Wait Five Minutes... and a little Harvest for Monday

I can't get too upset for too long.  It truly is the case here in St. Louis, if you don't like the weather, wait five minutes. The weather changes quicker than you'd think.  So the snow covered garden did no harm (that I am aware of) to my garden.  Here it is basking in some sunlight (the tomatoes and peppers are still safely tucked inside until potentially the weekend when we're expecting temps back in the 70s)

Before the snow was completely melted, the lettuce was hanging on...

I was able to get a harvest in the middle of the snow storm for another batch of egg drop soup.  I think my scallion harvests are a kind of, "in your face, snow" attempt.  It's little, but it's something, and it's green.

To check out what others are harvesting all over the world, check out Daphne's Dandelions!

I've got little sprouts up all over the place.

Black Seeded Simpson lettuce seedlings- I planted quite a few because it was two year old seed, looks like I'll be doing some thinning!

Spinach sprout

Radish sprout

Something is already eating on one of my spinach transplants-- my spinach never got to this size last year. I'm hoping it does better with this compost! That is, if the bugs leave it alone!

more...snow.

After a beautiful week- four days in the high 70's and low 80s - We've got a predicted 4 inches of snow... so now this:

is already covered with two inches of the white stuff.

People have lost their minds whilst driving.

I'm ready for Spring to make up its mind.

We found this:

when we went to check how hot our compost was the other day.  It's not that hot right now, but at least it's nice and toasty for the turtles, since we woke some of them up.



We had snow yesterday, and it melted by the afternoon.  All of my plants looked fine.  I've got loads of seedlings that have just sprouted out there, and I'm hoping that I won't have to replant, but if I do, it'll only set me back by a week or so.   We only had a half an inch on them yesterday, I'm thinking they won't like 4.  I was able to cover half of the garden with some plastic, but I don't really trust it.  Only time will tell.

 I planted some more lettuce seeds today, and cleaned out the Aerogarden for a fresh start. Some of the roots are amazing!  That is obviously JUST roots, because there was no dirt!  This was the basil plant that I've been using. It was growing way too fast, so I decided to try to get some cuttings from it to root.  They're close!

Accomplished

That would be the best way to describe how I feel about the past four days.  I already wrote about how I spent Thursday.

Friday: We got a load of mulch for the front yard, and a load of compost for the garden brought by my brother in law.  We worked incredibly quickly trying to move the yard of mulch to the bed and get it cut in to make room for the compost that was coming, and also to avoid the incoming rain.  It was much cooler, and we were able to get most of the mulch moved before the compost came.  Our next goal was to move ALL of the compost to the garden, because we didn't want a muddy mess on the driveway with the rain coming.  We were able to transfer it all just in time, and after the storm I couldn't help but plant some lettuce, spinach, and radishes.  So I've got 16 square feet planted outside now.  I think I'll be putting in my broccoli tomorrow.  The garden looks extraordinarily neat for my normal standards because the compost makes the bed look just beautiful!

Saturday: I was able to garden vicariously through my friend Mandi.  We made a trip to buy all of the things she would need for two 4 x 8 beds, with one trellis.  We got quite a few heads shakings and feeble wishes of "Good luck" from some guys there. Two blonde twenty somethings carting around lumber is probably not the norm, but the beds turned out beautifully, and we did it all by ourselves!  We brought it all home, painted the boards, built them, and installed the trellis!  All that's left is for her to get soil/compost, and we can start planting in it!

Today, we tackled a new project of painting her shed next to her garden.  We got two coats done before I decided it would be nice to be home for my last day of Spring break, though she did a beautiful job finishing it.

We had another absolutely beautiful day today, and it appears we'll be getting that for the next three.  All of my plants spent the day outside.  It's been nice to have my tomatoes and peppers outside at this stage.  They are as "hardened" off to the sunlight as they could be, which is nice because I seem to burn them when it comes to transplanting time.  My hubby got the rest of the mulch straightened out in the front today. We just checked the compost pile, and it is piping hot in just the three days since it's been moved!

I'm looking forward to seeing some things germinating outside this week! It'll be nice to see some green!

It was so beautiful today, that this was my dinner.  I think I've worked hard enough for it this weekend anyway...

Soaking up the Sun!

I can't believe how crazy St. Louis weather is. There is absolutely NO complaining coming from me today.  It couldn't be more beautiful, and it now sits at 81 degrees outside, and all of my plants, TURTLES, and I have gotten plenty of sun today!  I wanted to post yesterday, as it was my official BLOGIVERSARY, but I didn't get to it.  It's been a full year since I started this blog, and it's been a fun one!  Here's to another great year, and hopefully more frequent posting!

I was able to run with a friend this morning, followed by an ab workout on her deck, followed by turning/loosening up all of the soil in my garden today.  I am sunburnt and tired, but so full of endorphins and vitamin D, that there is absolutely nothing to complain about! (You can tell by my gross overuse of exclamation points)

Hope everyone is having an amazing St. Patrick's Day!

Harvest Monday

So two posts in one day for me has got to be a record.  I complained about the weather, but I tried to make up for it by making a "harvest" work for lunch.  I went out on the slurpy that is my back patio right now, and cut off several scallions to use in my lunch, egg drop soup.  I had no idea that these would stick around for the winter, and I was just plain too lazy to pull them at the end of the season. I should have known, since they're called Evergreen Bunching Onions.  As measly as it is, at least I have something positive to write about!  Also, Happy Pi Day to all!

