Friday, February 20, 2009

February Garden Inventory

This blog is supposed to be my garden journal of sorts, so here's a lengthy visual inventory of whats happening in the vegetable garden today. Well, actually Wednesday when I started putting this post together.

Golden Cornsalad volunteering in a pot that is home
to a Satsuma Mandarine.


More Golden Cornsalad volunteering under
the bench outside my dining room doors.

Golden Cornsalad sprouting in a pot
in the garden where it belongs!

Crimson Favas

Crimson Fava flower developing.

EvenStar American Rapa
doing nicely under the bird netting

Cutting lettuces in need of a salad bowl.

Scarlet Nantes carrots sown last fall.

Scarlet Nantes carrots sown on January 13.

One of the last Chioggia beets sown in the fall.

Long Scarlet and Long White Icicle Radishes
sown on January 6.

Potatoes!

Extra garlic planted to harvest green.

See all the moisture in the back?

We had so much rain last weekend,
it comes down off the hill
collects at the top of the garden
and flows out beneath the gate....

Garlic bulbils sprouting, an experiment.

Romagna artichoke,
much happier in its new bigger pot!

Giant Nobel Spinach in need of harvesting.
Sugar Snap peas nearly destroyed by birds (sigh)
and now under netting.

Portuguese Cabbage starting to bolt.

Cavolo Nero bolting also.

Stump of harvested Romanesco Broccoli.
I like the purple color in the leaf stalks.
It needs to be pulled out,
but the bird netting is in the way.

Olive Leaf Rapini in full bloom.

Italian Parsley and California Poppy volunteering.
A wildflower (flax?) leaning in to hog the picture.

Thai Chile, going on year 3.

Aji Pineapple

Aleppo Pepper

A closer look at the Aleppo Pepper.
Do you see the flower bud?

Aji Argentina, coming baack!

Doux d'Espagna, coming back in spite
of being uncovered on a few frosty nights

Pimento de Padron.
They have come back from looking like this.
We'll see...

Aji Dulce, not much life here.

Here's the real surprise.
Rosita Eggplant, hanging in there along with her friends.

Caper bush breaking dormancy.

15 comments:

  1. great post. makes me want to get out there and plant my veggies. cant though till may.

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  2. What a variety you have going there! Very nice!

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  3. flowrgirl1, I don't know how you can stand waiting until May!

    Thanks Sheila!

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  4. Oh yum. I've still got snow and frozen ground, but it is nice to see a garden with something growing in it. I just wish I could taste it. I bought lettuce from the store for the first time this winter and yuck. It just isn't the same.

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  5. Wow what a lovely pictoral meander through the garden! looks great

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  6. Oh man, read it and weep for me - I have almost nothing out there still and what little there is seems to have been gnawed on by snails. Ugh! Your garden is a huge envy point for me. Makes me miss California SO much! :) Congrats on all that has grown, is growing, will be grown by you. Can't wait to try the cavolo nero this summer. Is corn salad the same as mache?

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  7. What a great idea, starting your potatoes in containers! I only planted my potatoes a couple of weeks ago, which means they may or may not have time to produce much before it gets too hot here for them to grow. I would love to have gotten such a nice head-start, as you have. Does transplanting them set them back at all?

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  8. Daphne, so true about store bought lettuce. My husband was never so interested in salad until I started growing my own lettuce!

    Thanks Prue!

    Karen, I wish I could send some California gardening up your way. Sometimes I feel bad for teasing cold climate gardeners with what's going on in my garden (just a little bad). But then, we all have to salivate over those Aussie tomatoes!

    Hi Barb, the potatoes will actually stay in the pots. I'm experimenting with container grown potatoes this year. I still need to add soil to the pots, eventually the pots will be totally filled with soil and hopefully full of potatoes. I'm growing only fingerlings and small spuds.

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  9. Karen, I forgot to say that cornsalad and mache are the same. Although the Golden Cornsalad is a little different.

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  10. Oh, I'd get impatient with them all! Yum yum, the cornsalad looks enticing. I'm sure they'd tasty awesome. Good luck!

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  11. So many plants I've not heard of before. The corn salad is new also. Thanks!

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  12. You've got a lot going on there and what a chile pepper plan! I only have ripe aji dulces now, various critters ate all my other seedlings on the last two sowings. Maybe I'll resow.

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  13. Thanks Chandramouli!

    Thanks for stopping by Randy :)

    Hi Nicole, aji dulces are one of my favorite chiles, too bad they didn't survive this winter. Critters sure can be a pain :(

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  14. Hi- I hope you don't mind a comment on a post over a year old, but...Where did you ever find Aleppo pepper plants? Will you share your seed source? I have been combing the web for any mention of this plant hoping to find seeds for my favorite pepper. How did they do this last summer? And just when I was feeling smug about PLANTING PEAS you show off a lovely overwintering garden.
    Thanks,
    HelenFey

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  15. HelenFey, I bought my Aleppo Pepper plant from www.thechilewoman.com. It's the only source I've ever found for live plants and I've never found a source for seeds. My plant produced for 2 years and finally died this winter. I saved some seeds in 2008, but haven't tried growing any of them out, probably next year since I have enough dried chiles to get me by until then. My plant was a prolific producer in both 2008 and 2009.

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