A Plant That Really Lives Up To It's Name

I thought it would be interesting to plant some seeds of this Cat Grass(Avena Sativa) and see if the neighbor cat, Stripey, who hangs out on our deck would like it.

I guess that would be a big YES!

                  You could even say it was lip smacking good.

         Looks like Stripey will be hanging out on the deck for the rest of the Cat Grass Season.

First Plantings

I planted peas,spinach and arugula on April 2nd. The soil in the raised beds is well drained and early to warm up with the little bit of spring sunshine that we have had. I added some compost from the compost bin and noticed lots of worms in the raised beds as I turned the soil.

First Flowers

The first flowers to bloom in the garden are the crocus and scilla. April 5th seems a little late but it's been a cool early spring with temps in the 30's and 40's.

So Many Seeds, So Little Time

I was procrastinating a bit on seed starting but now I have shifted myself into gear. Here's a list of the seeds I have started so far and when they have sprouted.

FLOWERS(All started on 3/20/11)
Impatiens Flavor Mix-sprouted 3/29
Gaultheria
Coleus-sprouted 4/3
Verbena Bonariensis
Celosia-sprouted 3/23
White Foxglove-sprouted 3/24
Lemon Drop Marigold
White Chrysanthemum-sprouted 4/2
Angelica
Giant Hyssop
Black Hollyhock-sprouted 3/23, transplanted inside 4/17
Cardoon-sprouted 3/29, transplanted inside 4/17
Black Snapdragon- sprouted 3/26
Flowering Cabbages-Fringed,Sunset,Peacock,Osaka-sprouted 3/23

FLOWERS started 4/13
Morning Glory Mix-sprouted 4/20
Cobaea
Moonflower-sprouted 4/17
Jack in the pulpit
Datura
Castor Bean

VEGETABLES:
BROCCOLI-Gypsy, Early Dividend-started 3/20 sprouted 3/23,transplanted inside 4/17
CAULIFLOWER-Graffiti,Violetta-started 3/20 sprouted 3/23,transplanted inside 4/17
RED CABBAGE-started 3/20, transplanted inside 4/17
PAK CHOI-started 3/20,transplanted inside 4/17

TOMATOES(started 3/27)
Mortgage Lifter-sprouted 4/2, transplanted inside 4/17
Coustralee-sprouted 4/2, transplanted inside 4/17
Pineapple-sprouted 4/2, transplanted inside 4/17
Yellow Currant-sprouted 4/2, transplanted inside 4/17
Manyel-sprouted 4/3, transplanted inside 4/17
Tigerella-sprouted 4/3, transplanted inside 4/17

EGGPLANT(started 3/27)
Pingtung Long(sprouted 4/12)
Dusky (sprouted 4/14)
Lavender Touch(sprouted 4/8)

PEPPERS(started 3/27)
Ancho-sprouted 4/17
Piemento

GLOBE ARTICHOKE(sprouted 4/16)

LETTUCE- started indoors 4/13
Tom Thumb
Rosalito Romaine-sprouted 4/16
May Queen Butterhead
Radicchio-sprouted 4/18
Microgreens-sprouted 4/16

BASIL-started 4/13 sprouted 4/17
CUMIN

I'm going to try and update the sprouting dates as that happens. I didn't buy any new seed this year so I'll see if I have delayed germination.

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Summertime Treats

I love this tomato! It is a heirloom tomato called Pineapple. I was starting to wonder if I was ever going to get any ripe tomatoes from this plant but in the last 10 days it has really started to put out a bunch of gorgeous ripe tomatoes. The inside is also gold and red which makes it a real beauty in a salad. I confess that I didn't make this salad but my husband did one night for dinner. I think I've ate at least a pound of tomatoes in one form or another every day. One of my quickest dishes is to toast sourdough bread, drizzle with a bit of olive oil, add a thick slice of tomato that's lightly salted and then top with a perfectly poached egg. It's a great breakfast and very filling.

I also dug of part of my potato crop and since most of the potatoes were small I made a new twist on potato salad. I used just a few spices and mayonnaise and adapted a recipe from a cookbook. Here are the few spices that I used. I think the Adobo was the  key and gave a great flavor to the salad.

I was pretty disappointed in the flowering potatoes that I planted. I only got a few small potatoes from them and they never did flower. I may have to take part of the blame because I think I may have watered them too much. I had them in a raised bed that had the water timer set to daily watering and I think that it was just too wet for them. Also I planted them with beans and I don't think that worked very well. The potatoes fell over the beans and I kind of forgot about them until the bean pod was too big. The idea of companion planting probably works great in a normal garden in the ground but in a 4X8 bed there is just too much competition for space and neither one of them came out a winner.

Harvest Cat

My neighbor cat Stripey seems to like the veggies as much as I do! The eggplants have really started to come on with all the heat we've had this summer. It's been the best eggplant harvest I've had. The Lavender Touch eggplants are doing the best but Dusky is catching up. I've had about a dozen Tigerella tomatoes so far. There are lots of big green ones still waiting to ripen. Even though my Lemon cucumbers are a tiny plant they have knocked out 3 cucumbers so far. Stripey is laying on my one Diva green cucumber. The beans have done ok but I won't plant them with potatoes again. The potatoes have just taken over too much of the bed. I may get motivated to put in a few more bean seeds to get a late harvest. Last week I planted a few lettuce,carrot and beet seeds. It's hard to know with all the heat if they'll even sprout but I'll give them a few weeks before I seed some more.