- Goldy | The Stranger
- First snow peas of the season. Yum!
Remember those peas I planted way back in February? The ones some people insisted were planted way too soon? Mmm… delicious.
- goldy | The Stranger
Truth is, the doubters were half-right. While the snow peas survived the relentless, late winter rains, most of my first planting of snap peas rotted in the ground, as did nearly all of my kale and most of my lettuce. But seeds are cheap, and after multiple subsequent sowings, all my veggies are coming in fine, if a few weeks late. For example, this time last year I had been self-sufficient in lettuce for almost a month, but this year I’m still only eating the occasional thinnings.
Still, on a weekend like this past one, with the bees buzzing in the raspberry patch and the sun actually stressing some of my starts, it’s easy to forget how fucking miserable this spring has been. That is, until I take a look at the sorry-ass state of my tomatoes, which only made it into the ground yesterday, my latest planting ever.
- Goldy | The Stranger
- Some sorry-ass looking tomato starts
I could kill for a fresh picked vine-ripened tomato. But it looks like I may be waiting until August.
Huh…I’ve been eating lettuce for a little over 3 weeks now. Actually this past week I started giving some away because there’s more than I can eat. I got kind of a late start snow pea-wise (I only got my P-patch plot at the end of March), but over this past weekend they started to bloom.
I put in 2 tomatoes a couple of week ago with those season started teepees and they’re doing remarkably well. It’s amazingly warm inside those things.
Why do the commentors who disagree with you bother you so much that you have to mention it constantly? Do you have a touch of the Palin? Loose the chip on the soulder buddy!
Btw, nice peas, those rule cold out of the fridge on a hot-ass day.
I put water walls around my tomato starts and won’t take them down until after Father’s Day at the earliest. Those things are amazing and will make tomatoes thrive.
I should have put them around my peas and beans, which went in the ground about 6 weeks ago and look seriously sad.
Two words: Cold Frame.
Last Fall a neighbor had put some old glass sliding doors marked “FREE” out on the curb. Yoink! A little sawing and hammering and voila: removable adjustable raised-bed sized greenhouses. I’ve had lettuces all winter and spring. My tomatoes were trenched in one of the frames three weeks ago. Now they’re getting too tall for the cold frame and are loaded with flowers. I expect the first toms by the end of this month. Going to trellis and rig a plastic cloche for them this evening.
I’ve been kind of idly observing on my daily walks what people in the neighborhood have been doing with their tomatoes. Those that were just planted outside are looking pretty sad. People who have them cloched or framed seem to be doing much better. Those water-filled covers seem to be popular, and those toms are doing better than I would have ever expected. Those upside-down hanging bags are crap though.
Didn’t cold frame my peas and they went in about 10 days past President’s Day. Just getting the first pods forming now. Gardening snack is almost go!
@4 I put some black plastic down for a week or so, then planted a Siberia and a Principe Borghese about 2 weeks ago with the walls of water. Burying most of the stem the PB was about 4 inches tall. This past Saturday it was growing out of the teepee so I took that away, put a trellis/frame around it and covered that with plastic. I also put some 1L bottles full of water inside the plastic around the base to help keep things warm. It seems to be doing pretty well. Hopefully the nights will remain above 50F now. I’ll probably need to take the teepee away from the Siberia this coming weekend.
@5 Fantastic! I will say that one of the (major) downsides to the cold frames is that the wooden collar blocks sunlight when we have low-angle sun this time of year. Some of the lettuce sprouts sown in January were pretty spindly, as they stretched sadly for what little sun there was. The clear water-walls would solve that problem nicely. And water sure is an excellent heat sink. I do like that I can regulate the temperature and moisture of the frame. Totally close the frame if it gets cold (lettuces were safe under a layer of snow last winter), crack it open a few inches to let air circulate if it’s in the 50’s and rainy, or open it entirely if it’s sunny. Keeps the constant rain off so it helps keep diseases and mildews down, but I can open it when it rains every now and then to water the bed.
I planted only 4 tomato plants in one of my raised beds this year; Sungold, Black Prince, Jaune Flamme, and Seattle’s Emergency Backup Tomato: Early Girl. So they fit nicely in one of my frames. But if I had tomatoes all over the yard and either in large beds or not in beds, those little water-walls would rock.
Oh Goldy. Can you have someone who’s not colorblind adjust your camera?
+1 for the cold frame suggestion; I made a real basic cone with PVC, duct tape, and a plastic drop cloth over my Early Girls when they went out April 30. They looked pretty bad for the first couple of weeks, but then got huge; they’re setting a lot of flowers. Did much better than the tomatoes in pots I was lugging inside and out for most of May.
All you people with gardens, I am insanely jealous. When I was a child my grandfather taught me how to grow veggies and appreciate the taste of homegrown over store bought. I would spend the summer munching fresh and delicious foods. Such a sweet memory. I do not have a garden. It’s a simple joy I miss intensely. But I love hearing about other’s.