planting time

a couple laying on the terrace's chairs smiling at each other

planting time

This is the time of year when I’m planting like crazy.  A few weeks ago I planted the first batch of seeds in our makeshift greenhouse in the basement that will grow into summer veggies, such as tomatoes, peppers and eggplant.  I spent some time over the winter scouring the internet for sources of unusual pepper seeds from different cultures and cuisines, such as Aji Amarillo, which is used for making a delicious spicy paste (it’s from Peruvian cuisine).  It’s a relatively rare pepper in the U.S. so I’m eagerly anticipating experimenting with it. I got it from TradeWinds Seeds.

 

 

 

There is another seed company that I am absolutely in love with:  Kitazawa Seed Company. Last year was the first year I tried any seeds from them and I had a lot of success with growing their seeds.  The company specializes in Asian radishes and greens, and they have great descriptions of them on their website including information about how they are typically used in Asian cooking (pickling, stir-frying, salads, or all three) and in which specific culture they are most used.  My kimchee craze last spring was due to planting an overabundance of daikon radishes and Asian greens. I’m trying to be a bit more circumspect this year but I don’t know how much I’m succeeding at that. At roughly $3 each it’s easy to get carried away with enthusiasm and order too many seed packets.

Next up for planting are potatoes.  I ordered several different kinds of seed potatoes a few months ago that need to go in the ground around St. Patrick’s Day (so I guess I better get on it!) Last year a resident family of rodents (either ground squirrels or field mice, or both) got into the potatoes and ate most of them.  We had to dig up the remaining ones long before they were fully formed, so we had a meal of tiny potatoes that were supremely delicious, but unfortunately there were only a few handfuls of them.  Ramon just put out traps for the rodents so hopefully we can stop them from raiding our potatoes (and everything else) this year.  I was hoping the snakes would get to them and do our dirty work for us, but that wasn’t the case last year so I don’t want to take a chance this year. Once you discover the damage it’s pretty much too late.


 

In other news we are working on revising our special use permit application to fit the new zoning ordinance update and should have that resubmitted in the next week or so. Everything is moving along!

 

 

 

#reverieretreat

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

a mother duck sitting on the nest with her new baby ducks

Easter drama

Every spring we have watched a pair of Canada geese occupy their nest on top of our potting shed, protecting the eggs they’ve laid there

Read More

‘Tis the Season

You would think that owning 32 acres in the forest would mean we would never need to buy a Christmas tree. That’s certainly what we

Read More

Sign Up For Our Newsletter