Last weekend, 2/3/08, we planted a number of seeds on the deck in new containers. If all goes well, and that's unlikely, we'll have a nice salad or ten in the weeks ahead.
We didn't get the deck until May of last year, so we missed a good chunk of the spring growing season in '07. And then, since it was our first attempt at container gardening, some of them didn't do so hot. Maybe it was too hot. It's a wierd micro-climate up there. But you learn, hopefully, from your experience, George W. Bush excepted, of course.
We had a veritable orgy of planting. Two types of tomatoes - Early Girl Hybrid and Health Kick Hybrid, both Ferry-Morse seeds. Early Girl is a full-sized tomato and the Health Kick is plum-sized. Both planted with a trellis built-in to the container. Last years tomato crop yielded a paltry, albeit very sweet, TWO cherry tomatoes. This year should be quite different. Con suerte.
Next up is another first-time attempt at a Salad Bush Hybrid Cucumber (Burpee Seed). Since we are container gardening, we are going for the "dwarf" or "bush" plants as much as possible. I wish there was another word for it besides "bush." George and his family have certainly poisoned the well of that word for many years to come, regardless of what the right-wing hatemongers have to say. By the way, how did we get to such a place in this country where so many talk-radio hosts are right-wing fanatic haters that spew bile on a daily basis? They project a very ugly American face, to Americans and to the world. But, America's attitude usually seems to be, "Fuck the rest of the world," so maybe these people are actually more-representative of America than I am, a tolerant, open-minded liberal. I shudder to think. Practically every local market has haters of their very own, in addition to the nationally-syndicated radio hatermongers. And then you have the whole FOX network. What is this, a post about gardening?
We're also trying, for the first time, some Snap Pea Sugar Bon, another bush-type plant, and another Burpee seed. It doesn't need a trellis, allegedly, but we have a small cage to help it out anyway. Next up is some Kale, "Red Winter" variety, from Botanical Interests. We love to stir-fry Kale. I even created a recipe I call "Braisin' Kale," which is a marvelous side dish.
Can't forget the Fairy Tale Eggplant, another Burpee seed. This is another compact bush-type plant. And finally, a pot of Bush Bean Bush Blue Lake 47 (there it is AGAIN! TWICE!) Beans, a Burpee seed creation.
Three weekends ago we tried an experiment: two pots with two different types of plants sown INDOORS, and the same two different types of plants in two more containers that we sowed OUTDOORS.
One is Pak Choi Joi Choi (Burpee) and the other Mesclun Mix, (Burpee, excuse me) which is a mix of two types of lettuce, one spinach, one mustard green and a beet, all together. And the indoor plants are totally kicking the asses off of the outdoor plants. Today we thinned the indoor 3" tall plants, but their outdoor cuzzins are still drawfs. The cold weather may have SOMEthing to do with that. We have a nice crop of Red Sails Lettuce held over from last year which is looking and tastes wonderful, and the Swiss Chard Bright Lights is finally coming on. I should take a pic and post it.
We're probably being far too ambitious in our planting. Who's got time for this shit? We've got politics to obsess over! And jobs. And lives. And it's a joy to work in the garden. You take your joy where you can get it.
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