Planting Time!

It's April 24th and these Stupice tomato plants have been sitting on my windowsill, growing faithfully for 2 months. Started back when there were feet of snow on the ground, here they are! They already have flowers in full bloom! Don't they look ready for the outdoors? =) I'm hoping for the earliest tomatoes I've ever had. Stupice has been my favorite and most successful variety since 2007, when I had 1 plant gifted by a generous gardener in the West Village. That year, it had been covered in healthy tomatoes all slightly larger than a normal cherry tomato. They were delicious, hardly ever split from a rainstorm and never had blossom end rot or pests. I'm hoping for more of the same!

I put each plant in its own bucket, where it will grow out the rest of the season. As usual, I buried the plants as deep down as I could get them without covering the healthiest leaves and flowers. In the planting hole, I put a healthy amount of crushed egg shells and bone meal. (It got dark out in the middle of the afternoon.)
Then the sun came out again! Doesn't this tomato look so happy?
I decided to try something new this year. Scallion seeds didn't grow for me, but I remembered that the scallions in the supermarket almost always have little roots at the ends. I bought a bunch at the corner market, chopped the tops for some food and decided to plant these.
Here they are, planted with some tiny chive and chinese chive seedlings. We'll see if the seedlings make it.
Also new in the garden are 2 Josee reblooming lilac plants, which are supposed to grow only 4-6 feet high. I'm hoping for some nice screening of my neighbor's windows and fragrant flowers. I bought a big bag of bark mulch at Saifee Hardware and have used some in this pot.
Here's my other lilac in the closer pot. The other pot is something my neighbor planted and left on my roof. Not sure what it is.
Finally, here are squash and zucchini seedlings I started. Hopefully they'll stay alive until the peas are done and I have space to plant them.

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!

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!

Finally Sowing

Leaving my plants for 3 months means relying on nature to take care of them as best she can, and when indoors, relying on family. Guess who did a better job? Before I left, my thyme and rosemary were thriving indoors and I had a bumper crop of window basil. I came home to find them all crispy. Somehow, it seems to happen every year, whether my fault or my parents'. So, Friday, I headed to Union Square Green Market and picked up some herbs from the same seller I trust every year. 3 pots for $5, but I guess earlier in the season some types sell for a premium so this thyme was 2 pots for $5. I have lemon thyme to the left and silver thyme to the right. I split a small piece off of both plants in order to keep some inside. I kept the larger portions buried in small containers to make it easier to remove them when it's warm enough to plant out on the roof.
Here from left to right, I have italian oregano, rosemary, and spearmint (3 for $5). I did the same splitting thing to the mint. The oregano and rosemary will have to be propagated by cutting later. Usually, I'm growing basil as well, but I'm all out of seeds. I tried to save seed last year, but it appears that all of those seeds are duds. Maybe indoor basil doesn't pollinate itself very well, even though it loves to send up flowers.
And, finally, I sowed my tomatoes to the left, lettuce bottom right, and spinach top right. When I'm not growing my own salads, I get 1lb containers of baby spinach from whole foods and I realized they might be perfect for starting small seedlings. They seal completely, so I can leave them on the fire escape when they sprout, without fearing that the street exhaust will get all over them, though I'll have to remember to open them every day for some air exchange. I got the container for tomatoes from a package of kiwis my family bought from Costco. Perfectly, it has 6 separate pits for the different plants and plenty of headroom for early growth. I've grown 3 varieties, Black Krim (my favorite from last time), Bloody Butcher (because again I have no Stupice seeds) and Pearly Pink (an intriguing new variety from my tomato seed archive).
When I accumulate more containers, I'll start some arugula. Normally around this time of year, I also start my sugar ann snap peas, but I'm all out of seeds and if I were to wait any longer, they'd be too late. Instead, I do have several new varieties of beets I'll grow this year. More to come on those in a future post =)

Indoor Salad Greens

It may have snowed yesterday, but inside, it's toasty warm and things are still growing. Back in early November or late October (I'm not sure, because I was bad and too lazy to write it down here), I let everything in my window boxes die and replanted. I really only lost my rosemary, which I'll have to replace, and my orange mint, which I never really liked or used. I resowed Arugula (top) and the Rocky Top Lettuce mix (bottom) in these window boxes. I think they could due with a bit of fertilizer, but I'm so lazy about that. I'll probably eat the lettuce in a salad with a sprinkling of tiny arugula leaves, soon.And, I also resowed my basil, which seems to be growing healthily, if slowly. I am day dreaming of some winter pesto... =)

Flowers & Spider

Here's a few pics and a video just for fun. First maiden pink flower in my window box.

