Peas

The first blossoms have appeared on the sugar snaps. The plants are rapidly climbing the wire support. Fresh peas will be on the menu soon!

Nothing like a Spring Salad

Summer temperatures have come to Pittsboro and the raised beds are looking pretty dry. I spent a good amount of time watering this morning.

Everything is growing well. The recently planted radishes, field peas, and green beans are up. They have incredibly speedy germination! After a relatively lengthy germination, the carrots and basil have finally pushed through the dirt. The basil seedlings are getting a good start in between the tomato plants. I'll thin them in a day or two. The basil plants will eventually have to be moved once the tomatoes get some size on them. I'll likely transplant them to the end of the bed after the broccoli is harvested. Speaking of broccoli... we'll be eating some within the week!

I thinned the beet plants and will enjoy a salad of baby beet greens for lunch. The fall-planted spinach has run its course. I harvested the last of those tasty leaves and pulled the plants. I'm still getting a handful of radishes every day or two from the first planting. The rest of the salad bed is looking gorgeously green. Spring salad season is here!

More Tomatoes

I replaced the deceased Romas...

... and bought some heirloom tomato plants at the Pittsboro Farmer's Market - two of each: Purple Cherokee, Arkansas Traveler, and Mule Team. They are tucked into the tomato bed. That should just about do it for the tomatoes, although I still want some sort of cherry tomato.

Dead Tomato Plants

Two of the three Roma tomato plants have wilted and dried up - dead! What happened?!

Cream of Spinach Soup

The autumn-planted spinach is about to bolt, so that's what's for supper tonight. Here's a delicious way to eat your greens!

1/2 cup onion, chopped
1 Tablespoon butter
1/2 # potatoes, peeled and cubed
1/2 # cauliflower florets
3/4 cup chicken broth
3/4 cup water
1 chicken bouillon cube
2 cups (packed) fresh spinach, chopped
5-oz can fat free evaporated milk
3-oz half-and-half (optional decadent ingredient)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup sour cream (or plain yogurt)
(chopped ham, kielbasa sausage, etc. - optional)

Saute onion in butter ~ 3 minutes. Add potatoes, cauliflower, chicken broth, water, bouillon. Bring to boil. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer ~ 20 minutes. Add spinach; cook 2 - 4 minutes. Puree all or part of soup in blender. Return to saucepan. Whisk in milk, salt, and pepper. Add ham or sausage, if desired. Bring to a simmer over low heat. Whisk in sour cream. Serve with some nice bread.

Is that a promise, or a threat?

It rained last night. According to the gauge in the garden, about 3/8 of an inch... enough to keep the newly planted seeds damp, but not really enough to thoroughly hydrate the beds. It'd be nice to get a little more rain this week... a good soaking rain. This afternoon is breezy and mostly cloudy. The clouds are moving swiftly across the sky, and are mostly white and fluffy. There's still plenty of sunshine and blue sky in sight, although the weatherman says we could get some severe weather. In fact, there's a tornado watch currently in effect. Despite the possibility of bad weather, it's been a very pleasant spring day.

Beans, Field Peas, and Radishes Grow

It's hard to believe how quickly radishes grow! The seed packet says 20 - 50 days to maturity. We started eating our first crop 40 days after sowing the seed. Those early plants will soon be consumed. I should've followed the seed packet suggestion of putting in successive plantings every two weeks. Maybe it's not too late! This morning I planted another 12' of radishes, sowing the seed between two rows of beets. Seemed like a good use of dirt. Maybe I can get another planting in before temperatures get too hot.

I currently have white onions planted down the center of the "green bean" bed. The idea was that the onions would be ready to harvest (as "green" onions) before any beans planted down the sides of the bed overwhelmed the space. Just today I read on the website Seedman.com: "Try companion planting with bush beans. Bush beans are excellent grown with most vegetables except the onion family, basil, fennel, kohlrabi." Oops.

Moving on... On the upper side of the green bean bed I planted about 4 feet of Lek's pole beans. Lek, my hair dresser, raves about them and gave me some seed. She says they produce long pods. I finished out that row with Burpee's Stringless Green Pod, a bush-type plant. These beans are supposed to be round, tender, juicy, and stringless. On the bottom side of that bed I planted a purple-podded, Romano-style (flat) bean, called Sequoia. It also is a bush-type plant. Although the pods are purple, they cook to a bright green. This is the first time I've planted bush beans. They will mature in 50 to 60 days.

Once I harvest those badly placed white onions, I intend to plant a row or two of pole beans down the center of the bed. Pole beans offer great use of vertical space since they are climbers. They also have a longer growing season and are more tolerant of hot temperatures than bush beans. Consequently, they will yield two to three times more than bush beans from the same amount of space. So why bother with bush beans? I guess I'll know better after this summer. Pole beans mature in 60 to 90 days. Looks like we'll have bush beans early in the season and pole beans later.

