After a couple of coolish, damp days when we kept the fire on just a little bit, today is a full sun day, and up to 12C (54F) at noon. Of late, I've been working a bit inside and a bit outside.
My seedlings are having a growth spurt, and I've transplanted the peppers and tomatoes into bigger cups. Once they are settled and growing again, I'll prune them for sturdier stems. When day time temperatures stabilize, I'll load the seedlings into tubs and put them out each day on the verandah to harden. I didn't start them as early this year as I did last. I'll probably have to prune them back again before they can actually go into the soil. I am growing Brandywine and Black Prince beefsteaks, as well as a cherry and paste tomato variety. The Black Prince seem to be struggling to grow. I got the seeds locally and I am wondering if maybe the seeds weren't that fresh!
I did a little jelly making with blackberry and crab-apple juice I froze last fall, and as always, have to keep the bread supplies going! For Christmas, Hubby bought me two long bread pans. They hold 2 pounds of dough perfectly. I had to scale up my 'go to' bread recipe to accommodate them, and still stay within the specs of my Kitchen Aid mixer.
I got my parsnips dug, and what a horrendous snarly mess of roots they are this year! Was it the dry spring last year that caused this? I planted them in the area of deepest soil in my raised beds and sure expected a better crop than this! I have painstakingly cleaned, peeled, steamed and mashed them, and now am waiting for them to cool so I can package them in portions for the freezer. We just thaw and reheat them in the top of a double boiler when needed.
My compost bin thawed out a few days ago, so I was able to dig it out, then layer it back in with chopped leaves. While doing that, I enjoyed the cooing-warble of a flock of Sandhill Cranes migrating over. The compost will be ready for putting a good spadeful or two in each planting hole for the transplants and the vine crops.
Sounds as though your gardening efforts are a little ahead of ours. After our first spurt of warm-ish weather a couple of weeks ago, we're back to near freezing temps at night although the days have been okay to be out in. I've never learned to like parsnips, but have to admit I've never had one straight out of the garden. Frustrating that your crop came out so gnarled. When I find a carrot like that I tend to put it in the chicken bucket! We've been working on/in our compost bins, too, and just yesterday hauled in about 10 tons (well, it seemed like that much after we unloaded it shovelful by shovelful) of well-rotted cow manure to add to our compost. Ah, spring! And so much to do!!!
ReplyDeleteWell, so much for that sunny day! Just got chased in by a torrential downpour! This should top up my rain gauge from the 2CM that fell the other day, to over an inch! Yeah!
DeleteSometimes I wish we had a 'chicken bucket', but it would be an on-going headache to protect them. I still have a covered pile of rotted horse manure from last fall that will be spread as well. Still not clearing off the flower beds. I don't trust this early spring!
It sure looks like spring has sprung at your place! I'm excited to watch your garden grow. Have a lovely Sunday evening Rosalea. :)
ReplyDeleteIts coming along, Martha! Spring is always exciting in the north woods.
DeleteI'm worried about the cold we are getting the rest of this week. I put the straw back on the tulips so the buds wouldn't freeze!
ReplyDeleteI was out covering my tulips last night as well. Ed Lawrence, the gardener on CBC, says they can take frost as long as the buds are sheathed, but not when they rise up above the leaves. It was 1.4C this AM early, but a bit windy all night and still is this AM.
DeleteThose parsnips are beautiful, even if they are gnarled. We love them! When do you plant them? We are cold here...yesterday, and today, with the beds covered, and tucked in. The high today should be fifties, and the blankets will be put away...until next year, I hope! I bet your house smells so good when that bread comes out of the oven! How long will that last you? Have a warmer weekend!
ReplyDeletewyomingheart, I plant them in the spring, then put them to bed under a heavy mulch of chopped leaves in the fall. Lovely day today. I'm digging up my new raised bed, #7. We have one more frosty night in the forecast, then hope we are done with them. As for the bread, sometimes someone in this house will eat a good hunk of fresh from the oven bread....He will remain nameless!! It lasts maybe a week. I separate and freeze the loaves.
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