First Look

Here it is: the first pea pod I've ever produced. 

Pardon my excitement, but I can't help taking a virtual curtsy. 

A little background: these were direct sown on February 12 and were off to a good start by three weeks later. These are Sugar Ann peas from Cornucopia and are ready to harvest in "just 45 days," according to the package. It's been more like double that and there are hardly enough to "harvest" but I am proud of them nonetheless. 

More from the seed packet: All-America Selections Winner, Early, Sweet, Edible-Pod Type, Disease Resistant, Bush Plants Require Little Support. It advises harvesting when pods are 2-1/2 inches long, plump and snap like a bean. Time to get out the ruler!

Any other Zone 9 gardeners have experience with peas? I'd love to hear your stories. In mild climates like ours, I understand they can be grown during the fall and winter as well as spring.

More About Peas and a Newfound Garden Geek

Here's a picture of the progress the peas have made. They are about a foot tall and as I mentioned in a previous post, they have begun to flower.

Sugar Ann Snap Peas

This variety is said not to need trellising but I opted to put one in place anyway and their tiny tendrils have happily begun grabbing on to it. I've never grown peas before. An attempt last season failed miserably with zero percent germination, so this is exciting. I mistakenly thought these were shelling peas but rather they are snap peas which means you eat the pod and all. I'm looking forward to how they turn out.

I also wanted to shout out to a Sacramento area garden blogger who I recently met here in cyberspace. I fondly refer to her as a fellow-garden geek. I hope she is not offended. It's just nice to run into others who share my passion for gardening. So if you're looking to learn more about Zone 9 gardening, head over to not my job and tell Kelly "Hi," for me!

Coming Along

All mine for less than fifteen bucks.

Even though temps have not stabilized and are still quite frankly a wee on the cool side, I couldn’t resist a trip to Capital Nursery. And that meant naturally, I couldn’t resist buying a few things. I didn’t get crazy and I got out of there spending less than fifteen bucks. Here’s what I took home:

Beefmaster tomato

Whopper tomato

Acorn Squash

Chives

Cilantro

Blue Lake Bush Beans

Saturday I gave them all permanent homes in a bed I have had to cat-proof with bright orange temporary fencing I had lying around. I had read in The Bee’s Garden Detective column that wire poultry netting would discourage cats from digging. I avoided the expense and made do with what I had. There isn’t any evidence in the bed to date that the cat has been back. However, this morning I noticed a recycling bin I’ve used as a container planter had been marauded. The few tiny scallions I managed to sprout there are done for. It seems I’ll have to cat proof all my containers as well. For smaller planters and even one of the raised beds, I “planted” bamboo kabob skewers to discourage digging. 

Unsightly but cat-proof.

Both tomatoes are hybrids. I don’t intentionally plant only heirlooms but it seems most of my past tomato choices were. It will be interesting to see if these varieties yield better.

Acorn squash is making its debut appearance in my garden this year. I hope I’ve allotted it enough room. I could easily plant three more 4’ by 8’ beds in addition to the two I already have. The main thing holding me back is the uneven ground but I think we could overcome that without too much trouble. I smell a weekend project coming on.

Cilantro and chives are two of my favorite herbs. I have one cilantro plant that I direct sowed but will easily make use of both.

Tomato: Beefmaster.

Tomato: Whopper.

Making its debut: Acorn Squash

Even with all that, I still long for more to do in the garden. Every spring I get the fever and this year is no exception.

Saturday I'm planning to attend the Elk Grove Community Garden's annual plant sale. It is from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.  I can't wait. Maybe I'll see you there?

Chives

Slowly But Surely

Baby Arugula harvested yesterday

Day by day a little bit is happening in the garden. Here’s an update.

Harvested

To date we have harvested a few radishes and a few arugula leaves. Radishes have been maturing at a rate of two to three at a time. These are usually washed and eaten straight from the garden. I love radishes.  The arugula was added to a store bought salad mix on two occasions. Both were planted Feb. 12.

Progress

The peas planted the same day are several inches high and are starting to flower. I’m glad it hasn’t heated up too much since these do better in cooler temperatures. A single cilantro plant is coming along slowly. A few scallions are peeking through the soil.

The jalapeno, green bell pepper and okra plants I bought in two-inch peat pots at Home Depot about two weeks back are in the ground and look healthy. They aren’t showing signs of growth yet probably due to the cooler weather. Though it was still early for warm season vegetables, at 98 cents each, I couldn’t resist them.

Returning Purple and White Coneflower perennials are adding leaves almost daily.

