Winter Savory Sprout!

Last night I looked at my little yogurt cups of soil on my kitchen table, where they capture the morning sun, and I noticed a tiny little sprout! The epazote hasn't sprouted yet, but I saw one little winter savory sprout, and looking closer this morning, there's another one. It filled me will joy. Is that silly? Maybe, but I'm so happy to see those tiny little sprouts. I tried to take a picture but they don't show up at all against the soil. I watered them with diluted tea this morning in the hopes of staving off dampening off.

Yesterday I planted peas, miner's lettuce, mizuna, tatsoi, and ho mi z mustard greens. I planted six different kinds of peas:

• Golden Sweet are yellow-podded and the pods are edible, with gorgeous pink and purple flowers
• Mammoth Melting Sugar Snow peas grow extra tall and have edible pods
• Blauwschokkers are blue-podded shelling peas, although my husband loves the young pods, and I have both regular-sized and dwarf seeds
• Little Marvel are shelling peas that I've grown before
• Wando are shelling peas that I've grown before

I'm so excited about the garden this year! I'm going to try to stay focused on the beauty of it instead of the work that it takes, because the work is absolutely worth it. I have far more seeds than I'll be able to plant, but I've been trading some of them and I've gotten so many flower seeds in my trades. My husband and I have an agreement that I won't spend money on flowers, other than an occasional, "They were on sale so cheap!", purchase, so it's wonderful to know that I'll have gorgeous flowers this year thanks to the generous online community at the Square Foot Gardening site.

An update on the peas, greens, and the Square Foot Gardens

One of the pea varieties (Alaska, I think) has flowers on it today! They're so pretty when they flower. I took a couple of pictures, although I'm not sure you'll be able to see the flowers very clearly.

As you can see they're doing pretty well and I'm hopeful about getting a good harvest as long as it doesn't snap super-hot.

The greens, on the other hand, aren't doing as well. I think the problem is that I was lazy when I planted them and thinned them out too late, so the plants aren't flourishing.

I don't hold out much hope for getting a harvest from any of these this year, but it was instructive and I'll likely try again in the fall.

The Square Foot Gardens are doing great! We're slowly filling in the empty squares, although the fourth one is still empty at this point. We've added a couple of different varieties of tomatoes and the most up-to-date diagram of each garden is available on my Flickr photostream.

I didn't snap pictures of the zucchini and yellow squash in the front yard, but they're doing really well. Everything is growing like crazy, thanks to all of the rain we got! My irises are blooming and they're so beautiful, I'll try to get some pictures of them for my next post. I hope that everyone is having a wonderful spring!

Planting Peas in the Drizzling Rain

I was going to plant peas yesterday but it was cold and rainy, so I waited hoping for better weather. Today is a little better, but it's still about 45 degrees and drizzling. Oh well, I didn't figure I'd melt so out I went, with my faithful garden helper (my 8 year old son) and his umbrella to keep my seeds nice and dry. I wasn't terribly excited about going out there, to be honest, but that all changed when I stooped down to dig the little trench to bury seeds in and there, on the other side of the fencing panel, were peas peeking out! At first I was worried that the snow and cold had pushed them up, but upon closer examination it wasn't the cold... they're sprouting! I got such a rush of joy. *happy sigh* Needless to say planting the rest of the row no longer seemed like such a chore.

I used up the last of my Oregon Sugar Peas, which I knew was going to happen, so when I was at the feed store buying a dozen kinds of greens seeds Monday (see my previous post about planting some of them) I found some edible pod seeds called Sugar Ann Garden Peas. Actually, looking for edible pod pea seeds to replace the Oregons was what led me to look at their seed selection in the first place, so I have them to thank when I sit down to eat a delicious meal of those greens! Anyway, the lady at the feed store said she liked Sugar Ann so I bought a big bag to give them a try. There's no question their seeds are cheaper, but I cringe at not buying all organic seeds. The high price tag made the decision for me, so we'll see how they turn out.

Also, I don't think I mentioned before that the fence panel that goes down the center of the pea patch has 24 squares, so I divided it up into 5, 5, 4, 5, and 5 squares when I did my planting. I'm trying to be meticulous in keeping track of what we really like and what grows well so that I don't waste time and energy. It also satisfies my slightly OCD personality, if I'm honest. Here's the updated pea garden diagram:

No signs of sprouting from the greens yet, but it hasn't even been a week so I'm still hopeful. I hope you're getting ready for spring. I know that I'm starting to twitch every time I pass the nurseries, Lowe's, the feed store, and just about anywhere else that sells green things! I'm lucky to have a great resource right in the little town where I live, a local hardware store that hasn't sold out.