Blessings we should count

Today was a good day.  [Technically, the time indicates today is Easter Sunday, but I haven't been to bed yet.  That means in my world it can still be Saturday for the remainder of the post.]

The sun was mostly out and it warmed nicely.  The windows were open and the spring breeze wandered around smelling of growing grass.  It was a good day for sheets on the line (had I not been too preoccupied with grading).

I discovered my French Breakfast radishes are sprouting already!  The seed coats are cracked and a little plantling is beginning to emerge.  Oh, and the number of seeds in the pot is closer to 80 than 40.

I planted the squash seeds in starter pots today.

Did I mention how many tomato and pepper plants I have?  Yes.  I broke them down by category.  However, this afternoon I realized how MANY plants my total came to!  I am growing 24 tomato plants.  [That is NOT a typo.]  What the hell am I going to do with 24 tomato plants?  [Consider that I am also growing 28 pepper plants.]

Perhaps I should give away a few of the seedlings if they sprout?

I suppose I will spend the best part of July and August cooking and canning like mad.  I am not going to complain either!  If I spent $60 and end up with hundreds of dollars worth of food that will last through the winter, I am thrilled!  Plus I will still have more seeds for next year...(with the exception of the radishes and maybe the carrots).

***

While grading papers today, I confess to procrastinating a bit.  I caught the beginning of The Splendid Table on NPR.  There was a lovely piece about kindness and how we forget to be kind until we are humbled.  Here's the audio link to The Tire Iron and Tamale by Justin Horner.

***

In other news, the son of a high school acquaintance passed away as a result burns sustained in a fire.  The family is on my mind.

 

Let the garden experiment commence

Yesterday, I started some seeds for planting in the garden between the beginning and end of May.  In theory, mid-April is a good time for planting as we should be at the end of "last frost of the season," but quite often we get one or two freezing nights afterward.  The sun was beautiful and warm--a great day to be outside.

I started six each of the following:

Crnkovic Yugoslavian--pink tomato
Black from Tula--purple tomato
Goldman's Italian American--red tomato
Ananas Noire--striped tomato
Quadrato D'Asti Rosso--red bell pepper
Red Cheese Pepper--red bell pepper

I started eight of each of the following:

Black Hungarian Pepper--hot pepper
Leutschauer Paprika--hot pepper
Tendercrisp--celery  **I planted 8 starter pots of this with two or three seeds in each.  Seeds are itty bitty and I thought it better to be safe than sorry.

I started six of the following:

Delikatesse--cucumber
Eagle Pass--okra

I also directly sowed about 48 French Breakfast Radish seeds in a long planter.  We will continually plant and pick these so I wanted something simple and close to the back door for easy pick/eat salad toppings.

Today it is misty and rainy so there isn't much gardening happening outside.  Inside I am soaking my beans for a few hours before I pot them [Mayflower Pole Bean, Cherokee Trail of Tears Pole Bean, and Purple Podded Pole Bean].  I will also pot the Musquee de Provence Winter Squash seeds as well.

This weekend looks like the date for popping the Bull's Blood Beets, St. Valery Carrots, and Rocky Top Lettuce Mix in the ground.  I'll also pop in the Tall Telephone Peas as they can handle the cooler weather.  I just have to set up the trellis first.  They can grow to 8 feet!  I might try them against the back fence as well to see if they will respond to the area.

I wanted to grow watermelon, but I figured with the squash being so sprawly, I'd tackle them first and see how it goes.  If I can wrangle them easily, then I'll add watermelon to the list next year.

I ordered my seeds through Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds this year.  The prices for everything we ordered was very reasonable.  We even got a gift packet of Parisienne Carrots!

For flowers, we ended up with 2 pansies (Orange Sun, Laura), cosmos (Sensation Mix), multicolored pinks (Baby Doll Dianthus), Hazelwood Blues Morning Glory (a mix of light to dark blue flowers) to put over the mailbox and along parts of the fence, Radio Calendula, and French marigolds (Harlequin).