Fernando Friday!

Here we go again...

Last night the little man was just a streak of shiny black hair as he evaluated the contents of the week's CSA bag.  Fernando and I both came to the same conclusion: the salad marathon will continue!  It's going to be another very green week (literally) in our house.

Growing out back I have kale that must be consumed and a new crop of salad mix.  Last night I received Swiss chard, lettuce, spring mix, a giant head of cabbage, and spinach, among others (like that pretty - but dirty - head of cauliflower pictured above). 

I willingly accept the challenge!  Let's see what I come up with!

Anyone else out there feeling forced to consume salad like there's no tomorrow?

Salad, anyone?

A lot can happen in 2 weeks!

The salad bar, 5/8/13

The salad bar, 5/22/13

Some definitely take longer to grow than others, but everything I have planted is coming along!  I've continued to add more rows every 1-2 weeks, and once I harvest any of these greens I will plant more in their place. 

Here are my notes from the gardening class - I just reviewed these today to remind myself of the details of cutting, since I think the salad will probably get eaten in the next 2 weeks or so:

I think that based on this advice, I can really squeeze a few more rows in between... I've probably been planting them 4-5 inches apart rather than the recommended 2 inches.  The point is that if you eat these as "baby" greens, they don't need a lot of room to grow, and definitely don't need the space indicated on the seed packet. 

Also, despite the fact that many greens aren't very tolerant of heat and can become bitter-tasting, if you don't grow them to full size (as noted above, cutting when they are 4-5 inches tall), you can actually enjoy them all summer. 

Greens can also be grown easily in a container since they have hardly any root system.  I think they would do really well in a window-style box (you know, the oblong ones) and you could probably manage 2-3 rows at a time. Considering a bag of this stuff in the grocery store averages about $1.99, and a packet of seeds could be found for much less, it is worth a try!

Salad bar, 2013 edition

Slowly but surely, the greens are a-growin'.  I'm trying to do some succession planting in this area so we have a never ending supply for salads.  Basically, all succession planting means is that you plant (approximately) every 2 weeks.  This is about 4 weeks' worth, and it's all muddy because I watered it before remembering to take a picture.  But you get the general idea...

This is a combination of mesclun salad mix (rows 2 and 3), spinach (row 1), and kale (row 4).  Above and below the kale I recently planted some swiss chard, but no growing action just yet.

Back at it!

There is something about February, especially late February, that is just...awful.  The shortest month sure does seem to go on forever, doesn't it?  And while March in Northeast Ohio is no picnic, there's a lot to be said for turning the calendar page to the month where spring does officially start.  With that comes the hope that, okay, maybe I will not be wearing a down parka every day this month.  Maybe this month I won't regularly get caught in blizzards while on the way to work (although it is actually quite possible this will still happen).  Maybe my car will look its actual color, rather than chalky salty gray.  And maybe, just maybe... I will plant something!

To kick off the return to blogging, and the return to gardening, I'd like to share my to-do list for this month:

1. Attend gardening class. This, my friends, is awesome.  A series of 5 workshops entitled "Home Grown Food," hosted by one of the local public libraries.  Week 1 was 90 minutes on just soil, and I was captivated.  You don't know what you don't know until someone tells you that you don't know it.  This is doing to be a valuable endeavor, and I look forward to sharing.  If you are local and interested, it looks like there are still some openings.

2. Compost.  Compost.  Compost.  I'm working on my own (more on that in a future post) but this year we probably need to buy some.  Can you believe we've never added this to our garden?  Anyway, I am hoping to buy and spread that this month (a girl goes to one class about soil and now wants to buy a truckload of rotten stuff... go figure).

3.  Peas!  My new favorite vegetable to grow.  And along with the purchase and planting of pea seeds, I need to get some better stakes, now that I know how these things grow!

4.  Greens!  My new second favorite vegetable to grow.  Kale, spinach, lettuce, swiss chard... they can all be started early, and I am excited to do so.

5.  Investigate some organic (aka "safe") pest control options.  Especially if I want to grow leafy things (and I do), I need to better protect them.  The hot pepper spray did not cut it last year.  I look forward to learning about this in my class, and also seeing what the garden stores offer.

Changing seasons

This is a great example of why you shouldn't be too lazy to go in the house and grab the camera.  I took this on my phone and while it looked okay on that small little screen, when I enlarged it, it looked like... this.  And it was the only one I took, so here it is.  All the special effects in the world couldn't save this thing...

So, fall has arrived in Ohio!  And I totally love it.  While I will miss the fruits and vegetables of summer, I am so excited for cooler weather.  Summer is not my favorite time of year, but fall absolutely is.  This year is really the first time I've undertaken a fall planting.

Last week it was "out with the zucchini" and I've decided to use this newly available space to plant greens that thrive in the cooler weather we are having.  After removing the plants, I raked the soil and added some 10-10 fertilizer. 

You can't tell in this utterly crap photo, but L to R are rows of "Bright Lights" Swiss Chard, regular old green Swiss Chard (Fordhook, if you want to get specific), Kale #1, "Red Russian" (an earlier planting is already growing at the top there... the colors are very pretty though this photo does nothing justice), Spinach, and Kale #2, "Dwarf Blue."  Elsewhere, I squeezed in a row of Ruby Red Swiss Chard.  My fingers are firmly crossed that cool weather = less insect problems, but that remains to be seen....