Most popular blogs tend to be about one thing. They focus on gardening, cooking, culture or politics… And the bloggers who maintain them post frequently, sometimes even daily.
If this were a garden blog, each entry for the last two months would read something like this: “Today I trudged out through a foot of snow to see…” There would be some drama: the turkey that scavenged from the compost pile and kept uncovering the garlic beds… the death of the two apple trees I forgot to wrap that were girdled by rabbits… the arrival of the new and improved cold frame. I have kept you posted on those things. But most posts would have told the endless story of rising and falling levels of snow.
There’s also the story of my downstairs windowsill. Next year I’ll try to keep from planting anything (except leeks, you gotta get those leeks started early) until the Ides of March. Some days this April I haven’t been able to bring myself to go down there and see the spindly, sad plants trying to make a go of it.
Paul Robesons 4-20-13
Yesterday I opened my spring newsletter from Seed Savers Exchange. There was a piece on seed starting that scolded people like me. It gave the good advice that heat mats are necessary (it’s not just light, but heat that starts germination). I have two heating pads under my seed trays, the reason my peppers have all germinated. But, it said, “Don’t put plants on a sunny windowsill! At least get grow lamps. No windowsill will provide enough light for strong and healthy plants.”
Well, hmm. I have a really sunny windowsill, and here in the North Country we get a lot of sunlight even this time of year. But it’s true the starving, tough little guys grow long stems and crane their necks to the window… The thing is, I really hadn’t planned on having them down there that long!
Yesterday I saw that the broccoli raab is flowering. This was one of the things I was most looking forward to, and hopefully will still have a brief season for outside. I love “broccolini” that you get at Trader Joe’s. Turns out it’s fast-growing and the leaves are good greens as well. I was excited to find the seeds at Fedco Seeds. And, sure enough, they sprung up and now are flowering, though the stems never thickened on my windowsill.
May 15 is traditionally the last frost day here in Central Minnesota. That will probably be the date I plant the potatoes and even move out the tomatoes with their wind protection… I’ll hold back the peppers until June.