Thai Basil, Little Prince Eggplant, Lemon and Armenian cucumber that were sown March 21 have all sprouted in the makeshift greenhouse. These went in on one of the few warm days we had with temperatures in the 70s. Since then, highs have been consistently lower.

Additions

On April 4 I direct sowed the following:

Mammoth Russian and Strawberry Blonde sunflowers

Royal Carpet Alyssum

French Dwarf Double Mixed Colors Marigold

Cherries Jubilee Mounding Nasturtiums

Purple and White Coneflower

Purple Prince Zinnia

Dwarf Cherry Rose Nasturtium

Easter Egg Rainbow Radishes

Garden Babies Container Butterhead Lettuce

Purple Top White Globe Turnip

The flower seeds were sown in the corners and along the outer edges of two raised beds. The vegetables went into one of the 4’ by 8’ raised beds and a few conatiners. Spacemaster Cucumber and Bush Snap Green Beans were sown in 2-inch peat pots and placed in the "greenhouse." Everything but the Marigolds and Nasturtium have sprouted.

Two days later, on the April 6, I started the following seeds in small peat cups (most were purchased during previous growing seasons):

Purity White and Candy Stripe Cosmos

Purple Prince and Envy Zinnia

Cilantro

Italian Parsley

Lemon, Dolce Vita Blend and Genovese basils

Bush Blue Lake Snap Beans

Jalapeno, New Mex and Ancho peppers

Long Island Mammoth Dill

Bell Pepper

White Swan Coneflower

As of today, only the zinnia and cosmos have sprouted. They are currently being housed in a black seed germinating tray with a clear plastic lid which keeps the peat cups warm overnight.

I’m thinking this weekend would be a good time to start checking out warm season transplants at Capital Nursery and Green Acres. This cool weather won’t continue much longer. What do you think?

Makeshift Greenhouse

I’m not sure where I read about this, either in a gardening magazine or online, but it was so clever I couldn’t wait to try it out. I call it my Bed-in-a-Bag Greenhouse. How lucky was it that I was in the market for a new comforter during seed starting season? Seeds started this afternoon included:

Summer Squash: Goldtender/Burpee 2010

Summer Squash: Fordhook Zucchini/Burpee 2010

Cucumber: Armenian Burpless/Botanical Interests 2010

Cucumber: Bush Champion/Burpee 2010

Cucumber: Lemon/Lake Valley Seed 2006

Okra: Clemson Spineless/Cornucopia/2011

Eggplant: Little Prince/Renee’s Garden 2011

Watermelons: Rainbow Sherbet/Renee’s Garden 2011

Thai Basil: Queenette/Renee’s Garden Seeds 2011 

Naturtiums: Cherries Jubilee/Renee’s Garden Seeds 2011

I hadn’t intended to purchase more seeds but during a trip to OSH to pick up seed starting mix I could not resist the temptation.

 I’m excited to start Thai basil, I haven’t tried it from seed before.

This will also be my first attempt at growing eggplant from seed. The variety, Little Prince, is a container type and was recommended by another gardener shopping for seeds today. Fingers crossed. I had seen a sign for a miniature eggplant at a nursery last year but sadly, the stock had been sold out.

Okra will be making its first appearance in my garden this year if all goes as planned.

But the watermelon seed purchase was a disappointment as there were only about 10 seeds included. At $2.99 a package I would expect a few more seeds. According to the package there should have been three varieties of fruit but it appeared to only contain seeds for two types: Yellow Doll which bears yellow-fleshed melons and New Orchid an orange fruit bearing variety. Tiger Baby, which produces pink fruited melons, was missing. The seeds are dyed for identification purposes.

 While three types of cucumber may seem excessive to some our family should have no problem putting each to good use as my youngest son likes to eat them out of hand straight off the vine and I am a fan of chilled cucumber soup, tzatziki and cucumber in my tabouleh.

            I also poked a few more pea, turnip and chard seeds into the raised bed I started back on February 12 and added a few more sweetpea seeds to a large container. In the corners of the bed I sowed seeds of several types of cosmos and a zinnia. There wasn’t much else to be done since the yard was so muddy from all the recent rain. Navigation was not only messy but precarious in spots.

            New today in the garden were a couple of cilantro sprouts I had direct sowed last month. Cilantro is difficult to grow here in summer due to blistering heat but the variety I chose is billed as slow-bolting.

PEAS PLEASE! A Winter Garden Update

It’s so exciting to see progress in the winter garden. While I could have started earlier, I managed to get several types of seeds planted on Saturday, February 12 without making any new seed purchases.

