"Faster Than a Flower Blooms"

 Today I was able to spend some time alone in my garden as Maggie took the kids out to dinner with their grandma. It was rare and felt a little alien to me to not, at the moment, be directly responsible for a child. It was nice. I was able to weed around some of my plants (pictures of those in a minute) and also plant a second round of a few vegetables (details on those soon too). But what it really allowed me was time to think. Maybe that is part of why I like gardening so much. It gives you the chance to reflect and in my mind, it is also a reflection of life itself. The different cycles and growth, the need to weed out things before they drag you down and the overall connection to the Earth.

 But today I found myself thinking about my down time. It is always nice but also bittersweet. We all need our mental breaks. But I also know that in the blink of an eye, the kids will be grown. I hate to feel like I'll miss anything. These kind of thoughts got my mind turning to music as I feel music can speak to us in so many different ways. I've never heard this song before today but I found it and felt it spoke to what I was thinking. It is called "Let Them Be Little" and is written and performed by Billy Dean. I'm not always a fan of country music and under normal circumstances I might have just glossed right over this one. But it was sappy and that's right where my head was/is. The title for this post comes from a line in the song.

I'm not sure if I mentioned in a previous blog that my cayenne peppers I tried to start from seed never sprouted. But they didn't. I believe the seeds were too old. Because of this, I went to Horrocks (local Farmers style market here in Lansing, Michigan) with the intent of getting a pepper plant or two since it is getting a little late in the season for starting the peppers from seed again. Look what I found.

Danger Kitty. 

So that should be fun. I don't really have a good track record with keeping the hot oils from peppers off of other parts of my body. I may have to get a full body suit for that Ghost Pepper plant. 

I mentioned earlier that I put in a second round planting. Those seeds are my three different carrots (Paris Market, Chantenay Red Cored, and Purple Haze), two different beets (Burpee Golden and Chioggia), spinach, and Easter Egg radishes. I would take some pictures but... really... it just looks like dirt right now. Not only indistinguishable but also pretty boring. 

Not boring (at least not to me...)? Actual green plants! First up, carrot seedlings. 

Carrot seedlings are notoriously small. It's like a Where's Waldo of the plant world!

And now the beets! Beets are interesting in that their seed is actually a cluster of 3 to 4 seeds so no matter how careful you are about spacing them, you will almost always need to go back through and thin them as you will tend to have a few sprouts coming up in one spot.

Cluster of beets. 

This is what passes as traffic signs in Gerich Gardens

Next are the Mini Purplette red onions. 

These are the seedlings that were started inside and transplanted out.

And these are the same onions but from seed that I planted in the ground. 

Lettuce check in with the lettuce... Funny guy. 

Here is the Cos lettuce I transplanted out as seedlings

A closer look

Going to need to transplant some of these... 

And Popeyes favorite...

Clearly this was before I had weeded

The radishes will be the first things ready to pull from the garden. 

Look at all those awesome radish leaves

Last but not least, peas! 

Ok, so I know that was a lot of pictures but I was a tad bit excited at all the growth. It can be attributed to a whole bunch of rain in late April followed by the beautiful weather filled with high 70's and low 80's for high temps the last week. It is the culmination of months of planning through cold winter days finally being realized. Next time I'll update you on all of the tomato and bell pepper sprouts along with some of the other flower/vegetable seeds I just started this weekend.

Remember... things go by faster than you think. Live in the moment and appreciate what has been given. It might be gone "faster than a flower blooms." 

Why hello Mother Nature!

I always find myself the most introspective when the weather starts to warm after winter. I'm not sure what it is that makes this so. Perhaps it is the "growth" or "renewal" that occurs during this time. All I know is that once the weather hits the mid 60's to low 70's you will be able to find me walking in and around nature and all of Her wonderment's.

