It's still spring anyway

If you live in MN you are probably a bit depressed about the weather lately. It was seeming all spring like a week ago. We had just had what we all thought was our last snowfall and things were warming up nicely. The garden was starting to wake up and it actually seemed like the long winter was giving up the ghost finally.

Nope. If there's one thing to learn over and over again in this neck of the woods it's never to relax into a weather forecast. It doesn't matter how many times you have to go through it - "ok, NOW it's spring, no more snow" - then, BAM! More snow. You still find yourself a sucker every year. There's a very good reason most of us don't pack away the sweaters and boots until well into summer - we don't trust the spring. She's a prankster around here and is just waiting to pull the warm flowered welcome mat out from under you when you least expect it.

So, I was very delighted to find this little ray of hope poking it's pretty little head up out of the cold soggy dirt when I got home. Funny thing is, my crocus have never bloomed on time. For some odd reason they have always bloomed after the tulips have started. Great year to pick to bloom on time guys!
I have to say it made me feel a little warmer despite the icy slap of winter's (presumed) goodbye still stinging my cheek.

Here's hoping you each find your own little ray of hope blooming in the cold.

April Showers and April Flowers

When I went out to check out the garden in the balmy 60+ temps on saturday, I found this little guy. Every year I get a few pansies that reseed in the garden, but this one seems to have actually survived the winter, which is crazy because we had some pretty cold temps. I guess having snow cover really does insulate. I brought it in 'cause I figured it would be easier to enjoy inside this time of year. Then, sure enough, just when I had my pea seeds all nice and soaked and ready to plant - it rained all day sunday!

The tulips are coming up in a few spots, daffodils, and crocus too. It happens every year, but it's always so amazing when the snow melts  - and there they are already coming up. This is why I love spring. It's full of surprises, which are fun, even if you expect them.

What's popping in your neck of the woods?

First Pepper Seedlings of '08

Well, here are the first little buggers of 2008! I followed my friend Maggie's advice to plant peppers on St Patrick's Day and they came up on Easter! How fitting. We'll see if starting them this early gives them a head start, or just gives me a headache with so many larger seedlings to fit under the lights come June.

When do ya'll start your peppers? Do you start cold weather veggies indoors too? When do you start them? Is it just madness to start earlier every year?

And so it begins...

The start of the 2008 gardening season is upon us! Had a seed exchange with friends last week, I've been looking at seed sites and catalogs for weeks, and I planted my first seeds yesterday! On a tip from my friend Maggie, I started my peppers on St. Patrick's Day. She did it last year and said her peppers were bigger by the time they could be transplanted and she got more peppers sooner. Sounds good to me!

I planted Jimmy Nardellos - my favorite; Alma Paprika; red, yellow, and orange mini peppers; Sweet Chocolate; and new comers - Rellano, and Cal Wonder Orange. Still going to start Thai Dragons and some more of all the rest - just in case!

I still need to put in my tomato order at Tomatofest.com and at seedsavers.org, but first I have to figure out; what I have, what I need, and how much more I can cram in to my small garden this year.

I'm not growing Romanesco again, that's for sure!

What are you growing/not growing this year?

Carrot Bonsai

This is what I like to call a Carrot Bonsai it is just the top of a carrot cut off and put in water. I was using some carrots that had been in the fridge for a little while and had started to sprout little anemic shoots from the tops where I had broken off the greens. I thought, hmmm, that's kind of interesting, I wonder if they will continue to grow. So, I just cut off the tops like I always do, and then stuck one into a jar top with some water on my window sill, and after a few days I had what you see above. A nice little bit of green for a long cold gray winter. It seems to work with any carrot top - give it a try!

So strange to me that a carrot would do this. I wonder what would happen if I planted it?

What's still growing?

"The Jungle" side view.

"The jungle" full on.

Mini Peppers! Still going despite the cold (40's and 50's) Not ripening though. : (

Yellow Crookneck - smaller but still producing a few. They're about 6 inches long.

Fall raspberries, what a treat. Last year, they froze before they even had a chance.

Blondkopfchen cherry tomatoes. These guys are still going crazy. They aren't very flavorful, but they produce a ton. Good for salads and dipping.

Pineapple Tomato - one of my all-time favs. In one of my wine bottle cozys. It's supposed to keep the varmints out - it kinda works.

And finally, Fall Peas! They are Tom Thumbs - not a very good pea at all, but they produce when they are very small, and can grow in pots. These actually sprouted from some peas that had rotted in a plastic bag in the fridge. (shhhh! Don't tell anyone!)

All in all a pretty good fall. when I can still pick tomatoes mid October, I guess that's pretty good. SO glad I didn't rip everything out yet. I'll probably regret it though when it snows before I can do fall clean-up again.

Next up - get those tulip bulbs and garlic into the ground! "Course it would help if the damn rain would stop!

Romanesco?

Where's the freakin' Romanesco already!? Seriously. I read that they take forever, but this is ridiculous. There is not even a hint that any of the 4 plants I have are even thinking of forming a head of anything resembling broccoli. I even started them indoors for crying out loud! All they have done is get gigantic and crush everything in their path, and then fall over in the garden and crush some more stuff. Ok. that's about all the good the bitching is going to do.

Anyone else grown this? Did you have any luck? How freakin' long does it take? Do I have any hope of getting even a tiny underdeveloped floret before the snows come?