Down and Dirty Nice and Early

My records indicate that the earliest I’ve ever planted is April 2.  That was in 2004.

This year, I beat it by one day.

On April 1st, I sowed the following:

 

• Lolla Rossa Lettuce
• Red Oakleaf Lettuce
• Tatsoi Mustard
• Sylvetta
• Golden Detroit Beet
• Early Wonder Beet
• Easter Egg Radish
• Sparkler Radish

In the two weeks since, I’ve added:

• Jade Cross Brussels Sprouts
• Bronco Cabbage
• Red Express Cabbage
• Oregon Sugar Pod Pea
• Mesclun
• Nantes Carrot

This year is the first time I’ve sown cabbage (or the like) directly in the garden.  I usually start them indoors and transplant them in early May.  But the weather has been outrageously beautiful, and I was running out of indoor growing space, so the decision was made.

Returning herbs:

• Chives, chives, chives
• Thyme
• Sage
• Mace Yarrow
• Greek Oregano
• Egyptian Onion (of course)

The oregano was a nice find; I plant it as an annual here because it never usually survives the winter.  The Egyptian Onion is always satisfying to clean up every spring; I still don’t have a lot of uses for it, but it’s a good conversation piece.

Jobs I’ve been puttering at:

• Erecting trellises
• Pruning perennials
• Dismantling the old garden beds
• Weeding my paths
• Amending my beds
• Pruning my bush
• Clearing a path to the old compost pile
• Building the new compost pile

In my “indoor growing facility”, the following seedlings are thriving:

• Hungarian Heart Tomato
• Black Krim Tomato
• Sweetie Tomato
• Roma Tomato
• Persimmon Tomato
• Cosmonaut Volkov Tomato
• Old German Tomato
• Carmen Pepper
• Purple Star Pepper
• Early Sunsation Pepper
• Japanese Eggplant
• Curled Parsley
• Italian Parsley
• Lancelot Leek
• Greek Salad Onion

In addition to the spinach from last year’s fall planting, there are carrots, mesclun and some unrecorded lettuce (might be cos) making a respectable comeback.  Although, I probably would have cut my first salad greens already if I didn’t have two rabbits snacking on them every morning.

Time to shake my hot pepper flakes.

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Microgreens, It’s Never Too Early, Plan G