Of all the seeds I set out four weeks ago, the sugar snap peas have been most successful. There are many strong sprouts with multiple leaf sets.

Here’s the update on the rest: the Swiss chard, one row over from the peas only has a few tiny sprouts that look rather weak. 

The turnips the next row over have shown good germination with decent size sprouts albeit a small amount of insect damage. I have surrounded each sprout with finely crushed egg shells to discourage snails.

Speaking of eggs, the Easter Egg Rainbow radishes purchased in 2006 appear to have a 100 percent germination rate while the Cherry Belle radishes purchased last year showed a disappointing 0 percent. Curiously surprising as the cherry belle are described on the package as “one of the earliest radishes.” The rainbow radishes were planted in a large pot, the others in the raised bed so perhaps warmer soil in the pot made the difference. In which case, there may be hope for the cherry belles?

Out of a full row of carrots planted, a mere two seeds have germinated within only a millimeter of each other. Disappointing. 

There are a few spindly scallions appearing but I am hopeful. 

A few sweet pea flower seeds have sprouted however there is evidence of animal – most likely cat – damage. It appears something has been digging in the pot. In the past, neighborhood cats have used our raised beds and pots as a litter box. Very disgusting, not to mention dangerous as cat feces often carries toxins.

In the half wine barrel where I scattered various lettuce seeds, many are emerging with the arugula making the strongest showing. Others planted there include butter crunch, iceberg and salad bowl types.

All received a serving of fish emulsion on Saturday. It’s great to be out in the garden again. What follows is a list of seeds planted including the manufacturer and year issued of each.

Container Lettuce: Garden Babies Butterhead/Renee’s Garden 2008

Rainbow Radishes: Easter Egg II/Renee’s Garden 2006

Windowbox Sweet Peas: Color Palette Cupid/Renee’s Garden 2010

Looseleaf Lettuce: Salad Bowl/Burpee 2008

Head Lettuce: Iceberg/Cornucopia 2010

Arugula: Rocket/Burpee 2010

Head Lettuce: Buttercrunch/Cornucopia 2010

Carrot: Variety Unknown/Seeds of Joy 2007/08

Carrot: Red Cored Chantenay/Ferry-Morse 2010

Radish: Cherry Belle/Ferry-Morse 2010

Turnip: Purple Top White Globe/Ferry-Morse 2010

Swiss Chard: Large Ribbed Dark Green/Ferry Morse 2010

Basil: Genovese/Burpee 2009

Cilantro: Slow-Bolt/Renee’s Garden 2008

Chives: Common/Burpee 2009

Pea: Sugar Ann/Cornucopia 2010

Scallion: White Lisbon Bunching 2010

Seed Sowing Update

It has been two months since I direct sowed carrots, two types of lettuce, radishes and turnips. Sadly only the turnips are thriving.

Not a single carrot seed germinated and neither did the Iceberg lettuce. (I chose this variety only to appeal to my eldest son who has extremely limited food preferences.) While some of the Buttercrunch lettuce sprouted, it was quickly consumed by, oh slugs, birds, earwigs... (choose your favorite).

As for the radishes, well several came up but only about four have approached maturity. Most of them just quit growing and were these sad, thin, tiny things that I pulled and were later tossed by my husband who thought they were trash.

Needless to say, I am disheartened by this exercise, one of my first in direct sowing. I have also had miserable luck getting my Sugar Ann Peas to sprout, failing on two accounts. What is disappointing is that each of these are considered cool weather vegetables. Even my Sweet Peas seem stagnant after growing to only about two inches.

I hate to rush Mother Nature but I am getting itchy for some real action in the garden.

Ethel Glove Update

Last March I entered a drawing for a pair of Ethel Gloves. Due to a staff changeover I only received them in February. I am happy to report that despite the delay, these gloves have lived up to my expectations. Tailored specifically for women, they fit well, which means I actually wear them. In the past poor fit often meant I didn't bother with gloves. They are good-looking, come in several design patterns and appear to be durable. I'm looking forward to using them for a long time. Priced at $20 they seem like a good value.

Adventures with Herbs

One of my goals this season is to make better use of the culinary herbs that are thriving in my garden. I started this bed in 2008. Originally it contained a lemon basil, which of course is annual so it is long gone. In this photo the rosemary, oregano and marjoram are sprawling. Last year I grew some thyme in the bare spot on the right. Thyme apparently needs more attention than the other herbs, or at least more water, because it now, is also long gone. This year I'm planning on starting thyme from seed but I think I will fill the bare spot with sage, another hardy perennial herb. Currently, the garden includes a potted sage that has flourished there a few years.