Also got a bed of "southern peas" started. Sugar snaps are currently growing down the center of this particular bed. Today, I planted two rows of Pink-eyed Purple-hulled Peas down the long outside edges. Fresh field peas can't be beat!

Counting on no more frost...

Today I took the plunge and planted a few tomato plants... three each of Early Girl, Roma, and Homestead.

Early Girl is known as an outstanding early variety of tomato, producing dependable, tasty, uniform, 4 to 5 ounce tomatoes. Besides, one of our favorite places to eat brunch in Asheville is named for this tomato! Early Girl is an indeterminate variety (tall growing) so will need support as the plants grow. Approximately 62 days to maturity from transplanting (mid to late June).

Roma tomatoes are a less juicy type and are milder in flavor than other tomatoes. They are commonly referred to as paste tomatoes as they are great for making tomato paste, ketchup and preserving. The vines are determinate (bush-type) and fruit heavily. Approximately 75 days to maturity (late June - early July).

Homestead is an heirloom variety. This old-time favorite produces firm, meaty, medium-sized fruit, yielding a large crop on determinate vines. This variety sets fruit well in hot climates. Disease and crack resistant. 81 days to maturity (mid July).

I plan to fill up most of one bed with a variety of tomato plants, saving a little space at one end for basil. The plants described here were acquired at the feed and seed store and at Lowes home improvement. I hope to round out the bed with some cherry-type tomatoes and indeterminate varieties. Maybe I'll find something interesting at the Pittsboro Farmer's Market next week.

Easter Weekend

After a stormy Good Friday night, it turned out to be a beautiful Easter weekend. The chickens provided us with plenty of eggs for dying and for the traditional Easter Sunday potato salad. The kale showed signs of bolting, so on Friday I pulled the plants and harvested all the good leaves. I saved out enough to make kale-potato soup this week, then blanched the rest, ending up with two small packages for the freezer.

On Saturday night, Rouse and I enjoyed a fresh salad of spinach and a variety of lettuces from the garden. I pulled a half-dozen radishes. They were small, but perfectly round and zesty. I fixed another big green salad for Easter Sunday dinner.

Sunday afternoon I sowed carrot seeds in the salad bed, parsley and cilantro seeds in the herb bed, and basil seeds in the bed that will eventually contain tomatoes. This is my first attempt at growing carrots. As for the other plants, this is my first attempt at starting them directly from seed in the garden... I usually buy plants from the farm and garden supply store. Starting from seed is definitely more cost effective. I just hope they actually germinate!

Greening of the Woods

"The birch tree is all over green in small leaf, more light and elegant than when it is full out. It bends to the breezes, as if for the love of its own delightful motions." -- Henry David Thoreau

A Near Miss

Good news! It was 34 degrees at 6:00am this morning. Mother Nature has given us a pass. I peeled the plastic protective sheets off the raised beds first thing this morning and gratefully acknowledged the unblemished blossoms of the blueberry bushes. By mid-afternoon, the temperature had risen to a comfortable 60 degrees. The butterflies and bumblebees - blessed pollinators - were working over the blueberry blossoms. Such promise in those clusters of flowers!

It's not April 15 yet!

A cold front has blown in. The wind has a bite to it. There's snow in the western part of the state. The low tonight in Pittsboro is predicted to be 32 degrees. Must Mother Nature show her frigid side once more before warmth settles in?

With temps right at freezing, I'm not taking any chances. I have a few nice lettuce plants that have somehow survived the winter. I cut the largest bunches, and even though kale is cold-hardy, I cut the biggest leaves of kale, too. I've covered the beds containing new salad greens, broccoli, and tiny beet plants with plastic. Don't know if it's necessary - or if it will do any good - but it makes me feel better. The biggest worry is the blueberry blossoms. Unfortunately, I have nothing large enough to cover those bushes.

Waiting for "Real" Warm Weather

The high temperature today was in the mid-70's. Seems like a good day to sow some seeds or plant some young seedlings, but not so fast! The low Tuesday night is expected to be 33 degrees... dangerously close to freezing. Most planting directions are based on the average last frost date, i.e. the last day in the spring that you might have a killing frost. That would be April 15 here in the Piedmont of NC.

So there's not much happening in the garden this weekend. I harvested the collards that were planted last fall, then pulled the plants from the bed. Everything else is growing well. Just waiting for that magic "go-ahead-and-plant" date!

Exotic Visitor

We see a lot of beautiful birds in our backyard, but this one beats them all! Come springtime, this exotic creature travels the neighborhood. His home base is X-Farms, located a half mile down the road from us. He's definitely on the prowl, frequently displaying his gorgeous tail feathers in an attempt to attract a suitable mate. Either his territory is widely expanded during mating season, or he's the low man on the totem pole at home and has been pushed off his usual territory. Whatever the reason, we enjoy having him around. He makes a great "watch dog", although I have to admit his bugle-like call can be disarmingly loud. At the end of the season, he drops his tail feathers all around the property. Taking a walk turns into a treasure hunt!