Hello! It has been a while. We were very busy with CUP and company. Then we started our outdoor spring garden prep work. It is going great. We have dug a big 7' diameter hole for our raised bed. Right now our compost pile is spread in the bottom of it. Tomorrow our new 124 gallon composter will arrive in the mail and then I will not have to turn the compost pile with a shovel anymore!
I have started a lot more seeds. So far I have planted:
- Red, yellow, orange and purple Sweet Bell Peppers
- Jamaican Red Scotch Bonnets (x-hot)
- Thai Dragon Hot Peppers
- Caribbean Red Chili Peppers
- Serrano Chilis
- Cascabella Chili Peppers
- Ancho Chili Peppers (hot)
- Long Thin Cayenne Peppers
- Yellow Sweet Banana Peppers
- Anaheim Chili Peppers
- Poblanos
- Jalapeños
- Sweet Million Red Cherry Tomatoes
- Sunsugar - golden cherry tomatoes
- Yellow Pear Cherry Tomatoes
- Early Girl Tomatoes
- Jelly Bean - grape type tomatoes
- Jubilee - yellow tomatoes
- Red Cherry Tomatoes, Large Fruited
- Roma Tomatoes
- Tomatillos
- Early Prolific Yellow Straightneck Summer Squash
- Black Zucchini
I still have a lot more to plant. I saved the seeds from the butternut squash we are having for dinner tonight. Hopefully we will actually get a squash plant from them. I still have to plant:
- Sweet Italian Basil
- Big Top Carrots
- Sweet Treat Hybrid Carrots
- Red Cored Chantenay Carrots
- Lavendar
- Leaf Lettuce Mix
- Orange Scotch Bonnets
The strawberry plants are growing very well. At this rate I will have strawberries on the plants before it is time to transplant them. I hope they are ok. I have 10 Sequoia Strawberry plants growing in the living room and 25 Ogallala Strawberries in the mail.
Time to go turn the compost pile... Then I think I will knit for a while.
I went to the thrift store today and found another of the Frugal Gourmet books by Jeff Smith. This one is titled "The Frugal Gourmet Cooks American." I am going to make green chili and pork stew from my new book tonight for dinner. It also has a section for Southern cooking. I think I will make Pecan pie for dessert.
The plants are doing great. I got some more seeds in the mail yesterday. I can't wait to plant them!
Today I am feeling much better!
The tomatoes and tomatillos are over 3" tall. I will have to thin them soon. I always hate that part. The peppers have finally germinated and are about 1" tall. I tried an experiment this year. I put a heating pad under the little greenhouses to keep them warm. There was a remarkable difference between last year and this year. The tomatoes and tomatillos were sprouted in 3 days and the tomatoes in about 6 days. I had to take the tomatoes off because they were growing too fast =o)
On a happy note...
Tonight I start my Wilton Cake Decorating Course 1 at Michaels. I am so excited! I want to be ready to make the most amazing cake for Alicia's babies shower. Yes, "babies" shower...triplets!!!
On a not so happy note...
I also have to start my spring cleaning today because we are getting company next weekend. (The cleaning is the not so happy part.)
And to be completely random, here is my favorite picture from my honeymoon. Well, one of my favorites.
I never thought I would start blogging, but I wanted an easy way to show my family my life after I moved across the continent. Here goes...I planted my first tray of seeds for this years' vegetable garden on Monday morning and they have already begun germinating. The tomatoes and tomatillos are over 1" tall! I also have cascabella chiles and serrano chiles in this flat, but they tend to take a bit longer to start growing.
Today I am going to go shopping for organic vegetable potting soil and garden soil. I want to plant some elephant garlic and my asparagus crowns. (Hopefully the Comcast guy will actually show up so I can go out.) I am also going to start planning my plots for our vegetable garden. Hooray for diagrams!
The flower pot is about 8" around for scale.
This is the bed after planting. The strawberries are the very small green plants on the left part of the bed. The rhubarb is planted in the back right corner. The front right section is still empty.
This is a cherry blossom that is just opening. They are beautiful and have a very subtle sweet scent.
Here is my little helper! He sat on the edge of the bed with me while I was planting. Of course, as soon as I got up to take a picture of him sitting there, he moved to the pillow.