In an effort to use these beautiful herbs, I prepared Sage Butter to serve over cheese raviolis earlier this week. I found the recipe in Silver Spoon, said to be "Italy's bestselling culinary bible." It's not much of a recipe actually. You simply melt 7 tablespoons butter over low heat and add about 15 fresh sage leaves as soon as the butter starts to color, then season with salt. When the leaves are crisp, remove them from the pan and serve. I must admit I was too impatient to wait for the leaves to crisp, and I did not brown the butter or add salt, but we enjoyed the dish nonetheless. The butter was delicately infused with fresh sage flavor for a mild sauce, the kind we prefer over raviolis in order to actually taste the cheeses inside.

A quick internet search yielded other versions of the recipe, some included shallot, lemon juice, ground black pepper and even garlic.

Red Admiral on California Redwood

Wow. Another unusual butterfly sighting in my very own backyard. I'm not sure if I just happen to be noticing them more or if there actually are more this year. I say unusual because ordinarily I see the more common Monarch variety here in this neck of the woods. This one alit on a California Redwood for several minutes on Thursday just before 6 p.m. This afternoon I glimpsed what looked like a couple of Monarchs passing through the yard. Neither sat and stayed awhile, so no photo.

Limitations of Spring: Weather, Slugs

With hail in the forecast last week I was glad I hadn’t invested too much effort or cash into this year’s garden. To protect the few tender seedlings that I had already put in the ground, I placed a few “cloches,” fashioned from recycled plastic drink bottles, over them. The hail never materialized but we have had high winds and heavy rains the past few days. Above is a 5-inch green bean seedling in its plastic housing.



Of course wet weather means snails and slugs are on the prowl. I never have good luck with greens. What few butter head lettuce seedlings that sprouted in the half wine barrel appear to have succumbed to the slimy pests. I can’t figure out where they hide during the day. Could they possibly climb the height of the barrel then commute back down under it at dawn? It seems like quite a haul, and it’s not like I can just tip it up and casually peek under. It weighs about a ton. Or, could this be the result of marauding birds? These two pictures were taken only days apart.


Whatever the culprit, they are ruthless. Here is a small arugula seedling I placed a berry basket over. Notice the damage on the protruding portion of the tiny leaf? Someone’s been sampling.


During a dry spell Saturday, I got to work on some seed starts for succession planting. Here is a photo of what I am calling my pop-bottle “greenhouse.”

Western Tiger Swallowtail on 'Bowles Mauve' Erysimum

Impatiently Waiting

While the weather this afternoon is a pleasant 73 degrees here in the northern tip of California's Central Valley, the summer gardening season isn't quite in full swing.

Hot weather veggies like tomatoes and peppers, both the sweet and hot varieties, won't begin to flourish for a few more weeks at least when temperatures remain warm at night as well as at mid-day.

Mild weather has helped a few seedlings I've planted to germinate but the growing is slow. Daily progress is barely noticeable and I am eager for the days when plants like summer squash seemingly double in size over night. Until then, I am anxiously waiting.

Pictured are seedlings of both green and yellow summer squash, green beans, Armenian cucumbers, cosmos and nasturtiums. I've also had luck sprouting zinnias, sunflowers, alyssum, arugula, butter lettuce and turnips.

This year I hope to fulfill my resolution to keep the garden going year-round and pursue more cool-weather crops come fall.

Best-Ever Seed Tape

Yesterday I got out into the garden for the first time this season. Trying not to be discouraged by the weeds surrounding my raised beds I got busy making and planting home-made seed tapes. I had seen the idea in Organic Gardening magazine and was eager to try it out. If successful it should eliminate the need to thin seedlings, a chore that seems so counter productive to me. Seed tapes are ideal for small seed crops like carrots, radishes and lettuces.

I planted two types of lettuce, Iceberg and Buttercrunch; Cherry Belle radishes and Red Cored Chantenay carrots in rows in one raised bed. Before doing so I sprinkled and mixed in some Plant Tone plant food.

In large containers, I direct-sowed Purple Top White Globe turnip, Sugar Ann peas and a container variety of Sweet Peas. I also assembled indoor starts of three varieties of Southwestern chiles: 'Sierra Fuego' Jalapeno, 'Joe Parker' New Mex and 'San Luis' Ancho.

Follow this link to OG for directions to make your own seed tapes:
Best-Ever Seed Tape

First Bounty

We have been enjoying the fruit of our labor in the vegetable garden enjoying our yellow squash, basil and green beans. But the biggest news is that I picked a few ripe tomatoes last evening. The number of green fruits is amazing, I think we'll do much better than last year in terms of yield. Above all else this is what we look forward to all summer -- fresh, organically home-grown tomatoes.

