March Melt

   This post might be boring for anyone visiting the blog, but will be useful to us as a reference in years to come.  I wish I'd taken more pictures and noted the Spring weather conditions more in past posts.  Winter weather, and to a lesser degree, Spring weather, has changed a great deal since I moved to the area 20 years ago.

   It is noon as I type this (Friday, March 30), sunny and 10 degrees.  The sunshine feels so nice!  Much of the snow in the yard has melted - the remaining snow is next to the lilac bushes, the sheds, and from the sheds to the street on the south side of the property.  The north side of the yard is sopping wet and we have spent the last week pumping the water that always pools near the (north-corner) foundation of the house out into the alley.  A bit of a nuisance, but better to direct it into the alley than allow it to cascade into the basement.  I am a little worried that the garlic, which is planted in the middle of the north garden this year, will rot if the garden doesn't dry out soon. It has been a large, sopping square a mud with puddles for the last few days. 

I started some kale, Swiss chard, cabbage, and cauliflower in milk jugs a few days ago.  Most have already germinated!  A few more jugs to plant with additional cabbage, and that should do it.

   R. went out to get some potting soil for the transplants and came home with some nice impulse-buys as well.  :)

Spring Equinox

   The moon was bright and hanging low in the sky this morning.  I was out poking in the yard and took these pictures around 6:45am.  They are not very clear, but the moon looked so big I couldn't resist saving them.  The pictures are taken looking across the alley, at the backs of the properties behind our house.  It's a "Super Worm Moon" this year.  Must remember to get pictures tonight.

   One of the Orange Spice jalapeño peppers, the parsley, leeks, and a bunch of tomatoes have germinated.  (The rosemary, as expected, hasn't shown itself yet).  Early Annie and Coastal Pride Orange were the first to come up, followed by Work Release Paste and Malachite Box.  I am anxiously awaiting signs of Midnight Sun, Dwarf Purple Heart, and Brad's Black Heart. I obtained those seeds in trades and have few of them, so if they don't do well, I'll have to source them out and try again next year.

   Lou snoozing in the sunshine, assuming the "prayer position" she finds comfy on the cat tree.

Sow It Begins

   It is a sunny, mild afternoon here, 4 degrees at 3:00pm.  Slowly but surely, the snow is starting to melt.

   In an attempt to quell my restlessness to grow things, I started rosemary, parsley (Italian Flat-Leaf) and leeks (Giant Musselburgh and Giant Carentan) on March 4th.

   March 13th, I started green jalapeño peppers, Tam jalapeños (they're supposed to be milder than regular jalapeños), and Orange Spice jalapeños (dark orange in colour). I hope to can pickled jalapeño slices for the first time this Fall.

   My intention - the wise thing to have done - was to wait until the end of this month to start my tomato seeds.  Antsiness won out.  I started the tomatoes yesterday (March 14th).  I hope that May is mild so I can harden them off and transplant them by Victoria Day.  Maybe I can get the people I am growing transplants for to take theirs off my hands by then, too.  The house is going to look like a jungle by May!

These are my tomato selections for this year:

Repeats

Early Annie  (red, heirloom, 3-inch round, determinate, early DTM 65-70, canner/slicer)

Scotia  (red, open-pollinated, determinate, medium fruit, origin Nova Scotia, early 60-70 DTM, prolific, slicer/canner)

Dwarf Roza Vetrov  (pink, open-pollinated, dwarf/determinate, small/salad fruit, round pointed fruit, origin Russian “Wind Rose”, early)

Malakhitovaya Shkatulka  (green-when-ripe, heirloom, indeterminate, medium sized fruit, Russian origin “Malachite Box”, early – 70 DTM, slicer)

Work Release Paste  (pink, heirloom, heart-shaped, paste, indeterminate, large, origin Italian, mid-season ~75-80 DTM)

New

Midnight Sun  (yellow & pink bicolour heart,  large fruit, open-pollinated,  indeterminate,  potato-leaf,  developed by Karen Olivier (“Northern Gardener”), early ~72 DTM

Brad’s Black Heart  (dark/”pink-black”, blunt oxheart, open-pollinated, rare, indeterminate, wispy/droopy foliage, classic rich black-tomato flavour, origin: Brad Gates of Wild Boar Farms, ~75-80 DTM)

Hungarian Heart  (reddish-pink, large oxheart (often 1lb or more), heirloom, indeterminate, paste/canner/fresh, crack-resistant, few seeds, origin: Hungary, ~ 80 DTM)

Anna Russian (Heart)  (pink, heart-shaped, heirloom, large, indeterminate, juicy, Russian origin, ~75 DTM)

Orange Strawberry (Heart) – (bright orange, heart-shaped, heirloom, indeterminate, droopy foliage but vigorous plants, few seeds, ~80-85 DTM)

Black Sea Man  (brown/black, heirloom, beefsteak, 8-12 oz, rich flavour, slicer, determinate, can be grown in large containers, Russian origin, early, ~ 75 DTM)

Dwarf Purple Heart  (purple, open-pollinated, heart, heavy yields, 6-16 oz fruit, plant spreads/branches, wispy leaves, dwarf/determinate, early, 70-75 DTM)

Striped German  (bicolour – yellow marbled w/red, heirloom, indeterminate, large beefsteak, fruity flavour, ~ 85 DTM)

Polish Linguisa   (red, heirloom, paste/sauce, indeterminate, long & narrow shape ending in a point like a pepper, sweet flavour, 1800’s Polish origin, ~73 DTM)

Coastal Pride Orange  (orange, open-pollinated, dwarf/indeterminate, sweet/fruity flavour, slicer, can grow in containers, ~ 3-4 feet tall, ~ 85 DTM)

   I have done a few small trades in the last three months, mostly for tomato seeds.  I was able to get a few of the oxheart varieties I'd been after (e.g., White oxheart, Brad's Black Heart, Midnight Sun (rare), Dwarf Purple Heart (must be rare, because people are loathe to part with them), Orange Strawberry, Orange Russian 117, Cour di Bue, etc).  One of the unexpected - and funniest - varieties I received is a tomato called, "Evil Olive".  It is an indeterminate, tricolour grape/oval cherry.  The colours look pretty, judging from the pictures I have seen - green, pink, and orange all in one small tomato. In the same theme, another variety name that made me chuckle was, "Sinister Minister"!  It is a brown, plum-shaped cherry.

   In one of the trades, someone sent me Banana Cantaloupe seeds.  I think if we had a nice, warm September, I could pull this off.  The question is, would I have room for them?  Maybe next year, if I'm feeling adventurous.

Update - April 1st 

  The germination rates for the Black Sea Man and Dwarf Purple Heart seeds have been dreadful.  I want some black tomatoes in the garden in addition to Brad's Black Heart (those seeds did fine), so today I started Black Prince: 

   Black Prince  (brown/black, heirloom, Russian origin, indeterminate, round 3 - 5 oz fruit, low acid, rich flavour,  does well in cooler climates, ~ 70 DTM)

   Sadly, the germination rate for Orange Strawberry was very low as well.  It looks like Coastal Pride Orange and Striped German will be my bright tomatoes this year!