope I'm right!!

I'll be starting lettuce, spinach and peas shortly. These ought to be the first to go outside. Look for more posts as the season goes on!

Weedy July, Ground Cherries!

Life didn't used to be so busy =) Now, it's a regular thing to go a month without visiting my garden! Sad! But, thank goodness for automatic watering systems. From far away, the garden looks green and growing!
Close up, though, it's clear that a LOT of the green is grassy weeds. But, the good thing is that most other things are growing despite the weeds, including all of my berry plants! Not a single one died from the drought last time! Here, you can barely make out the basil among the tomatoes and the grass. Grass weeds are the bane of my garden's existence...
But, this tomato plant managed to grow mostly weed free. Pale tomatoes... I wonder what color they'll end up? The options are pink, red and blackish. Maybe these will be pink! They look too pale to be the red ones.
But this plant is also with pale tomatoes! 9 of them, to be exact =)
Strange things have also been growing in the garden. Apparently after a few years of runners and seeds or whatever goes on with the strawberries, they start going feral. Tiny strawberries in the middle of July! I didn't eat this one, but maybe I'll try it tomorrow.
Blueberries in July, too! I did eat this slightly damaged blueberry, the first I've ever tasted from my garden. And let me tell you, it was good...
More to come! I wonder if they are supposed to take this long to ripen.
And remember that strange volunteer I posted about last? Well, it looks like a little tomatillo plant! How odd! Still no idea where it came from. But, some of the husks fell down, meaning their fruit are ripe.
Cool!
And inside, a yellow fruit! Kind of like a tomato or cherry. When I came down to google, I decided it might be a ground cherry. One has to be careful with nightshade plants as some are poisonous. I ate this one though, and it was good and I'm not dead yet. Not even vomiting.
I'll won't eat them all at once though, because I'm a little nervous...
Also growing well, my squash and zucchini! The watermelons didn't make it and their pots are full of grass weeds, but these look like they're doing fine.
My first yellow straightneck squash. I think the timing is just about perfect as the seed packets usually say 45 days.
My first zucchini ever! I hope it grows nicely =) I want some yellow and green stir fry.
Gardening is good for the soul. I didn't finish cleaning out all the weeds today. Didn't want to get too tired in the heat. I'll do the other half tomorrow and maybe figure out what to plant in the several empty buckets I have at the moment.

Note to self: June 5 is TOO LATE for setting up the water system

I had a visitor with me today, the first time on the roof since April 24th, and because there was a witness to the devastation in the garden, I feel it would be dishonest not to blog about it, too. My laziness caused this!! A pot of very dead raspberries.
There were a lot more casualties than that and some more that are on the fence and may still pull through. But as always, there are surprising survivors. A few of those peas I planted back in April grew all by themselves and had some peas the perfect size for picking =)
One of my blueberry bushes could be a goner... One suffered some damage, but is still alive. This one is still healthy with a few berries growing, but they're not blue yet =)
More small pea plants. Maybe with water and some more time they'll grow, but I'm not sure. We'll see. I also planted some swiss chard seeds in here, which should be grown and ready to pick by the time the pea plants are definitely expired.
This pot of had some pea plants and another plant, which could be a weed or perhaps a volunteer squash plant? I'm not sure, so I left it. We'll see what it grows into.
My visitor helped me clean up the dead and get new things planted. The empty buckets near the front are planted with zucchini, yellow squash, and watermelons. I planted some yellow and hot pink swiss chard. I'll be excited to eat those =)
I snipped the lower leaves and branches from my tomato seedlings and planted them low in the buckets with some egg shells and good compost that's been collecting in a bucket on my fire escape =) All 3 seedlings look pretty happy now, even if planted late. I'm optimistic I'll have some tasty tomatoes in August. I planted some basil seeds along with the tomatoes, too.
It seems like I let my garden fall into a disastrous state every year, but it's always ok to plant more and keep going! Starting over on some things isn't the end of the world =)

Early Surprises, New Experiments

This is going to be a little out of order, but I couldn't really contain my excitement over the surprises I found on the roof today! The late afternoon light, was also delightful for pictures =) Blueberries laden with flowers:
Window boxes abloom with ground covers I stole from my mom last year!
Despite neglect and a fence falling on them, the Loch Ness Blackberries monster on.
Strawberries already getting bigger! I can't believe they're so early!
Lettuce I never planted! This garden just doesn't let me kill it =)
Back indoors, my tomato seedlings are growing on. Imagining sun-ripened juicy goodness, now...
My experiment of splitting the herbs and growing some in pots to be transplanted to the roof appears to be a success as far as everything surviving the split. Things are looking good!
The thyme is growing in wild little bushes, a little basil seed I thought had failed decided to sprout up after all! The afternoon sun makes everything in my apartment a little golden =)
A new experiment this year is the use of rooting hormone. I've always been curious about the stuff, and never really knew what form it would take. My friend at work and I were trading plant cuttings and she mentioned having some extra, so she gave me some in a little pharmacy bottle. Now it looks like I have illicit drugs...
Anyway, I think you just dip the ends of a cutting in the stuff and plant it. Above is a sprig of oregano and below, some rosemary.
I started some snow peas the other day and these might actually be a little rotten because I left them in water too long before planting them. I brought them up on the roof and used the soil inoculant (mycorrhizal fungi for proper nitrogen fixation in the pea roots. Peas are legumes!) again. We'll see if they grow!

Big Bowl of Window Basil

I don't post about my indoor window boxes often, but that doesn't mean they don't manage to produce quite a bounty! Every year, every season, I can count on an enormous basil harvest. Maybe I'm just lucky and my southeast facing windows get plenty of sun, but I'm able to grow bumper crop basil from seed, even in the winter. The plants may grow a little slower in the winter, but they still grow pretty enormous. I like having a basil forest in my window, since it filters the light a nice shade of green through the leaves. Forgot to take a picture before plucking it bare though! This heaping bowl of basil's going to make some nice home grown pesto...

Basil grows better for me than indoor lettuce, or even arugula. In fact, I really struggle with indoor lettuce, as it always seems to be pale and straggly. Go figure! This all just goes to show that you never know what will or will not succeed until you try it. Conventional wisdom be damned! My only tip for successfully growing basil indoors are to pinch the leaves a couple times early on, to encourage bushier growth. Otherwise, the basil will just grows straight up on 1 stalk. I can grow 2-3 plants in a 30" window box, but all of this basil came from 1 bushy plant growing alone. One squirt of diluted fish emulsion fertilizer will help, though I only do this once or twice a year.