Today was my first REAL day in the garden. The rain had finally stopped long enough to dry things out enough to get down to business. I planted some “Palco Spinach” next to the overwintered Kale. Some ‘Cut and Come Again Lettuces aka Renee’s Baby Leaf Blend” went in between a couple of rows of garlic. I opted for two types of beans this year. Today I planted a single 5’ row of the long cylindrical beet and two rows of “Red Baron Dutch Beets”. I don’t know what makes them Dutch beets or if that really means anything. I picked these two varieties because they were among the offerings at the local garden shop and their days to maturity were 10 days apart.
On the ‘because one can’t have too many greens’ front I planted a mild mesclun blend. It is in Territorial Seeds ‘Groumet Greens’ group. We shall see. The greens I planted last fall were a bust. Too late I suppose. My goal was to cover them and tend them through the fall. Life had other plans and they were left on their own. Perhaps this year.
The mystery greens I discovered in late Jan are going to town and have been identified. I looked back through my photos and notes to discover that I planted Roquette in that spot in early October. Looks like they are probably going to go to seed. If the arugula that went to seed last year has its way I’ll have enough of that in a while to furnish all of Kitsap County.
In the name of getting the starts I really want when I want them I purchased a small 2′ grow light. Living in a condo I don’t have NEARLY the room I had in my last place. There I had a double 4′ light in the basement where I could start to my heart’s content. Now I have to find a corner (on the office floor) to place a small light that will allow me to start some hard to find (and not so hard to find) goodies for the coming season. I eneded up choosing this unit. I ended up getting two 1′ square flats with the little peat pods rather than a 1’x2′ flat. This way the shorter starts can be lifted a bit to raise them to the same height as the taller ones if need be. My first seeding was a row of each “Litt’l Bites Windowbox Cherry Toms”, “Persian Carpet Butterfly Zinnias”, “Bandit? Bunching Onions”, “Italian Pesto Basil”, “Bright Lights Rainbow Chard” and some more “Russian Red Kale”.
