This has been a big weekend for the garden. Well, honestly the garden itself hasn’t changed much, but a lot of work went in to preparing it for spring and summer. Since it looks like we will no longer be dipping into the 30’s at night, I took off all the row cover and the PVC hoops. It feels great to get all of that gear put away, and leave the beds open to the elements.
Everything I planted last October is being eaten now (except garlic and shallots, those won’t be ready for another 2-3 months). Some things, like the Asian and mustard greens, and the Lacinato kale, are starting to form flower heads. I’ll let them bloom for the bees, and also maybe collect some seed. The broccoli and cauliflower just keep producing, there’s leeks and carrots and parsnips, peas and favas and chard. It’s fabulous.
But now it’s time to start thinking about the summer garden! And in that vein, I sowed all my tomatoes and peppers today. I’m planning for about 40 plants of each, but planted twice as much (insurance against something failing) and if I have extras, I’ll give them to friends. One of Adam’s friends has decided to start a small backyard garden and she’s already asked me for a few! That makes me happy, that a young person is getting into growing food.
Tom made me a bunch of tiny seed blocks, so I was able to fit several hundred seeds within one seed tray and that limits the amount of heating pads/grow lights/space we need indoors, which is terrific. In about 2-3 weeks, I’ll pot those plugs up into larger seed blocks, and I can avoid using compostable cups (which have their limitations) and I can put them straight into gallons after that. My goal is to get them in the ground in very late April or the first weekend of May.
I have mostly seeded old favorites, but I have quite a few new varieties to try as well, many that were given to me by friends. Here’s what I planted. Click on the name to link you to where to purchase (or just to drool at the pictures).
Cherry/Grape/Saladette tomatoes: Sun Gold (Johnny’s, hybrid), Red Calabash (Baker Creek, heirloom), Principe Borghese (Seed Savers, heirloom), Pink Boar (Wild Boar Seeds, hybrid), Zebrino (Paramount Seeds, hybrid), Chadwick Cherry (Seeds of Change, heirloom), Blue Gold Berries (Wild Boar Farms, hybrid), Sasha Altai (Tomato Fest, heirloom), Rosalita (Tomato Fest, heirloom), Black and Brown Boar (Wild Boar Farms, hybrid), Brad’s Atomic Grape (Wild Boar Farms, hybrid), Indigo Apple (Wild Boar Farms, hybrid), Orange Peach (Southern Exposure, heirloom), Goluboy Les (Delectation of Tomatoes, heirloom), Austin’s Red Pear (Seed Savers Exchange, heirloom), Beam’s Yellow Pear (Seed Savers Exchange, heirloom), Black Vernissage (Totally Tomatoes, heirloom), Black Cherry (Baker Creek, heirloom)
Beefsteak/Slicer tomatoes: Vorlon (Renaissance Farms, heirloom), German Pink (Seed Savers, heirloom), Terra Cotta (Baker Creek, heirloom), Crnkovic Yugoslavian (Seed Savers, heirloom), Black from Tula (Seed Savers, heirloom), Kolb (Seed Savers, heirloom), Kellogg’s Breakfast (Baker Creek, heirloom), Dr. Wyche’s Yellow (Baker Creek, heirloom), Dester (Seed Savers, heirloom), Cherokee Purple (Baker Creek, heirloom), Black Krim (Baker Creek, heirloom), Carbon (Baker Creek, heirloom), Lucid Gem (Wild Boar Farms, hybrid), Arkansas Traveler (Totally Tomatoes, heirloom), Pork Chop (Wild Boar Farms, hybrid)
Paste/Plum tomatoes: Italian Heirloom (Seed Savers, heirloom) , Gezahnte (Baker Creek, heirloom), Hungarian Heart (Baker Creek, heirloom) , Amish Paste (Seed Savers, heirloom), Ukrainian Purple (Seed Savers, heirloom), Pozzano (Johnny’s, hybrid), Opalka (Seed Savers, heirloom)
And here’s the pepper list:
Hot peppers: Jalapeno Traveler’s Strain (Seed Savers, heirloom) , Joe’s Long Cayenne (Seed Savers, heirloom), Thai (Seed Savers, heirloom), Highlander (Johnny’s, hybrid), Red Ember (Johnny’s, hybrid), Hot Rod (Johnny’s, hybrid), Tampequino Serrano (Baker Creek, heirloom), Hot Portugal (Seed Savers, heirloom), Ethiopian Brown (Baker Creek, heirloom)
Sweet peppers: Tolli’s Sweet Italian (Seed Savers, heirloom), CA Wonder (Baker Creek, heirloom), Lipstick (Baker Creek, heirloom), Yankee Bell (Johnny’s, heirloom), Milena (Johnny’s, hybrid), Red Knight (Johnny’s, hybrid), Shishito (Baker Creek, heirloom), Ruby King (Seed Savers, heirloom), Etiuda (Baker Creek, heirloom), Jupiter (Baker Creek, heirloom), Jimmy Nardello (Seed Savers, heirloom), Chervena Chushka (Seed Savers, heirloom), Buran (Seed Savers, heirloom), Ajvarski (Baker Creek, heirloom), Sheepnose Pimento (Baker Creek, heirloom)
Paprika peppers: Round of Hungary (Johnny’s, heirloom), Leutschauer (Baker Creek, heirloom), Magyar (Renee’s Garden, heirloom), Alma (Seed Savers, heirloom)
More spring news:
I get a newsletter from a farm in upstate New York, called Essex Farm. They provide everything a family needs at their farm - you pay a fee for the year, and you get all your meat, veg, grains, fruit, and value-added products from them. I admire them, and their systems, greatly. If I lived anywhere within an hour of them, I’d be a member. But alas, I have to satisfy myself with reading their weekly member newsletter. (The owner, Kristin Kimball, also wrote a great book called ‘The Dirty Life,’ about meeting her husband Mark and buying the farm. A new book is coming soon, I can’t wait.)
This week’s newsletter (also written by Kristin) had two interesting things I wanted to share. Here’s the first, a very ‘spring’ thing: “A truck just pulled in and dumped twenty yards of potting soil from Vermont Compost onto a tarp north of the greenhouses. Zohar is out there now, making flats with the soil blocker. By the end of the day we’ll have 80 flats of onion seeds in the germination chamber. And so now (as Anne likes to say at this time of year, and despite the low of zero this morning) let the wild rumpus start! The sun is out and soon the greenhouse will be full and we will be listening for the spring peepers, looking for the day the soil in the field is warm and dry enough to work.” Isn’t that great?! And here’s the other one that made me smile: “It’s love season in the pig herd. We bought a boar named Ham Solo just before Valentine’s Day, and turned him in with nine nubile gilts. He seemed overwhelmed at first, but he’s in the zone now. May the force be with you, Ham.”
The spring feeling of ‘something’s coming’ makes me smile. Now, I just have to get through midterms, and I’ll be a much happier person. :)