Busy Busy!

The past few weeks have been very busy here at BLT. I've been processing lots of Easter orders and taking care of 100+ baby plants. So I haven't had much free time to update the blog.

Rainbow eggs have been very popular this year

In my last post, my tomatoes were just coming up. I've since had to rethink my garden plan for this year because some tomatoes didn't do what I thought they would.

(The Giant Sauce, for example. Slow, poor germination and weak plants. I wanted 4 for the garden, but am probably only going to wind up with 2. The spoon tomatoes had some leaf curl, so I lost all but 1 of them. The surviving plant is looking great, though!)

Spoon tomato 

In the last 4 weeks, the plants have seriously shot up, though some varieties more than others. The sweet million is getting a little big for its britches, so it is going to lose those branches when I plant it in the garden. The whole stem will get buried with just the top bit sticking out of the soil. Tomatoes grow roots along their entire stem, so the stem can be buried when you plant.

Sweet Million (Cherry)

  

Spoon tomato

Peppers and tomatoes

Swiss chard

A lot of the tomatoes are already producing suckers, too!

The peas are coming up really well in the garden (I'd have pics, but it's raining). I also planted beets, radishes and arugula (again, pics are forthcoming in drier weather).

I'm also working on something new for the shop! Become a fan on Facebook for a sneak peek!

A Stroll Through the Garden

And by garden, I mean "my dining room".

3 short days ago, I sowed my most exciting crop yet - the crop I've been waiting months for. TOMATOES!

I sowed about 14 or so different varieties  along with some purple basil, mammoth basil, rainbow swiss chard, and a few different kinds of flowers. They were started on a heat mat set at 80* and under lights.

3 days later I saw this:

That was in the morning. I went about my daily routine, and by lunch time, saw this:

They've been coming up like gangbusters ever since, which is incredibly exciting. As soon as they have their first set of true leaves, they'll get their own comfy digs and some food.

I've planted a couple varieties for size that I'm especially excited about - the spoon tomato and the super sauce tomato.

Spoon tomatoes are exactly what they sound like - teeny tiny tomatoes that fit on a spoon.

Spoon tomatoes

Super sauce tomatoes are a new release by Burpee, and are supposed to be enormous. (5" x 6" high)

Super sauce tomato

The super sauce seeds haven't sprouted yet, but the spoon tomatoes have. The seeds were incredibly tiny, and the resulting seedlings are tiny, too.

The peppers are starting to get their 3rd set of true leaves.

And the broccoli has been hardening off for 4 days now. I'm hoping to get it in the ground in the next week or so. Granted, it would have to stop raining / snowing for longer than 20 minutes for that to happen.

What do you have started in your garden?

The Songs Have Started

There is a boggy area in my backyard right next to my garden. Every year, winter snow and rain fills the bog. In the spring, toads frolic to my backyard to make lots of wee toad babies. (Did you know that about 80% of male toads return to the place where they were spawned during mating season?) Their croaking starts gently, and by the time spring is in full swing, it's incredibly loud. 

Toad hanging out in my garden.

Bog

When the songs start, I know spring is coming. I took said songs as a sign to build a row cover / small hoop house. It's covered in 6 mil plastic for now, and when it heats up outside the plastic will be replaced with tulle.

I bought an outdoor thermometer to monitor the temperature, and it was 80*F under the cover. Our 10 day forecast is pretty mild, so I decided to take a chance and planted my swiss chard today. It has been hardening off for a little over 2 weeks.

5.5 week old swiss chard ready for the garden

The row cover - PVC frame covered in 6 mil plastic sheeting

One of the really cool things about chard is that the roots are the same color as the leaves.

Yellow swiss chard

My goal this year is to grow 500 pounds of food for my family. So far, I'm at 4 ounces (I harvested my basil plants for a lasagna). I have 16 chard plants under the row cover, and sowed spinach, arugula, and radishes.

Swiss chard planted

Do you like swiss chard? Is the weather hospitable enough for you to get gardening?