Fresh-from-the-garden salad

There is NOTHING like a salad of fresh greens.  I've been enjoying them for a week now.

So today was a gorgeous day to work and we have a weekend of impending thunderstorms, so I worked outside for more than 5 hours today.  The garden looks great.  I finally decided the mystery plant is a weed -- if one's definition of weed is "anything which is growing in the wrong place." -- so I pulled it.

Pole Beans

The Giant Caesar lettuce I planted didn't sprout -- perhaps old seed -- so I replanted one square and planted an additional square of it -- I love the taste and texture of it.  The pole beans have sprouted, but I lost two of the cherry tomato plants.  I may just plant 2 more beans on that tower instead.

The surviving cherry tomatoes look great!

Speaking of tomatoes, I have my tomato tower and bed set up.  I need to add a layer of composted cow manure on top of the grass clippings, and I make a well of soil for each plant.  Since I took this picture, I have planted 3 "Hungarian Heart" heirloom tomato plants from Cook's Garden.  I will plant three "Pink Brandywine" plants, and I'm not sure what I'll put on the two remaining poles.




I also planted one blackberry and one raspberry plant.  And the strawberries are looking really good:





I planted a watermelon "Sugar Baby" plant.  It's a small, seedless watermelon.  I'm experimenting with something different with it.  I put up a something for the plant to grow on to and to support the melon.  I used the wire grids from an old compost bin, and lashed it onto a bamboo pole support.  In the background are a number of different types of iris, including Louisiana Bog Iris and flags, in my rain detention bed.

I also got the rest of the lawn mowed today, and  used the grass clippings to mulch around a lot of stuff.  I planted an azalea to replace a butterfly bush that didn't survive.  In fact none of my butterfly bushes made it through the winter -- I have two dwarf bushes I need to replace.

And....just because.....more pictures of the garden:

How much longer till I can pick lettuce?

Winter Buttercrunch Lettuce

Lettuce is coming along just fine.  I'm hoping in just a couple more weeks I can start picking some!


Everything else is coming along reasonably well.  This kale, and if you look closely, you can see that the onions have sprouted.

This is Red Romain and onions. 

More kale.

I planted the squash today.  I put some open-topped plastic jugs around them for some wind protection until they complete harden off.

I also brought out the tomato seedlings to harden off.  I want to get them planted next week.

And here are the winter sowing jugs.  Some sprouted, and some didn't.  I'm keeping track of which ones didn't sprout, and I'll adjust accordingly next year.

The poor cucumbers did indeed not survive, so I replanted seeds.  I had lemon cucumber seeds on hand.  I ordered some more Brown Russian cucumber seeds from Cook's Garden, and I'll get those planted this week.

I also ordered TunLCovers.   I'm very disappointed with the hoops and fabric arrangement I was trying to use.  Everything just pulls out of the soil, in part because the soil in my raised beds is so friable. I even tried Earth Staples, but.....nothing held them in.  We'll see if the TunLCovers work any better.

If I Can't See the Garden for All the Snow, Is the Garden Still There?

[Photo taken from my bedroom window]

Last fall, all the prognosticators predicted a hard, cold, and snowy winter.  Until 2 weeks ago, we really didn't see that happen, and I had wondered if we were going to have any appreciable snowfall at all in East Central IL.  Two storms, and about a foot of snow later, obviously the answer was "yes".

The garden is blanketed in about 5 inches of snow at the moment, as are all my winter sowing jugs.  As there isn't much to do outside, I guess I'll have to focus on what I can do inside.

First, here's my little bit of impending spring:  red tulips I forgot to plant last fall, and sat in the garage until about 4-5 weeks ago.  I planted some outside in a planter (we'll see what happens there), and I filled my big planter with the rest after I brought it inside.

My husband just looked at me and asked, "Why do we have plants in the house?  Why can't we wait until it's spring outside?"  Silly guy.  Jim has never been a big fan of plants in the house.  Granted, with two 1.5 year old mixed breed dogs who constantly patrol the perimeter by running from window to window in the great room, I CAN see his point.  Woe be it unto anyone who gets in their way if they realize there is a cat within eyeshot of their look-out perches.  Nothing like having a 30 pound and a 50 pound dog both barrelling through you to get to a better vantage point.  Since they are 1/4 rat terrier and 1/4 Rottweiler, they take the defense of their territory quite seriously.

[Kaiju and Jaeger, keeping lookout from our bed]

So....inside gardening.

Most of the seeds I started inside are doing well.  I have cauliflower, 2 kinds of broccoli, jalapeno and habanero peppers, lemon cucumbers and Brown Russian cucumbers.  The bell peppers haven't done as well sprouting.  I need to rearrange my trays under the growlight, anyway, and I don't think I need the heated germinator anymore, so I may try starting them without the heat and see how it goes.  I'm debating whether or not I need to transfer some of these things into pots.  I think I will transfer the peppers, as they won't be able to go out into the garden for at least a month, if not longer.  The cauliflower and broccoli can go out as soon as it warms up enough again to work the soil.  I've been saving plastic jugs to make cloches, and have almost enough for all the broccoli and cauliflower.

And I got the latest catalog from The Cook's Garden in the mail this week:

This is my source for Brown Russian Cucumber seeds, and Collective Farm Woman melon seeds -- the only melon variety I've really ever gotten to grow successfully around here.  Both are Ukrainian heirloom varieties -- I guess I shouldn't be surprised they are hardy!

Other than that, I'm going back through my week-by-week plan, and erasing a lot.  I was overly optimistic about when I'd be able to plant things, I think.  I'm just going to have to take it one week at a time until I can actually get some things in the ground, and then I can do more long range planning.

All of this has made me think about getting information about the Master Gardener program.  I'd love to take the class(es), but really don't have time except over the summer.    I have a number of friends  who are Master Gardeners, so I'll have to talk to them about it.

Time to do more laundry, and figure out what remaining grading I need to do today.  Happy garden dreaming to you all!