Leeks: they're still "what's for dinner"
We're in a bit of transition here around the house. Our kid says "I am not a napper anymore," and she isn't, except when she's really run down from a day at school. So this means that she SHOULD be able to be in bed and sleeping by 8-8:30 or so. Which also means I SHOULD be able to have a few hours to myself before I need to hit the hay.
So last night, kid in bed, I thought: I could get more seed-starting accomplished. SIGH. I really need to be in the MOOD to do things like this, and last night I certainly was not. So I transferred some things (cardoon, artichoke, sea kale and angelica) to bigger pots and put off the seeding for later (like, this weekend, maybe) for the fennel and tomatoes and brassicas.
My one and only hope for this year is that I am able to really push the crops for lots of late-season storage. Meals like last night's really drive this home. I mean, I ADORE potato/leek soup, but we're low (very low) on potatoes and the leeks in the garden are also numbered. I am a fairly compuslive succession planter, and if I practice anything, it's the French Intensive method, with its abhorrence of unused ground and tight spacing of plants. So this morning I looked over my garden plan. If numbers really mattered, I will here claim that last fall I increased (i.e., made new) the beds by 32% in the garden proper, and if I throw in the greenhouse beds, it's another 14%. Management is the key, though, not rough square footages. It's still a small garden considering how much space we truly have around here.
So I will still be doing my doodlings and machinations and plans and counter-plans. Nothing is set until the first seed is planted, and then not really as that seed will be rotated out when its time is nigh. I do plan on getting the peas and the favas in the ground on Saturday (St. Patty's Day), though: the race will have begun, and all the planning in the world won't mean a thing! That's what's so humbling about paper versus real gardening.
3 comments:
I plan to plant peas + broad beans too this weekend. They go i while the ground is still warm and get a good start then slow down over the winter. Come spring, we have peas + beans. I may start a second planting for spring in jiffy pots (indoors) just to extend the season.
Does the intensive french planting technique you apply bear a resemblance to the Jeavons style method?
Looking forward to pictures of the northern spring, I have to say.
I'm also planting my peas tomorrow or Saturday. I feel I am a week or so late in getting it done, but that's just the way it goes sometimes!
Nada: Jeavons, yes. I didn't double-dig, nor do I have heaped beds (greater surface area because they're domed) but I do everything else, including LOTS of compost.
It took me forever to understand that non-Americans call fava beans "broad beans."
Carol: You're not late! But I couldn't SEE my beds last week for the foot of snow atop them, so I guess (if I get them planted that is) I will be right on time.
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