Pretty chives.

Awesome spider.

Awesome Spider Video! What can I say, I'm a little geeky. Ok, the quality sucks, but I'm new to this. Cut me some slack.

More Peas Please!

My how things grow when you're away taking final exams. I have a pea! I'll have to wait until it gets fatter before I eat it though.

Looks like I'll have more to come too. The pea flowers are a pretty white to contrast with my purple chive flowers in the background. I thought about cutting the chive flowers to use in a salad or to color/flavor some vinegar, but every time I go on the roof they're so pretty amongst all the greenery that I leave them.

Looks like I'll have strawberries soon, as well. They're simply covering my strawberry plants and getting bigger.

One strawberry is even turning red! It's kinda small, but that's ok. It is also demented, like many of the strawberries, it seems. I'm learning =)

My tomato plants are big and bushy! But, you can tell that the Black Krim on the left is kinda messed up because it got squashed a couple weeks ago. Still, it's got tiny flower buds. The Bloody Butcher in the middle has a couple of open yellow flowers soon to be tomatoes. The the Hillbilly on the right has one big flower bud and a few tiny ones. It's supposed to give really large tomatoes. I hope they grow ok in the buckets. I had hoped that my tomatoes would ripen earlier this year than last, since I planted them out earlier. I'm not sure I'll be quite so lucky, because when I planted them they were smaller than when I planted the tomatoes last year. The result is that my tomato plants look really healthy and bigger this year, but didn't come to flower quite as soon. Here's a look back at a year ago tomorrow.

The Tulameen Raspberry in the far corner has just started to leaf out from it's roots. The Lock Ness Blackberry that was all white shoots and crimson tips last time has also put out lots of leaves and the Arapaho Blackberry is looking good, though not growing terribly fast. Of all 4 plants, it was the only potted plant and it's root system was pretty small. The Summit Raspberry has yet to show any growth, but I'm sure it'll be coming strong soon.
My lettuce, arugula, and spinach pots are growing along. Since when does Arugula turn brown? I'm surprised.

Blueberries, Raspberries, Blackberries Oh My!

A lot has happened in my garden lately, most notably the addition of 2 blueberry, 2 raspberry, and 2 blackberry plants!! Also, I've almost given up on growing anything in flats this year. It's only April, and things are dying from drought. Unless my New Zealand Spinach grows, I'm putting my flats away until next year. Anyway, here's a rundown, with pics.
Strange looking shoots from my Loch Ness Blackberry.
Pretty green leaves on my Arapaho Blackberry. The raspberries were just big sticks with roots, so they didn't really warrant their own picture. You can see each in the background, Tulameen and Summit.

My blueberry plants, Briteblue, Northsky, and Chippewa. Unfortunately, the birds have gotten to the Briteblue even before it made fruit! All it's leaves are eaten =( I hope it comes back...

The strawberries have tiny green berries now! I'm excited for when they turn red =)

The tomatoes have all been planted properly, and won't be moved for the remainder of the season. I hope they grow big and strong!

Girlish pinkish-purple flowers about to bloom on my chives! The flowers can be eaten in salads or used to color and flavor vinegar. They didn't have flowers last year.

Here's all the chives, count the buds!

Some short pots of lettuce (upper left), arugula (lower left), and spinach (lower right) I'm growing. Arugula seems much easier to grow than lettuce... I harvested the arugula and lettuce growing in my indoor window boxes. The arugula was SPICY!

Finally, an update on the flower boxes. I planted some lavendar, maiden pinks, and white creeping phlox among the lilies. Nothing yet between the hyacinths, but i'm hoping to add a sedum or something.

Start of the Season

Went on the roof today to sow my pea, beet, chard, and new zealand spinach seeds. Looks like the thyme and gao choi are totally dead. Guess I'll have to buy my 3rd pot of thyme this spring... Gao choi has to come from home though. But here's a few pictures of what IS growing from last year.

My first bloom of the year: Hyacinths

Lilies poking out of the dirt.

Chives off to a good start.

Strawberries too!

Briteblue Blueberry I planted a couple weeks ago. This came mail order form Willis Orchards.