Taters!

At long last, the potatoes are here. I got a pretty good harvest of All Blues and Red Golds....about an equal draw of each. Have not tried them yet, but I'll check back in with a taste verdict. They went in the ground on March 1, came out on June 11.

Garden Update

Hi all (all 2 of you)...lots of things to update. The potatoes are close, as they are flowering! First time I have gotten flowers actually, and that's nice.

Tomatoes are in the ground - 9 plants. Had some issues with white leaves, perhaps due to the plants not being well aclimitized and some cool nights followed by really hot days. But they look good now and all new leaves are green and healthy looking.

Cucumbers were doing well until the bastard slugs ate them so now I have seedlings going inside to be transplanted soon. Rappini is doing well and lettuce and arugula seedlings are doing well outside. Some new herbs too and the fruit trees look pretty good too.

Oh yeah, the artichokes. I have been lax on the count, but we are up to 20 eaten. The plant is looking like it is about to stop producing anything good...we shall see. 20 is pretty good!

OK, that's it.

Artichokes #13 and #14

For those of you still counting, the artichoke plant has now provided us with 14 real nice and tasty chokes for our dining pleasure....looks like it still has some in it too!

Garden Update

Spring has certainly sprung in rOOster's garden. Potato plants are a good 2.5 feet high and have been mounded 3 times. Fruit is setting on the apricot and plum trees on the garage roof, and lettuces are providing our daily salad. The artichoke is also keeping pretty strong and we have eaten #11 and #12 now....keep 'em coming!

The beds have also been prepared for the coming of tomatoes, lemon cucumber seeds have been planted, and some rappini and additional arugula and lettuces are in the ground. A busy weekend!

Tomatoes are Very Close to Ready

My tomatoes are starting to take over the dining room and that means they need to go garden-side soon. But it's been cold so they can't go yet. But they are looking good and healthy - got fish emulsion last week. I'm ready to hand them out, so drop me an email if you want some and I'll put you on the list.

And for those watching the Artichoke race, we hit #9 and #10 last night - not as pretty but best tasting of the season by far.

Choke #7 and #8

Ok, still no new pics, but they look the same as the last ones, and were really tasty once again. Plant still looks pretty good...hard to tell how many it will produce. I hear Vegas has odds. I promise, pics of lots of things coming soon....BIG potato plants, rapidly growing tomato plants that will soon be ready to plant (place your orders!) and some other stuff too.....

Artichokes #5 and #6

True to the count, we ate 5 and 6 and they were tasty. We'll see if we hit 20, which was my estimate of harvest bounty....more soon on tomatoes..they are getting strong and closer to ready for planting in the great outdoors.

Tomato Transplant Marathon

It took me 3 hours, but I got almost all tomato plants transplanted to 4" pots yesterday. I have somewhere around 60 plants now, so I will clearly be giving a ton away. They are doing well, and they should be in the ground in 2-4 weeks depending on their growth and the weather.

Artitocke #4 Was Good

Here's a look at the beautiful morsel pre-cooking...it was tasty indeed. Plant is doing well and making great chokes!

Arugula and Rappini doing Well

Normally I seed directly in the garden this time of year. But I thought I would try getting some arugula and rappini seedlings going in the window with the tomatoes. They came up much faster and don't get eaten by birds or messed with by squirrels.

Seedlings Keeping Strong

They're 3 weeks old and looking good. I thinned them today, as there were a few too many competing plants in some areas. I will be transplanting them to 4" pots in a couple of weeks and I imagine into the ground outside by mid April or so depending on the weather.

Tomato Seedlings Out in a Week!

Just about all the tomato seedlings emerged in about a week, which leads me to believe that the seed starter works pretty well. Last year I used regular old soil and it took 2-3 weeks for the seeds to emerge. They've been sitting in a sunny south facing window and get sprayed every day with water to keep them moist. The 3 varieties that are from seeds I saved 2 seasons ago are up, as are the 2 new ones from store-bought seeds. Now we'll see how they grow.

First Artichoke Eaten

I plan on tracking just how many artichokes the plant makes this season. So far, we've eaten one...and it was quite nice. Very delicate. If my memory serves, I think they get a little stronger in flavor as the season continues...getting better and better as I remember. Watch for the count!

Tomato Seeds are In

First of March, and tomato seedings are just planted and resting in a south facing windowsill. Planted four varieties, 3 from my own seeds (Purple Cherokee, Lucinda, and One from 2 years ago) and 2 new ones that I purchased (Stupice, Sun Gold). We shall see how they do. Total of about 25-35 seeds planted. Hope to get about 50-80% of those up and looking for more. Should be ready for the great outdoors in 6-8 weeks depending on the weather.

Used seed starter this time, which I have never done. Books say this works better than soil and is less prone to disease. I was ok last year with soil, but got a lot of little flies.

Artichokes are Here!

First artichokes from this workhorse of a plant are making their way towards edible size.

Potatoes!

Potatoes last year were so great, we just had to try them again. This time I planted All Blues and All Reds. 7 plants each, from starter seed potatoes. I have a little spot for them on the side of the house. I dug three trenches (amended the soil a couple of months ago and covered it to prevent weed growth), placed potatoes in them, and covered with mulch. They should pop through in a few weeks and then I'll mound them as they go along.

Last year's All Blues were great and super productive. Yukon Golds were good too but not nearly as productive. With only a little land, they had to go...we'll see how the All Reds do...stay tuned.

My Small Garden

Here is what the garden looks like on March 1, 2008. It's pretty small - most of the veggies and edibles are in boxes we built when we revamped the backyard. We have a plum and apricot tree on the roof of our garage, and we grow potatoes on the side of the house next to the water heater.