What Happened in April

I'm not keeping my own intentions to keep garden diary... Let's see if I can recall what was done in late March and April.

Sometime late March/ early April I finished mulching. Yeay!

April 6 I seeded sorrel and this one herb which name is escaping me right now chervil.

April 13: seeded beans and planted potatoes ('Carola').

April 20: cilantro. Anything else?

The last Saturday in April I did not have a chance to do anything in the garden as I was leaving for business trip the next day.

My memory is very faulty. I most likely missed something.

And the radish winner is...

Not that there ever was a contest. But I'm glad that this year I tried two varieties of radishes instead of usual one. Cherry Belle variety that looked so good in a picture on the seed packet grew slow, then quickly went to seed with relatively small number of edible radishes in between.

This French Breakfast radish featured below on the other hand is still going strong despite heat we've been having. It also tastes milder and grows larger. Come next spring, I'll be looking for this seed again.

Life is good

Yesterday was perfect day to stay home off work and be outside gardening. These are the seeds I planted: beet, two kinds of string beans and lima beans. I remember reading somewhere that lima beans do not do well in our climate, but will try them anyhow. (But it's true that oftentimes shops and nurseries will sell seeds and plants that are not compatible with the local climate or they are on display long after their seeding window is closed.)

 This is how my veggie patch looks these days. The brick walkway is moving along little by little.

 I also planted some of my gladiolas and then repotted little tomato seedlings. I'm keeping seven from the whole bunch to see what comes out of them. This is another experiment that I'm not expecting much as an outcome. But it's fun to try.

 In the pot to the left are yellow bell pepper seedlings. These need to grow a bit more. In the pot to the right is salmon-color begonia; it's waking up from winter slumber.

The first three pots have amaryllis post blooming. I took them outside today and put under a shady bush. Soon I will plant them in the garden where they will stay until fall frosts. After that, I'll bring them back inside, put their bulbs in pots and wait for the blooms... probably coming out February or March. To the right is coleus, also saved from last summer, soon to be planted outside.

Around the garden, lots of plants are blooming and scenting the yard with a lovely aroma. There's my lilac

 and lone yellow tulip I do not recall planting

 and late-blooming, ghost-white daffodil.

Tomato Sprouts

Something is sprouting in on of the terra cotta pots... I believe these are tomato seedlings (based on the tiny little "fuzz" on the stems) that I saved last year from a store-bought fruit. I did not follow any special fermenting process that I later learned is necessary for tomato seeds, so this is a happy surprise. That is IF these are indeed tomatoes. Nothing has sprouted in the other pot... but I still thing it's sweet pepper that is not coming up.

Planning (or Lack of It)

If you read gardening literature, there often are references about pouring over seed catalogs in winter. Well, that’s not me. First, I’m not too finicky about one specie over another. Second, I cannot remember ever planning my garden in winter. My thoughts just are not there. It would be helpful, though. Typically, when spring comes I get this instinctive need to dig in dirt and purchase plants or seed packets that appeal to me on the fly. (As in the picture below—these were recently purchased at my grocery store.) I come home and then start to ponder where everything should go.

Lettuce and radishes will be the first ones in the ground, perhaps as early as the next week or two. They do not mind cooler weather (actually, they prefer it). About the same time I will seed dill, my favorite. And carrots shortly thereafter.

The other day I ordered leaf mulch delivery from my county and it will arrive March 17. Earlier than ever! This means I HAVE to clean up the garden from old growth this weekend. Cannot wait.

Red Onions and Shallots

The ground was too wet yesterday to dig up onions and shallots. And I have been taught in Latvia not to dig up onions in wet weather, but on a sunny day and then let them dry outside in the sun. Today was a perfect day for onion harvest--not a cloud in the sky and low humidity.

To the left are red onions. My father-in-law bought seed onions in March at some farm. To the right are random shallots. I got a few three years ago at our grocery store and they have done well. I will keep about a third from each to plant early next spring. I store them in brown paper bag in a cabinet under a stovetop. I've been told that onions and the likes should be kept in fairly warm and definitely dry place; if storage is too cold, an onion will put all it's energy into creating a big bloom, but will not create a new bulb.
There are a few beets also... a bit on a small size. I wrap beets in foil and roast them in oven for about 45 minutes, but these small ones do not take that long.

I also cut couple of dill seed heads. I'll sow part of these seeds later this summer for fresh dill in fall and the rest will have to wait until next spring.

In another corner, zinnias are blooming. I have only two colors this year--orange and purple. The orange ones are my favorite.

Spearmint is blooming, too. Small insects are buzzing around.
A small butterfly on blazing star.
And one of my hen-and-chicks also is blooming.
This one's the first for my garden.

Hits and Misses

It's the Memorial Day weekend and I'll spend less time gardening than I hoped to. There was a baseball tournament. And other chores. And today is too hot to be outside working. I'm thinking pool.

This morning I picked a few broccoli florets for our dinner. It seems that will be it--our own steamed broccoli only twice this spring. Now it is getting too hot and they will not produce any more. I plan to pull broccoli plants out and seed some corn instead. We grew some corn last year but it was not very good. It might be that I picked it too late and kennels had become too starchy. So we'll try again this year with a different variety.

I am not a very disciplined or elaborate gardener. If I buy seeds or seedlings, I rarely take note of the species name. Perhaps I could have found a better producing broccoli. I have not written down the variety of cucumbers I'm growing this year; I just remember it has "sweet" in their name (last year's pickling cucumbers were too bitter in one end). And I love to find seeds in other places than seed stands or catalogs. For example, my shallots and acorn squash originally came from a produce stand at Safeway.
I recently picked some seeds from jack-jump-up viola growing in our neighborhood near a sidewalk. I'm saving them for fall or next spring. Also pictured is an old sweet potato tuber originally purchased for consumption, but since it has started sprouting, I'll put it somewhere in my garden. I do not count on actually harvesting new sweet potatoes of this size, but I know it will grow lots of vines that will smother weeds.
This collection of heirloom tomatoes comes from Costco and I'll try to save some seeds from the yellow ones and grow them next year. Wish me luck!