The seasons first inward reflections hit me while on a walk with my son this morning. With the high temperature today set to hit over 80 for the first time since last September, I was poised for a walk. The call of Mother Earth is at her strongest for me when she wakes up and judging from the sights and sounds of the neighborhood, she is indeed waking. Being able to see all of the different colored flowers in bloom is something I treasure each year. One of my favorite blooms are the ones that come alive on Magnolia trees. There is about a week or two, usually in early May here in Michigan, where they burst wide open and are far and away the most beautiful thing in your line of sight. The bright white or pink blossoms demand your attention as soon as they come into view. Move a little closer and they will pull you in by the nose as the fragrance created is rivaled only by that of the lilac in my opinion. As of right now, these trees blossoms are just starting to open up. I am lucky as my neighborhood here in Lansing has a large amount of these trees.

Magnolia: Tree of the heavens.

Looking at the picture above you can only begin to imagine the smells and scent that one would inhale while standing underneath such a sight. The sense of smell has always been my strongest sense and so many times keys memories for me. The smell of spring/summer is one that I can't fully describe but is always one that resonates the most for me. It is the smell of flowers, dirt, fresh cut grass and so many other little things mixed in together to create a bouquet for the soul. I was fortunate enough to catch this today. Or rather, it caught me. I even cut my walk short to take the boy to Horrocks in search of some flowers to put in my own yard. If you are not aware, Horrocks is a wondeful farmers market type of store here in Lansing with a large greenhouse full of different flowers, fruits and vegetables. Normally, I'm not one to buy flowers. I prefer to grow them on my own from seed. But my impatience got the best of me as I am tired of waiting for my flower seeds to pop up and half of my lawn look like just plain dirt while others have all of these wonderful bulbs and flowers. I ended up purchasing yellow pansies and blue violas. As soon as Jack went down for nap, I went out and planted them in an every other one border pattern around my yard just to serve as something pretty until the rest of the flowers grow. Please ignore the rest of the barren landscape. Hopefully in a month or twos time there will be a lot of wild flowers growing where there is now bare dirt.

Another thing this time of year makes me do is think about my own life and how I am living it and how I want to live it. I recently made a choice to live a healthier lifestyle. I've eaten fairly healthy for the last few years but now I've decided to keep more track of what I am eating. I've also been going to the gym regularly coupled with other activities and exercises such as walks as previously mentioned and also gardening which is surprisingly effective and can make you break a good sweat. I have also cut out alcohol, more by necessity than choice as I have ulcerative colitis and alcohol doesn't do good things for it.

I am approaching 30 and am a father. These two things will get you thinking about your future life and how you want it to look. I have decided to be as proactive as possible about my health. I'll spare all of the thoughts but a nice walk is good for thinking of the bigger things in life and sorting out what matters the most.

I'll need to cut this short as my son is currently waking up FAR too early from his nap. But as a cliff hanger I will say that my next post will have some pictures (if they upload!) of some of the crops/sprouts. Until then, enjoy this weather, enjoy life, enjoy each other. 

When you least expect it...

We've all heard it. And we've all probably rolled our eyes at the phrase, "Things (love, job, etc) will happen when you least expect it." It's a simple way of saying that even though you are failing now, maybe you won't later? It is filled with good intentions but really doesn't do the person the phrase is intended for a lick of good.

I had my own "When you least expect it" moment this morning. Those of us in Michigan know its been a cruelly cold spring. A glimpse of warm weather will soon be dashed by looking out your window on a Friday night in late April only to see snow and sleet accumulating on the ground and leaving you with fear about what will happen to your lettuce seedlings in the ground. What? That last part is just me? Ok but either way you get the idea. It's been colder than expected for longer than hoped. As I may haved mentioned in my previous post, this has lead to a lack of sprouts from my pepper seeds, both the cayenne and the bell variety. As per my previous post, I know there are other solutions for this but I have opted for the cheap route and to let Mother Nature dictate things. I just didn't anticipate Mother Nature acting like kind of a dick.

So this morning, I was all set on replanting some new pepper seeds and rolling with version 2.0 and a little later start to the season. As I went to check them, what do you think I found but some wonderful sprouts of peppers, tomatoes and basil starting to poke their heads up. What's that phrase again... ;)

These sprouts are all of the bell pepper variety. None of my cayennes sprouted yet. I'll keep an eye on this since they might just be a few days behind or they might not be viable anymore since they are a little older than the brand new bell pepper seeds. I think I'll have a better answer after this warmer weekend coming up. If no hot peppers are to be seen I may need to buy an emergency packet.

