More of Spring

Volunteer lettuce in the planter box, growing up from last year's lettuce!

Compare this shot to the one on the 15th...

April 19th: Potatoes

Wait 'til you see how big they are now. They've grown literally 6 inches since I took this photo. I added more dirt to them today. (You add more dirt as they grow and they produce potatoes all along their stalks -- awesome.)

April 19th: Planting Peas

The peas outside didn't do so well (2 out of 12 germinated). So I planted more peas inside and transplanted them on the 19th.

It's helpful to cut slits in the sides and/or bottoms of peat pots, so it's easier for the roots to grow through.

New peas on the left, old peas on the right.

In the last week and a half, the peas have grown a ton. I'll post new pictures soon.

Happy Tax Day!

April 15th was beautiful, so I took some outside pictures. Here's the garden, to compare to the shot from March 19th.

The lilac trees are blooming. A week ago this was just bare branches.

In this close-up, you're supposed to be able to see the blooming purple violets next to our sink-planter. When it stops raining, I'll get a proper close-up. They're beautiful.

April 14th: Regular Tomato Progress

They were thinned right after this shot. They're growing super fast.

April 13th: Repotting the Cherry Tomatoes

The cherry tomatoes got crazy, so I put them in bigger pots.

Even these containers weren't really big enough! The tomatoes stuck out way farther than i intended.

So they were still pretty floppy and contorted after repotting. Not very majestic...

But they recovered and are now doing pretty well!

April 10th: New Seeds, Re-Seeds

Last Saturday, I did some planting:

Zinnia
Cosmos

And some replanting:

Poblano
Jalapeno
Broccoli
Peas

The peas outside didn't do well, only 2 of 12 sprouted! (Sorry there's no pictures of those yet. There will be soon. The potatoes are growing out there as well, by the way.) So I planted four in peat pots, which I'll transplant outside, probably tomorrow (they're all sprouted and doing well now).

The poblanos aren't doing so hot. One healthy seedling, one messed-up seedling. I planted two cells, hopefully we'll get some growth. Nothing yet. (I planted the extra jalapeno just because I love them.)

Finally, I planted three more cells of broccoli. At the time, I was worried about the already sprouted broccoli. Those have all grown like crazy, so I definitely didn't need three more. I'm sure they will make good gifts...

Cherry Tomatoes, in their Youth

Here they are before going off to Tomato College, i.e., bigger containers. It seems like only yesterday they were just tiny seeds...

Jalapenos

Jalapenos got thinned (and more in focus!). The poblanos are trucking along, out of frame...

Traveling Back in Time, to April 7th...

The then-newly emerged broccoli and tomatoes, regular tomatoes this time.

And Hollyhock.

PS. Dear Google, Why are you so annoying? I know you own both Picasa and Blogger. Why are they so flipping hard to use together?! Why do I have to try like 5 times to upload my photos?! You are such a jerk. Sincerely, Anne

Preview: Repotted CherryTomatoes

More to come when I recharge the camera and upload the photos...

78 Degrees

The plants got to go outside today to enjoy the weather, in their spiffy new containers. I lined some flats with plastic and put all the plants in them so that they'd be easy to carry in and out. Also really solved some space problems on the window ledges. Here they are back inside.

(Clockwise from top right: snapdragons, shasta daisy, ageratum, drumstick flowers, white dill, tomatillo, cherry tomato.)

(Clockwise form top right: chiles, white dill, salvia, pansies, amaranth, prince william, white dill, drumstick, and bells of Ireland on the sill.)

The tomatoes are very floppy. They seem too small for bigger containers yet, though. I'm hoping some time under the florescent lamp will help them stand up straighter.

Daffodil

Last year we got some cute mini-daffodils from the grocery store. I collected the bulbs when they died back and carefully kept them in a paper bag in the pantry... A very similar paper bag in size and appearance of contents to our little paper bag of garlic and shallots. That bag seems to have disappeared, but I found one of the bulbs in the fall, misplaced with some potting supplies on the deck. I planted him with my first round of planting, and he's doing quite well. You probably caught a glimpse of him here, back in March:

Phlox

We accidentally ordered one flower that came as a live plant. This Phlox plant is doing well, enjoying his new life in the kitchen better than his previous life being sent through the mail in a box.