Pea'd out

I am all pea'd out. I've been picking and eating a lot of peas lately. I have been picking peas almost every other day and thank goodness I think they are almost done. You see, in the previous years I almost never planted enough peas, not even enough to make it out of the garden. So this year I went crazy and planted the entire package of seeds. Now, I have

endless peas. I've given some away and I've freeze some.

This are garlic scapes. Scapes are immature flower stalks from garlics. They should be removed in order to focus all the garlic's energy into bulb growth, that way you get bigger bulbs. But don't throw the scapes away! The scapes are delicious when cooked(or you can eat it raw). They taste just like garlic. You can stir-fry them, steam them, or saute them.

Below are pictures of my garden.

In the far end are peas, some NG Impatiens, 3 types of peppers(Jalapenos, Sweet Banana & Italian Pepperoncini), Marigold and Eggplants. In the front are various tomatoes(Opalka, Yellow Pear, Black Cherry, Betterboy, Beefmaster, Cherokee Purple) with basil and marigold in between.

My Three-Sisters planting: Corn(Sugar Buns), Beans(Chinese Red Noodle) and Squash(Pumpkin & Sweet Dumpling)

Three-sisters planting in the back left. Front left: cukes, zukes and sweet potatoes.

On the right: 4 varieties of Garlics and next to them are my row of herbs and onions.

Another look at the garlics. Behind the garlics are carrots, which you can't see from the picture.

My potatoes: Yukon Gold, Dark Red Norland, Laratte fingerlings and All Blue. In the far right end are some strawberries.

Grow and Meme

We were tagged by our friend Sammie to do this meme. We have done something similar before. The rules are: Open the first photo file folder. Go to the 10th photo. Post and tell the story about that photo. Then tag 5 other bloggers to do this meme.

Ok, we went to our first photo file folder for 2010(because the ones from previous years, you have already seen) and the 10th(we had to include 11th & 12th also) photo is this(below):

Want to take a guess who done it? If you guessed Samantha, you got it right! Samantha, the toy-hog & toy-destroyer, got a purple Wubba for Christmas and she destroyed it in February.

It is Spring and it is planting season. Yay! About 2 weeks ago I went to Lowes and got an inexpensive plastic shelf and some grow lights and made myself a grow-rack.

So far I have got almost everything started except for the cucumbers, zucchinis, pumpkins and winter squash. I'll be starting those in another week or so. Here are what I have started:

• Peppers (Jalapenos, Sweet Banana, Italian Pepperoncini)
• Tomatoes (Cherokee Purple, BetterBoy, Beefmaster, Yellow Pear, Black Cherry, Costoluto Genovese*)
• Herbs (Sweet Basil, Cinnamon Basil, Parsley, Fennel)
• Onions (Red Marble Cipollini, Copra)
• Flowers (Marigold, Carousel Mix Zinnias*, Lilliput Mix Zinnias)
• Asian Greens (Baby Bok Choy, Pai Tsai, Kyona, Napa Cabbage) - These were transplanted outside yesterday
• Cabbage (Couer De Boeuf Des Vertus - a French bull-heart type) - Transplanted outside yesterday

*Got these from Lena from Sleeping Dog Bakery

I've also planted outside the following:

• Snap Peas (Sugar Sprint)
• Lettuce (Mesclun Mix, Grand Rapids, Amish Deer Tongue*)
• Radishes (Sparkler, Watermelon)
• Carrots (Red Cored Chantenay, Purple Haze)

Peek-a-boo, I see you

I started all my seeds last Saturday. About 3 weeks ago, I started the jalapenos, Italian pepperoncini and eggplants but unfortunately I had to "re-do" all of these. Reason being? A certain Golden/Husky mix(AKA June) decided to check out what I did and perhaps thought it was something new that's edible...

It was partly my fault, I know my girls don't get in trouble like that(they used to when they were younger), they don't jump on the counter or steal food, nor do they chew things up. So I put the egg carton(I used eggshells instead of peat pots and left the eggshells in the carton) on the floor in the guest room next to the baseboard heater for some heat. Well, that was a mistake. June went in there to check it out and sniff at it one night and decided that she wanted to check out the whole thing, so she took the whole egg carton in her mouth and when I went to check on what she was doing, she dropped the carton and everything fell out. Bad baby, bad baby...

The photos below are my seed-starting operation. The first picture shows the Organic Jiffy Seed Starting mix, my seeds(in the ziploc bag), my notebook, watering bottle(I poked a few small holes on the cap for easy watering), egg carton with sunflower seeds inside, and on the top left corner is the veggie tray. I saved the tray from last year, it was a seed starting set with starter pellets inside. I kept the tray after the pellets were used.

The second picture shows the filled peat pots, properly labeled. I will do a different post about what I am planting this year.

In other news, I couldn't resist the temptation of peeking in the garlic bed to see if there is any "action" going on there. Yes there is! I only uncovered a small section to check things out. And there they are, peeking out from the ground!(Please click on the picture for a bigger view, I circled them in red for easy viewing)

I'm so happy, oh so happy...

Schedule

How many more days to Spring? How many more days before I can start planting outside? Every day I look at the calander and count the days til I can go outside and do some gardening. Now that most of the snow had melted, I could see my straw-covered garden(certain areas - strawberries section and garlic section). I wanted, so so so badly, to uncover the straw and peek but I know better. So it's back to counting days...

Below is what I have planned for my planting schedule. I hope I'm not too early or not too late.

3/1 - Start indoors: Opalka(Paste Tomato), Jalapeno, Italian Pepperoncini, Eggplant, Shamrock

3/21 - Start indoors: All other tomatoes, Chinese Cabbage, Basil, Zucchini, Cucumbers, Sunflowers

4/18 - Start outdoors: Broccoli, Bok Choy, Carrots, Lettuce, Radish, Onion

5/23 - Start outdoors: Corn - Transplant outdoors: all tomatoes, Chinese Cabbage, Basil, Zucchini, Cucumbers, Sunflowers, Shamrock

6/6 - Start outdoors: Potatoes, Winter Squash - Transplant outdoors: Japaleno, Pepperoncini, Eggplant

I will do a different post about the varieties of vegetable I am planting this year. Please stay tune....

I will leave you with a picture of my snow covered garden and my girls. Have a great weekend!