On this past Sunday (the 21st of April) we had a warm-ish day so I took the opportunity to plant a lot more seeds. I put out seeds of beets (both the Chioggia and Golden variety), three different carrots including purple dragon and Paris market and I set out my broccoli and cauliflower transplants. I also put in more peas on a trellis made out of old real estate sign frames and twine. 

Lettuce survived the snow we had

Radish sprouts coming up

Carrot placement

Broccoli sprouts

Strategic placement of lettuce and cauliflower between peas.

Broccoli and Cauliflower in a side bed

More of the same

New and smaller pea trellis. 

I see two consecutive days past 70 degrees in the forecast. I anticipate lots of growth the next time I post. Until then, what has happened to you when you've least expected it?

Waiting Period in the Garden of Eatin'.

I've experienced a stretch of mild frustration the past week or so with my gardening. The first is the cold and rain. Now, I know that it is April and that is what is supposed to happen. But the last week or so we have had about 3 inches of rain or more during the prime planting periods in early spring. Makes it hard to get in the garden. What I will say is thank goodness for the trench I dug out and filled with sand near the back of my garden. That trench did it's job beautifully. It held all of the excess rain water instead of letting it pool and flood the garden bed. And it also drained fairly quickly thanks to the couple inches of sand put at the bottom of the trench.

As of right now, I'm still waiting on any of my pepper seeds to sprout. I know what part of the problem is. It is not warm enough. Pepper seeds need the soil to be 70+ degrees to even think about sprouting and with the cold weather we have had, the seeds are not having it. I know the solution would be to buy a heating mat and I ALMOST did that at the beginning of the season. But they can be a little pricey and I wanted to save money and try my luck. I'm sure they will come up with the warmer weather and sun being out longer instead of being behind clouds. But as of right now I am a bit antsy about it. I'm also keeping a close eye on my peas, spinach, radish, and lettuce seeds I planted out last week. No sprouts that I've seen yet. Soon though. I hope!

One last frustration is my son's mobility. Now before you take that the wrong way, understand that I LOVE Jacks new found confidence and walking ability in that wispy "Oh my child is getting so big/he's no longer a baby" type of way. But when it is a nice afternoon and I want to bring him out back with me so he can play and I can get some gardening done, he has promptly crushed those hopes and dreams with his ability to take off towards the front of the house and road. Not that he runs to the road or has made an attempt to go in the road. He just wants to play in the front of the house because that is where the sidewalk is and the sidewalk is where he can walk and know that it takes him places. He is a busy guy with places to go and that people mover sidewalk thing is the place to be! It just doesn't lend itself to carefree gardening. I've tried blocking off his route to the front. I've tried distracting him with trucks, tools, and dirt. Not having it, Dad. Just counting down the days til we can use a vehicle big enough to go get a gate from Home Depot or some other hardware store. 

I attempted to add some videos of Jack running around but I'm not what you would call "good with technology" so I'm not sure if they will load properly or not. If they don't load and you do want to see them, leave me a message letting me know and I'll try to post them on my Facebook page.

In the meantime, I've been doing what I can to occupy my waiting period. I have planted Italian Heirloom tomatoes and Black Cherry tomatoes inside. Italian basil and Lime basil have both been started. I have also started a flat of 3 different kind of marigolds to put in the garden. Here is a picture of what all of that looks like.

I also took my Mini Red Purplette onion sprouts and planted them outside. Those were really challenging to transplant as they are so thin by design that they took extra work to secure in the ground without drooping over. Along with the transplants, I also seeded a whole bunch in a scattered pattern down the row that may need to be thinned later.

When it comes to onions, thinning them is the least painful because any part or stage of the onion can be used and is tasty! I also seeded another row of spinach in order to have a continual harvest. I'll be doing that with a lot of my early spring crops, including radish, lettuce, beets, carrots, and onions. I'm also looking to get my broccoli and cauliflower sprouts transplanted out in the next week. It's time. They are starting to out grow their containers and get a bit antsy. I can tell. Don't question it. My plants and I are in sync. Not to be confused with the early 2000's boy band N'sync. It's not like I'm going to be telling them Bye Bye Bye. They will just be right outside the house.

