Friday, June 30, 2017

Plant lettuce they said....


It'll be easy, they said.

And, you know what?  They (I) were/was right.

Been ignoring the lettuce cause nothing much seemed to be going on either in the planter or in the front garden.  Took a look this morning and there has been a lettuce explosion!



This batch is from an assortment of seeds from High Mowing Organic Seeds in Vermont - they have a great selection of items suited for our sometimes (ok, always) unpredictable weather in the northeast spring.  The collection contains a lot of the fancy greens you pay and arm and a leg for at the store and it's definitely a lot fresher!


Also, if you look closely you'll see that some of the "greens" are wild, to say the least.  To say the most?  They are weeds.....my point being that lettuce isn't a high maintenance, weed or die sort of crop!  As long as you know which is which they seem to cohabit happily until you get time to clear out the non-lettuce items.

Out front, where the sad pea demise took place the lettuce is doing just as well.



More of the "collection" items - doing just as well tucked in front of the remains of the pea plants.


This lettuce is something called "Nevada" lettuce.  Makes an almost head and isn't bothered by hot weather (lots of lettuce goes to seed if the weather gets too hot).

At any rate, grow lettuce, I said.

It'll be easy, I said.

And I was right.  You may not want to till up the back lawn and plant enough food to feed the family for 6 months but there isn't much reason not to at least try your hand at mini-gardening.  It's a soul satisfying thing to plant a tiny seed and have food show up.  Yeah, something ate my pea plants - stuff happens.

Anything that helps out the food bill, the environment, your health (along with your mental health) can only be a good thing.

Go forth.

Get your hands dirty.

Make food!




Wednesday, June 21, 2017

Can't win 'em all


Every year I look forward to planting my peas as early as I can.  Sometimes I've even climbed over a snowbank in front of the house to do it.

This year I was a little later than usual and the weather, not to put too fine a point on it, sucked.  It was cold and wet and windy - in spite of all that the peas actually came up!  And flourished!



They were green and succulent and I could practically taste them - either fresh and raw or fresh and cooked - I love my fresh peas.

But, alas, it was not to be.   😭   Came back from a weekend away expecting to find this:


And instead, found this.  Bent and chewed and loped off pea plants and savaged lettuce.



Sad, sad, sad!

I hadn't seen any depredation so I hadn't sprayed any "Liquid Fence" and the local rabbits (I think) took full advantage!  If it were deer the plants wouldn't be bend and broken - just gone!

Moving forward with a spray bottle of the Liquid Fence, several "Have a Heart" traps and death to the critters in my attitude!

And trying to take comfort in the survivors.

The carrots are in the kennel yard and watered daily (if it hasn't rained) and are doing rather well.


Every morning I peek out to make sure that "something" didn't get them in the night.  So far/so good! Of course a liberal application of Liquid Fence should keep most anything away.  Something about the smell of rotten eggs and garlic seems to work fairly well.

Tomatoes, zucchini and garlic are doing very well (nothing eats garlic except us as far as I can tell!)

Tomatoes safe in their little cages - only 9 plants this year.  Four of Celebrity and four of Roma tomatoes and one extra steak type that I bought in a moment of garden lust.  I am trying not to have to can the world in the fall and still have enough for salsa and cooking.  Spraying for the mildew plague ahead of it's appearance - hoping that works.
A lone hill of zucchini living life on the edge - literally -it's the closest to where the woodchuck usually comes onto the lawn but I hope he's absent this year.  More zucchini in other spots just in case.


A sweet pepper plant - the little ones you see in the bags in the store - new kind for me and far enough away from the hot ones to prevent any cross pollination.  The garlic should protect it.

Marigolds along with the hot peppers and a row of Swiss Chard - four different kinds of hot peppers this time around.  Can't wait to see how they do.

The beets appear to be going to be an epic fail so I planted more green beans in between the few that did come up.  If I can't have peas at least I should have green beans!

You don't need a farm to provide yourself some food. Neither do you need a tremendous amount of time or money.

And I am living proof that you "can't win 'em all" but you can still keep trying and planting!










Tuesday, June 20, 2017

Serendipitous

The official definition of serendipitous really doesn't begin to cover it's potential impact:


ser·en·dip·i·tous
ˌserənˈdipədəs/
adjective
  1. occurring or discovered by chance in a happy or beneficial way.

    "a serendipitous encounter"

    synonyms:chanceaccidentalcoincidental


Viola tricolor, Also known as Johnny Jump up (though this name is also applied to similar species such as the yellow pansy), heartseaseheart's easeheart's delighttickle-my-fancyJack-jump-up-and-kiss-mecome-and-cuddle-methree faces in a hood, or love-in-idleness, is a common European wild flower.

But to me they have always been Johnny Jump Ups.

A year or so ago I had several plants "jumping up" all over my lawns so rather than mow them over I transplanted a few into one of the raised beds by the head of the driveway.  They flourished there but also apparently self seeded themselves into the section of "lawn" I was trying to build at the edge of the drive.

This spring has been a difficult one in many ways - the weather has been incredibly chancy for gardening, the political climate is enough to sour a person on the concept of anyone ever being willing to work together and my body has decided to test my resolve vis a vis the benefits of growing older!

Then the other day I took a good look at the section of "lawn" at the head of the driveway and, voila!  a bed of Johnny Jump Ups!  Dozens of plants amidst the weeds and crab grass (I do poorly at establishing a lawn) and straw mulch.


There they are - between the pavement and the garlic they made themselves right at home.  


I love the way they stand up straight no matter how much the wind blows or


how much it rains.  If you look closely you can see they are covered with the latest chance of showers!




Even when they are blurred, the colors are still beautiful.



So take a minute (or an hour) and look around you - never know what you might find - in a serendipitous sort of way!