Random

So I'm a little behind on getting photos up, so I thought Sunday would be a good day to put up random photos.

The potatoes are still taking off like rockets! You can see a hint of purple in the leaves. I wonder if the flowers will be purple too.Our Ruby Chard is so pretty! That color is amazing - especially when the sun hits it in the evening.
J is wicked excited about all the peas on our plants.
And the passionfruit has been put outside and really seems to love the sun. The leaves got a lot darker.
And two weekends ago, we undertook our first adventure in canning - strawberry jam. It turned out pretty well, but I don't have many photos. Since it was our first time trying, it was mostly us running around and reading the instructions and making sure the jam didn't boil over (note to self: use a bigger pot next time).


Now we've got a boatload of strawberry jam. So if you're friends or family let us know if you want some and we'll mail it out!

Kale Harvest

I apologize for my extended break from blogging. Last weekend I flew to Ohio to surprise my dad for his birthday! It was a great weekend, but I got back mid-morning on Monday and it was a crazy week at work since one of my co-workers was out so I was doing two people's jobs and the board of trustees was in and I had class two different nights. So I've been playing catch-up all week and now that the weekend is here I'm actually starting to make some headway.We harvested some of our kale forest and had a delicious side dish. J moved a little faster than i thought and had hacked off the whole thing instead of just cutting the outer leaves. We won't get any substantial grow back, but that's probably ok, since we'll be searching for recipes to eat this all. I went to pull the stem out so we could reuse the pot and soil, but then this happened!
I guess it got a little root bound in that small container, which makes me wonder what it would have done in the ground!! I've never grown kale before, but this stuff was already huge!We harvested in the morning (right after my run, hence the awesome outfit and huge Garmin on my wrist) because it's starting to get warm here and by late afternoon the kale looks sad. Since we weren't eating it right away it was brought to the kitchen...Then ripped into smaller pieces and cleaned in the salad spinner.
All ready for dinner! Nice to finally be harvesting things!

Kale Forest

My kale started off not looking so good earlier this year, but it finally took off a few weeks ago when the cold, wet weather started. It must like that because now the corner of my balcony is a kale forest!
How do you know when it's ready to harvest and eat? It looks delicious!

Cold Weather Plants

There are a few things I planted quite a while ago, but I don't think I've mentioned them here since. All the cold weather plants are loving the cool Spring we're having. At least something likes it.
My kale is finally starting to take off. I think I transplanted it too soon from the seedling tray, and I think I was keeping it too warm at first. It didn't look like it was going to make it for a while, but it's pulled through and seems to be enjoying the greenhouse. I keep the door of the greenhouse open all the time, unless we have a frost warning, so it gets the cool temperatures at night and doesn't get overheated during the day.
The peas are really slow growing. I guess I expected they'd be larger now. How long after sowing should they start flowering? According to my records, these peas were planted 1/22 and sprouted 1/27, but they still seem tiny for being 3 months old, no? I've also added a few more seeds in to keep them going - yay succession planting. One round of seeds on 3/11 and another round last weekend, so I'm hoping they'll do better. The second and third set also got inoculant, so hopefully that will help.
Spinach and carrots are still small, but growing strong. Can't wait for a delicious salad! And speaking of salad, my very sad looking outdoor lettuce is looking decidedly less sad lately. It might even be ready for eating soon. Sorry there's no photo of that.

Porch Update

Today is the last frost date for Boston, but I think this year we might be a little late. I needed to get some living space back and get some of the plants out of the house and onto the porch, but I'm still a little worried about frosts. I'd been putting the plants out during the day, but the wind we've been having recently was doing some damage to them so I needed to find a solution that would allow everything to be outside, but not be damaged by the wind.

Enter the pop-up greenhouse! Fairly inexpensive, variable sizes and is perfect for protecting from frost and wind! This little guy showed up when I was starting to finally feel better last week and provided that extra boost to make me healthy again.

He's set up on our porch and is currently holding the kale, blueberries, carrots & spinach, and the lettuce. All the plants have been really happy inside, but I am sure to open the door every morning so that it doesn't get too hot.

Kale Leaves

The cotyledons (the first 2 leaves that appear on a sprout) didn't look much like kale, but the new leaves are looking really interesting.
I lowered the lights a big because I'm worried that the stalks are getting really thin and spindly. Another week or two and they'll be ready to transplant!

KALE!

Before we joined a CSA last year I'd never had kale. Now I'm addicted. Kale chips. Stewed kale. Kale with bacon and garlic. It's so incredibly delicious. And did you know it's one of THE best vegetables for you? So many vitamins and nutrients that keep you healthy and raring to go so you can tend to your ever-growing garden. Yum.

So when I went to plan my first garden kale was first on the list.

And according to my planting calendar it's about time to sow the seeds indoors, so off we go.

Tiny little round seeds. In the seed started mix in the seedling tray. Light on. Cover on. Heat pad on. Grow babies grow!