We also have a section of our yard that just got totally scorched from last years heat and drought. The grass was fried and never really fully recovered. So since it is already mostly dirt, Maggie and I have decided to just throw down a crap load of flower seeds and have a nice little flower garden out front. I even transplanted random bulbs that have started growing in the garden, out to line the walk way. I don't know what they are and I'm quite sure the relocation will fail epically so that I'll just have horrible brown plants laying on their sides in a testament to my failure to grow things along with my grass less lawn, despite my claim as an urban gardener. You know, so when people walk by all they see is a failed front yard and not the back yard with actual things growing. Anyway, the flower seeds I put down a few days ago are early flowers and other flower seeds will be added as the weather warms. The flowers currently on the ground and trying to grow include Snapdragons, Pansy's (Pansies?), a Flower Garden mix by American seed, and Alyssum which I grew last year rather prolifically. Here is a picture of the bare soil lawn before flowers sprouting (hopefully).

Until next time, happy growing and here is to hoping for some temps to stay in the 60's with minimal frost!

Fast and Furious

Wow. Today was quite a productive day as far as the garden is concerned. It has been a little while since I have made an entry here but that is simply because there hasn't been much going on other than the continual removal and turning in of leaves. Also, it has kind of been a slow cold spring thus far. But looking at the forecast for the next week, it looks to be fairly warm, getting to the mid to upper 50's each day and also there looks to be rain almost every day. As far as seed starting goes, an uptick in temps with constant moisture for germination is really ideal. Being that I have semi raised beds and a nice soil filled with organic matter, I'm not too worried about drainage and seed rot. Perhaps I am being optimistic but I feel relatively confident that my soil will drain enough to prevent rot.

Yesterday (April 6th), Jack and I went out and bought some pea inoculate and some composted manure. For those that may not know, pea inoculate is a type of bacteria that you add onto your seeds. This bacterial will help peas form nodes on their roots that will take atmospheric nitrogen and transfer it into your soil. I added the manure into some of my side beds that didn't get as much attention over the last year in order to help prep them for the growing season.

I added the manure while Jack was taking his afternoon nap. It is kind of tricky to get a lot of garden work done when he is awake. Our back yard is not fenced in completely (though we are in the process of fixing that) and now that he is mobile on his feet, he likes to head towards the front of the house and the road. Not exactly easy to concentrate on what needs to be done when I'm worrying about him taking up a mission to go play in the road. But I get done what I can, when I can.

Speaking of which, last night I attempted to put together my homemade pea trellis using bamboo poles and chicken wire. Inside. At 9pm. While a child was sleeping in the house. I probably don't have to tell you that it wasn't a good idea. I did manage to get one half finished before just getting pissed off and scraping it for another day. I do have to give credit here to my wife Maggie for talking me off a ledge. Sometimes I get a vision in my head and when I can't do it how or when I want to, I get a little ornery about it. We like to refer to it as Joe Pesci-ing out. Yes, that is a reference to the Snickers commercial.

But today was a new day and with the help of Maggie, we were able to get two pea trellis' built.

On the trellis closest to the fence I planted Mammoth Melting Snow Peas and on the trellis to the front I have Super Sugar Snap peas.

Along with those plantings, I transplanted out half of my Cos lettuce seedlings. I only did half because I didn't want to doom all of them if I am putting them out too early. But to be honest, some of them needed to be thinned out again and I figured instead of re-potting them and planting them in the ground all within 2-3 weeks, I'd take my chances with putting them in the ground right now and saving a step. I figure if/when it drops below freezing again, I'll just cover them for the time being.

Along with the transplants, I also planted some Cos seeds to help stagger the growth and harvest. Other seeds that went into the ground today include spinach, Easter Egg radishes, Black Simpson lettuce and Grand Rapids lettuce.

 These aren't the sexiest pictures in the world but it does give you an idea of what I have going and where. Not picture are the tomatoes, dill, and basil that I am going to start inside later tonight. But for now, dinner and family calls. There might even be a poopy diaper that needs to be changed.