Can we accurately call today mid-April? Alright, so I'm off by a couple of days, but fairly close. For me that means two things: one, I haven't posted on my blog in over a month, and two, I'm trailing a week behind on my seed starting schedule. Neither are very severe and the latter far more important than the former. March was a tumultuous month. My progress imitated the weather, with a warm sunshiny day spurring bud growth, followed by a solid dumping of snow to hide all signs of spring.
But it's April now, and a lovely 60-something out today. Yesterday I started four varieties of tomato: San Marzano, Tigerella, Purple Cherokee, and Brandywine. My goal with tomatoes this year is to lean more towards canning-friendly varieties, as well as several unique and flavorful heirloom table varieties. Last year I planted ten plants each of only three different varieties, and one was a terrible let down. That was the yellow pear tomato, ironically also the most abundant. It was dull, lacking in both sweetness and acidity. The Chocolate Cherry was the second variety from last year, and it was alright as far as cherry tomatoes go, but I wasn't overly impressed.
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| Speckled Roman from 2016 |
My only table tomato from last year was the Glacier, which produced a good yield, tasty enough to eat right off the vine. The Glacier is on the smaller side, so not the best for sandwich slices, but perfect quartered in a salad. My favorite tomato from last year was the Speckled Roman, which I planted later than the above three, and only grew four plants. It is such a lovely tomato, a cross between Banana Legs and Antique Roman, a bright red with orange and yellow zebra-like stripes. Sadly, most of this variety was affected by blossom end rot. So, the point of all that tomato talk is that this year's crop is going to have much more variety, with only one to two plants each, and no blasé yellow pear tomatoes. I have over two hundred vegetable and herb seed packets, and I am having a very hard time narrowing down what I can (and simply cannot!) include in this year's garden.
Last year was my first vegetable garden on the farm and I got a bit eccentric with my choices, growing quinoa and broom corn, neither of which did anything but look majestic on the stalk. Corn was another frivolous crop of 2016 that, thanks to the drought, produced only Halloween decorations and compost fodder. This year is about growing vegetables and herbs so I buy little to no produce this summer, and have a decent amount to can and freeze for the winter. I also have plans to raise my own annuals for the farm window boxes. I have heliotrope sprouting in the seed room now, and plan on starting alyssum, nasturtium, marigold, and calendula, with a smattering of others for a bright cheery pop against the light yellow of the farmhouse.
This year will also be my first time using heat mats for germination. I have been using them on those native seedlings from my cold stratification post a few weeks back. The seedlings in cells are quite touchy, with only around 50 percent survival. The seedlings in my Gatorade jugs are doing considerably better, and are not on heat mats. I am attributing this to the tendency of the cells to dry out much faster, and the jugs to stay more evenly moist with little watering.
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| Tomatoes in Jugs |
I have a little beekeeping update as well. I brought up my hives a few weeks ago with plans to harvest the honey and clean out the hives to take a year hiatus from beekeeping. But a farmer friend of mine a few towns over has offered to purchase bees if I keep them on his farm to pollinate his crops this year. I'm quite excited about that, as I was sad to skip a year of beekeeping, but I couldn't handle the cost of bees after losing two hives that were only a year old. The old hives will be left with honey intact for the 2017 installation, and it was even recommended not to clean out any of the comb and let the bees housekeep and re-use as much as they could from the previous colonies. My son and I did collect a few jars before we received this recommendation, but the rest is being left for the new residents!
A quick touch on the last B of this blog, I have a special order for a fancy Danish for Easter, and I am looking to try a few traditional Easter baked goods, so check back for pictures of those creations next week!
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| Danish Almond Ring I made last month |
