'Blogger' tool frustration

Can't seem to ever get the layout the way I want. Suggestions?

Like a Kelp Forest

Peas definitely a lot taller than I had anticipated, despite reading about their potential to grow to 8'. Had to go back to the hardware store to get more green bars to expand upward. Can't even get all of them in the shot!

Pretty white blossoms exploded one week and the next week the peas had begun. 

Today I harvested my first small handful. And you might wonder what good is a small handful of peas? I have to say that they are the sweetest most tender snap peas I ever ate. Even my son who doesn't like raw veggies ate one and said 'mmmmm'! Seeing him eat just one was worth the work.

Very hard to keep them for tonight's dinner, the pile keeps getting smaller : )

Snip snip!

Careful harvesting of individual leaves...this is about the fifth or sixth harvest...

Veggie Gardening for Small Spaces Session

Recently, well, really a couple of weeks ago, I attended Vegetable Gardening in Small Spaces at Sloat Garden Center. Lora Kellner the Training Manager, subbed in for the regular instructor; she was very knowledgeable and able to answer a lot of my questions. 

One of the best tips she gave us was to snip off the budding flowers because, as she put it (while covering the ears of the nearest plants), the plants job is to take over the world. Their job in life is to grow, make seeds and spread them, then die. Not feed humans. But we can trick them into making more delicious greens for us by thwarting their plans by denying them flowers. OR she said, you can let them grow flowers which will attract 'beneficials' (bees and butterflies) who will come in and spread the pollen around. We know their job, I don't have to go into it : )

Anyway, a highly recommended session at Sloat for novice urban veggie growers like myself. Session is free to members, and membership is free. Or pay $5 if you don't want to give them your contact info.

I notice that they have EarthBox sessions coming up at their locations in San Rafael and Mill Valley. Check it out!

What's working, what's not

It's been about a month since my last entry. As was expected some things are going well, others not so well.

The peas are going gang busters. Both the EarthBox peas and the standard container peas. Will need to read up on what's supposed to happen next...

The lettuces from the six packs continue to produce large amounts of very delicious greens. I've harvested twice, about the equivalent of six side salads.  On my most recent harvest I took out enough for four large side salads, easily. I think I will start to harvest once a week now. 

Some of the greens have started to produce flowers, but as you can see in my earlier blog, cutting them is the key to continued output.

Sadly my germinated seeds are not working well since transplanted. I have lost about two thirds of transplants and those that remain are not growing fast at all. I think a couple of forces have contributed to this. 

1. I put way too many seeds per germinating pod, meaning that the sprouts were competing with each other for space and water.

2. I brought them out to harden before the first set of real leaves began to show.

3. The roots didn't show signs of busting out of the germinating pods when I planted them, so maybe I should have removed the outer sacks before planting

4. They are planted almost on top of the pea plants which had a good start on them in terms of root base. Maybe the peas are taking all the good stuff?

I will leave them be and see what happens, but I think I'm just pushing the limits a little too far on the EarthBox.

Selfless Trial

My lettuces have been getting bigger, and every day I look at them and wonder, is it time? 

Today it was TIME! Lunch time that is. They say you should harvest in the morning or evening, but when you're hungry, that's the best time to harvest!My plan, to "cut and come again". So I cut the longest leaves and left the rest to grow bigger. I'm a little worried about the cut stems. What will happen? Hopefully they will just wilt and not rot and ruin the rest of the plant.

Here's what I was able to harvest from two six packs of plants after two weeks. Wondering whether things will start picking up, or whether this is about the yield. 

So in the interests of scientific exploration and the safety of my family, I made a decent sized salad with a few pine nuts, shaved p. romano, a spray of olive oil and pinch of salt. It was truly

delicious. Definitely worth waiting two weeks for. I was able to find out in my selfless experiment that it was completely safe, so the next harvest I plan to share : )

PS. Not happy with the way the Blogger publishing tool works. It's really hard to work with and doesn't look like your edits after you post. Anyone have tips to share?

More Peas!

Our neighbors S & J live immediately behind us and my veggies actually live on their property. J is a gardener by profession, so needless to say their garden is spectacular and I can always rely on them for advice, and in a pinch a pot and soil too!

They encouraged me to plant the additional peas in an empty pot they had, and so my garden grows.

This morning we planned an outing to Flora Grubb (see photo at top) with J & S for a pre-planting pick-me up of Ritual coffee and purchase of some herbs and other plants for S & J. Anyone who is even remotely interested in plants or coffee should familiarize themselves with this city gem. Even out-of-towners should plan a visit. Every nook and cranny is impeccably styled and filled with the best and most unusual plants and accessories. The staff is very nice and knowledgeable. floragrubb.com and her blog floragrubb.com/florasblog.

Strange observation of the day... When I planted the peas on the 11th I took the tallest of the bunch. The rest stayed indoors. Now the indoor pea shoots are twice as tall, but with smaller leaves. It seems as if they've decided to put their energy into finding light where the ones outside have found light and now are opening up shop. 

The newly planted peas are planted and waiting for the circular tomato trellis, so they have somewhere to grow.