More planting

Planted in the goodwill garden and a couple of beets in my garden today.

My peas at home have a number of blooms and my cilantro at home is growing well in the shade.

Planting potatoes

Put 2 varieties in the ground for Merethe and Me.

COBBLER

"comment from seed company"

Many years ago on a summer eve while visiting one of our family seed potato growers, we were served freshly-dug Cobblers, golf ball size, boiled and tossed with butter, salt, and parsley. Oh, scrumptious! The potatoes were good and so was the company, making for a memorable meal. A selection from Early Rose believed to have been discovered by an Irish shoemaker in the late 1800s, Cobbler has round, buff-skinned tubers with white flesh that’s a little mealy, perfect for soak- ing up that butter. Early maturing and exceptional eating qualities keep this variety in the seed trade. Resistant to blackleg and fusarium storage rot; immune to wart. Medium-spreading plant with lilac, white-tipped flowers. Conventional.

Katahdin

Still very popular here in the Northeast, this old standard has been around since 1932. Flat to round tubers with smooth buff skin and white flesh. High yielding and drought resistant; adaptable to many growing conditions. One of the best for any of your winter soups. Excellent storage. Numerous light purple flowers on large spreading plants.

Planting transplants

Now that the moon says it is o.k. to plant in the garden I spent a couple of hours putting in 67 tomato plants, 2 pepper, cucumber seeds, marigolds, and some dill seed. The tomato varieties are Sweet Million, 2 San Manzano, Sun Sugar Yellow, Juliet. I'm leaving more space between the tomato plants this year because of the blight problem we had last year. The peppers were a Jalapeno and Corno Di Toro. Dill seed was Dukat. Cucumbers - Pickling and American Slicing. Some of the marigolds were a wonderful Bill Thompson.

I can see some little basil seed appearing. Lettuce, radishes and some peas are looking good. Cilantro, carrots and Peas planted last time are coming up. My spaghetti squash seeds are also appearing.

A Visit to Holly Hill Farm

Even though I'm trying to safe money and not buy transplants I couldn't pass up the annual plant sale at Holly Hill Farm in Cohasset. This is an organic farm that sells vegetables at the farmer's markets and local restaurants. It also provides educational opportunites. I purchased 2 San Marzano plants because the 6 pack that I purchased from LaCross have something on the leaves I'm worried about (more later). I also picked up a 6 pack of their own marigolds which grow about 24 inches. Merithe wanted cantelope, romaine, and eggplant so I purchased some of them for her.

Planting scheduled for Monday because the almanac says this weekend is barren and not to plant (according to the moon phase).

2010 Gardening

This year I tried to start my own seedlings. I purchased a warming mat and light and planted pepper, eggplant, and a variety of herbs. I find the herbs grow too slowly and were too spindly. The pepper and eggplant did well, but I want to plant them in separate pots next year. Eggplant was the most successful. (At least looking --we'll see if they produce.)

In May I planted some cilantro, basil, cucumber, and squash seedlings. Too early for cucumber and squash -- they got too leggy. My basil looks really good and I'll do that again. Cilantro I'll plant more seed and not worry about thinning -- it should do better.

Oh yeah -- I also tried some beets and transplanted them. We'll see if they make.

Gardening is such an experiment!

My community garden was planted the first week in May with radish, lettuce, snap and snow peas, beets, carrots, and onions. I've had to replant some of the peas, beets, and carrots cause they didn't come up well. Radishes should be ready soon.

At home I have cilantro, lettuce, and peas growing. I think I uncovered some leeks from last year - not sure- some sort of onion - so I transplanted and see what they do. I planted the peas and lettuce the first week in April and the lettuce is growing extremely slowly. Peas are doing well. (Planted beets, but they didn't make.)

More about my community garden plant planning and progress later.