I told my husband it was Harvest Monday, and he asked if I was going to post a picture of the wings he made the other night.  I told him we didn't do any harvesting there, but he still thought they were pretty awesome, and I have no qualms with boasting on my husband's amazing cooking skills.  So here was Saturday's dinner, some INCREDIBLE wings my husband made for us!

Check out everyone else's harvests, or how they're using old harvests at Daphne's Dandelions!

Unbelievable

We were supposed to get a rain/potential snow mix today, but the low was only supposed to be 34.  Instead we now have an inch of snow, with 1-3 expected.  At least tomorrow's high is 52, so it has no chance of lasting, and it's supposed to be 79 by Thursday. Go figure.  Spring Break Day 1. ugh.

SPRING BREAK!!

Spring break is in my house for the next week! I couldn't be more excited about it (other than the lack of a paycheck).  This means garden time for me, which has already begun.  Earlier this week, I was unable to get a sub job, and used it to my advantage.  I spent the morning rolling my newspaper pots for my tomatoes and peppers while watching Anne of Green Gables.  Make fun all you want, but it's one of my favorite movies from my childhood, and the three hour duration was perfect for making those 107 pots!

Newspaper sure makes your hands messy!

Heidi is such a funny dog!  This is her favorite place in the house.  This is where she spent her afternoon. She really has no idea she's a dog!

Yesterday I cleaned out the strawberry bed.  I pulled all of the straw off of the top, and cleaned up all of the dead foliage. I've since read that you can cut your strawberries down to two inches at the end of the season.  Anyone out there use that technique?  It's fun to see that my plants look like they did a month after transplanting last year, and they are a few weeks from when I planted them! I'm looking forward to seeing how that bed fills out this year, and I absolutely can't wait for those strawberries! I put a little bit of the straw back, that hopefully the plants will grow right through.  I want to keep the berries off of the dirt this year, and also wanted to protect them because the weather might still get a bit nasty before Spring is completely here.

I called it quits after that.  I wanted to clean out the rest of the leaves in the bed, but figured I'd better not do too much, because I'm notorious for starting projects that I don't finish.  So I quit while I was ahead.  That also left me with something to do today.  I finished cleaning out the main bed from the leaves that were sitting over it all winter.  I was pretty amazed by the number and size of worms in there!  Definitely not complaining! I got the bug after that, and ended up loosening some of the soil by the trellis, and planted my peas.  I was going to wait until later this week because we're getting 1.5 cy of compost to add to the bed, but I guess I just couldn't wait.

Seedling update: My first few tomato seeds sprouted today, and I have a nice little surprise from my saved Pineapple seeds.  I thought they had all germinated, but after they dried they looked okay, so I figured I'd try to sprout some of them, and so far 6 have germinated!  I won't be planting all of them, but I'm going to go ahead and let them go and see what kind of germination rate I've got.  Look closely! You can see the radicle protruding from the seed in the middle!

I'm contemplating cleaning out the Aerogarden and starting fresh. I know that means I'll be out my basil plant, but it grows WAY too quickly, and keeps burning on the lights... I can't move the lights any higher because the new lettuce that was planted got too leggy.  I'll probably be back to square one, but it's been a fun journey, and I've enjoyed some fresh basil, and LOTS of salads!  My husband requested ALL cells be used for lettuce this next time around. I hope I don't regret that when we've got LOADS of it growing outside shortly!


These are our Evergreen Bunching Onions (scallions). The only thing growing in the main bed right now... beautifully green though! Happy Spring Everyone!

Potting UPdate

It's strange, I was going through a phase where I was checking blogger constantly to see how people's gardens were growing, and there were only the occasional update.  I missed a few days, and it seems like EVERYONE has posted SEVERAL posts, and I just can't catch up!  This is a very busy time of year it seems!  I've done a lot myself, but haven't made the time to blog about it.


My tomatoes were planted yesterday. All 65 of them.  Here is my Pineapple Tomato that accidently germinated in January when I was trying to save the seeds from one of my tomatoes.  It has been a little stressed, a little root bound, but is finally potted up in the largest newspaper pot I've ever (and ever HOPE to) make.  It's about 6-8 inches tall, and with the tomato plant in there, even with the light as high as it will go, it still doesn't fit all of the way under the light. I'm just hoping for some suckers to start soon!  I put some of my other saved Pineapple tomato seeds on a paper towel.  I know they probably all germinated in January, and are hopeless, but I just wanted to check and see if any are living.  This tomato has been enough to keep that "planting early itch" away.








The day before that, the broccoli was finally potted up and thinned. It was even thinned more than I planned, because while talking to one of my neighbors, Heidi (my dog), decided the best way to thin 1.5 of my plants was for her to eat them.  I was NOT pleased...  Here's the "half" she left of one of them.




My peppers are sprouting!  The California Wonder are still taking their time.  The Jalapeno's, Carnival mix, and cayenne have all made an appearance of sorts.

My husband and I started working on clearing out the leaves that we've got covering the garden.  We'll finish that by the end of this week, so that I can start planting over my spring break next week.  I'm really looking forward to hardening off my lettuce seedlings, getting my peas, and radishes started, and getting to see some green in the garden!

My harvests have all looked the same lately, lettuce, lettuce, and more lettuce from the Aerogarden.  We've really enjoyed that!  I also was able to use some of the overwintered scallions in an egg drop soup recipe I made yesterday.  It's nice to have something that actually came from OUTSIDE!  

Hope everyone's enjoying their gardens!  Spring is around the corner!