We've enjoyed our squash grilled and also fried in EVOO with fresh basil and Parmesan. We've had steamed green beans with a little butter and also in a pasta salad. There was pesto pizza and creamy pesto raviolis. Tonight's menu includes the first ratatouille of the season with just-picked eggplant, squash and basil. But I can't wait for the BLTs, Caprese salads and salsas yet to come.

Finally Fruit!

While slightly out of focus it is still ample proof that we are finally getting tomatoes. I know many California gardeners both in the north and south who have already had tomatoes starting to ripen and in some cases ready for harvest, we got a later start. I was trying to be patient and heed expert advice to wait until the soil was indeed warm enough for setting out the garden. (I almost never wait this late -- we planted May 10 -- but with the late rains, things didn't get going as fast as I would have liked.)

With the recent weeks of almost coastal-like weather we've been having, I have been seeing more tomato blossoms fall than set. Skies have been partly cloudy for more than a week, temperatures have remained about 10 degrees below normal only reaching the low 80s and a 10 mph breeze blows throughout most of the day.

So this morning I was pleasantly surprised while taking a look at how things are progressing to find this specimen, about one-inch in diameter, it is a Mr. Stripey. Further inspection resulted in a find of two smaller fruits on the Shady Lady. I had resigned myself to not seeing fruit until temperatures were well back into the normal range of upper 80s to low 90s.

With the weather expected to heat up late in the week I am hoping for many more similar sightings. Now I just have to figure out how to keep those pesky scrub jays away once they begin turning red.

Of Cucumbers, Radishes, Carrots and Sunflowers

I mentioned last post that the cucumber had set fruit. These are Spacemaster, a bush variety that I have planted in an old recycling tub.

This week the lettuce and alleged spinach made it into the compost bin and carrots and radish seeds went in their pots. The carrots are Romeo Round Baby Carrots, radishes are Easter Egg II Rainbow. Not sure if it may be too warm for these crops so it's definitely an experiment.

A watermelon seed I had planted earlier that hadn't germinated came up near the bell pepper I put in its place. I gently dug it up and placed it in a tiny pot but I'm not sure I have room or a sunny enough location for it.

There are lots of zinnia and cosmo seeds coming up and I am diligently attempting to keep the birds and snails away from them by keeping overturned berry baskets over them until they get big enough to defend themselves.

I am eagerly awaiting germination of of the sunflower seeds, a Mammoth variety, that I finally planted after deliberating where to put them. I was hoping to find another packet of Strawberry Blonde sunflowers that I planted last year. I purchased them at Target but didn't see any when I looked there yesterday. I may try another Target store because these are very pretty, described on the package as "a beautiful soft lemon yellow brushed with rose-pink." A few seeds I had left over went into the ground earlier this year but either did not emerge or were taken by snails. Unfortunately, I never did get a photo of these in bloom last year.

Garden Update

The vegetable garden is thriving even after a late-season storm early Thursday morning that dumped nearly a half inch of icy rain. Typically Sacramento’s rainy season is October through April so this was different for us. This storm was also unusual in that it included nearly continuous lightening flashes and thunder so loud it shook the windows and activated car alarms all over town. Primarily I was worried it might hail. So when I heard a heavy downpour shortly after midnight I went outside to feel the precipitation. It had a slushy feel to it but I don’t believe we got hail in our area and the garden survived intact. A retired National Weather Service meteorologist described the event as “the most impressive display of lightening I have ever seen,” according to The Sacramento Bee. The storm lasted at least two hours as I was awakened after 3 a.m. by similar storm characteristics.

All of our tomato plants have grown considerably since planting on May 10 (top photo). Heights of the plants range from 12 inches to about 27 inches (lower photo). All have blossomed as have all the pepper varieties, the eggplant, zucchini and cucumbers.

Green Beans!

The green beans and the zucchini were the first to produce fruit. These are Derby, a bush variety I purchased as a nursery start.

Curiously Bitter Lettuce

I haven’t had much luck growing lettuce. On April 12 I sowed some lettuce seeds in a large container. While several seeds germinated they began as compact heads and more recently have grown tall. The taste was so bitter I couldn't even swallow it.

I know this is a common problem especially in areas where temperatures can soar well into the 90-degree range – and we’ve had a few days in the upper 90s already. I think I’m giving up on lettuce for now. There are so many great varieties available at local stores.

The variety I planted is Salad Bowl from Burpee. As you can see by the picture it is beginning to bolt. I plan to compost it this weekend.