Bohemian Buddies and Scrounging for Seeds

   

   Sitting on the front step yesterday in the sunshine, I heard them before I saw them.  Bohemian waxwings!  I got up and followed the sound around the side of the house.  There in a crabapple tree, and hopping around on the bathtub planter beneath it, were dozens of Bohemian waxwings. Some were perched in the tree and appeared to be enjoying the sun, while others were eating the shriveled crabapples remaining from last Fall.  I got to 38 before I stopped counting the waxwings.  They are so pretty, and make such a sweet trilling sound.  It's nice that they were able to enjoy our crabapple buffet before moving on.

   This morning, a single blue jay briefly stopped by.  We rarely see blue jays here, so he quickly got my attention when he appeared in our yard.  Or rather, his piercing shriek-calling to a feathered friend (whose reply seemed to be coming from 3 properties over) got my attention.  Yikes.  You can't mistake the sound of a blue jay who's looking for food or his kin!

   The tomato and pepper transplant tally stands, for the moment, at 119.   The Reinhard's Chocolate Heart tomatoes, started at the same time as the other indeterminates, weren't germinating.  A new batch was started on March 29 in a small container.  I dropped that container yesterday while moving transplants in the plant room.  Arhg!  Thankfully, only the cats were home to witness me on my hands and knees, scrapping through the potting soil that was scattered across the plant room floor, looking for seeds.  (What can I say?  It's a rare variety.)   I spotted and rescued a few that had begun to germinate, replanted them, and now have six tiny Reinhard's Chocolate Heart seedlings on the go!  The Japanese Black Trifile seeds planted March 30 (to make up for the Chocolate Hearts, which looked like they just were not going to produce...opps...) have also started to germinate.  There will be an abundance of black tomatoes this year!

 

Reinhard's Chocolate Heart seedlings, rescued from the floor!

 

"Rescued" R's Chocolate Heart (L).  Japanese Black Trifele (R) sprouting.

 

Pepper and tomato transplant (French lavender to the right)

 

More transplants. (I could use ~3 more grow lights like this!)

Transplants in the kitchen...

   The weather in March was milld, more like what we'd typically see in late April.  The snow and ice are gone from the raised beds and garden plots, including the garlic patches.  Despite the mild temperatures, I am have been on a hot chocolate kick.  That's more about comfort and coziness than chilly weather and dreary skies, no doubt.  It's a crazy world these days, and I'll take simple pleasures where I can.

 

    Along the south side of the house, I have set out milk (and juice) jug greenhouses with cosmos (Sensation Mix and Double-Click Mix), pansies (Swiss Giant and Verna Velvet Blue), parsley (curly and Italian Flat-Leaf), Swiss Chard (Red and 5 Colour Silverbeet), kale (Lacinato, Rainbow Lacinato, Curly Blue, Siberian Dwarf), and cabbage (Copenhagen, Red Express, Aubervilliers, Late Flat Dutch , Golden Acre, and Chinese "Hilton").  Already, the Rainbow Lacinato, Siberian Dwarf, and Late Flat Dutch have germinated.  Later this month, or in early May, Summer Savoury and marigolds will be started in jugs as well.  I love this method of seed starting.  It saves a ton of room in the house, and the plants don't have to be hardened off.