Planting, Planting...

I haven't been very on top of the blogging lately. I've been a bit busy planting. So this post is going to be a lot of catching up.

Nearly three weeks ago I set out lettuce, celery, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage. About a week and a half after that I planted out some of the tomatoes and all of the ground cherries. In case you aren't savvy to ground cherries they are a type of tomatillo that supposedly has a citrus or pineapple taste (depends who you ask or maybe on cultivar, not sure). Anyhow they are suppose to be great for fresh eating and pies so I figured I would give them a shot. The variety I planted is called Aunt Mollie's. At some point during all this I seeded a second planting of carrots, spinach, and lettuce.

The more present activity started with beans and sweet corn going out last week. For beans I planted “Provider” which is a old standby heavy producing bush bean. I also planted “Dragon Langerie” which is a bush type that makes flat long romano type purple streaked pods that are supposed to be great cooked or eaten fresh. The variety of corn is “True Gold”. I didn’t pick the corn for any particular reason other than that it is an open pollinated variety so I could potentially save seed from it if I wanted to.

This past Monday I planted cucumbers, melons, and asparagus. The cucumbers are planted north of the celery and I will fence them to provide the celery some shade. The variety is a heavy reliable producer called “Marketmore 76”. The melons include watermelon “Sugar Baby”, Cantaloupe “Hearts of Gold”, and Honey Dew “Green Flesh”. The asparagus is “Mary Washington” which is the old standard. I started it from seed back in February. From a pack of 100 seeds I wound up with 110 seedlings. I am thinking I need more asparagus though for market and I have been eye balling a French heirloom variety called “Precoce d'Argenteuil ”. It is a purple variety that is often blanched white. It has a few advantages in that it will produce a harvestable crop the second year from seed and it comes on earlier than most varieties.

On Tuesday I planted the “Evergreen Hardy Bunching” onions that I started from seed back in January. They are supposed to multiple, never make a bulb, and be perennial. It should be a never ending supply of green onions considering I planted around 200. I also tilled a spot in the lower swampy area where the natural spring originates. I tilled it for my cranberry plants that are supposed to be in the mail on April 26th.

Finally today I planted the last of the tomatoes, all the peppers, more carrots, and more beets. The varieties of peppers include “California Wonder”, “King of the North”, some saved seeds from an unknown huge bell type, “Orange Sun” and “Shishito”. All are standard bell types except “Orange Sun” which is a orange bell and “Shishito” which is a small slightly spicy bell that is popular in Japan.

So there it is in all its really lengthy glory. I am sure I have left things out but that is most of whats going on. The market starts May 8th for me so maybe between now and then I can get a few more posts up while I still kind of have the time.