Cold Days of Winter...

January 3, 2010


Well the pneumonia pretty much has me confined to bed today, which I cant tell you how much I hate being confined to bed. That said about all the adventure I could undertake today was to place my seed order for my spring and summer garden. Here is what I got to augment my already large collection of seed in my seed catalog.

Bean, Asparagus - Red Noodle

Bean Asparagus - Mosaic

Asparagus Bean un Metro (Bacello)

Amaranth All Red Leaf

Tomato Black Pear

Pole Bean Stortino Di Trento

Pole Bean Supermarconi (Romano)

Cilantro Slo-Bolting

Lovage ORGANIC

Chives

Garlic Chives, Ping Giant

Lemon Grass

Tarragon

Beet, Bull's Blood ORGANIC

Beet Chioggia ORGANIC

Cucumber Paris Pickling

Cucumber Hokus

Onion Piatta d'Italia

Cipollini Onion Bianco Di Maggio

Cipollini Onion Borrettana

Deluxe Spring Radish Mix

Basil, Violetto ( Dark Opal ) ORGANIC

Basil Napoletano Bolloso

Basil, Lettuce Leaf Toscano

Basil Thai

Basil Lemon

Golden Mushroom

Poplar Mushroom



The particular item I need more urgently than the rest were peas. Last year I got them in the ground too late and we had a mini heat wave in April which all but stunted the plants to the point where the harvest was about a ¼ of what it should have been. So I am eager to get some peas in the raised beds as early as possible this year. I will also experiment a little and create mini coldframes out of half of my raised beds this year. Each of my raised beds is 5 feet wide and 35 feet long and 12 inches high. When I constructed these beds I placed a double layer of chicken wire down first, followed by several inches of heavy mulch, fresh hay, then a nice bedding soil. This Fall I have been depositing all the leaf material I mow up with my tractor on top of each of the fallow beds. In addition I have a nice pile of compost on the west end of the veggie beds. My plan is to eventually partition off this area into another raised bed specifically designated for potatoes. Oh and a word to the wise, never buy potato starts from seed vendors, nurseries or home improvement shops. Just buy some potatoes at your local grocery store, place in a paper sack and put in a dark place. In a few weeks the spuds you have chosen will have started to grow on their own. Cut up the spuds leaving a few eyes on each piece, let the cut pieces set overnight to dry a bit then plant in well composed soil. As they grow up through the compost continue to add layers of soil. The potato plants will create tons of spuds in each layer of compost. More on that in a later post.