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Seedling Survivors

Filed under:Annuals, Cool Season, Vegetables — posted by cehwiedel on March 11, 2010 @ 8:04 am

I am happy to report that despite my fears of hail smashing them flat, my radish seedlings survived:



No rain in the 10-day forecast.

Lots of time for weeding!

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-03-07

Filed under:Commentary — posted by cehwiedel on March 7, 2010 @ 11:50 pm

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Seedling Sacrifice?

Filed under:Cool Season, Vegetables — posted by cehwiedel on March 6, 2010 @ 9:28 pm

The radish seeds planted last week have sprouted.

Tiny newly sprouted seedling make me absurdly happy, like puppies and kittens and newborn babies.

Another rainstorm moved into our area today, threatening thunder and lightning and hail. My babies could get flattened overnight.

The tomato plants will likely survive any battering short of marble-sized shot.

They’re sheltered in the sideyard, but I should have followed my kids’ advice and covered them.

Fingers crossed.

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Florida Shivers, Tomato-Lovers Weep

Filed under:Cool Season, Fruits, Shopping, Vegetables — posted by cehwiedel on March 5, 2010 @ 7:05 am

I couldn’t resist this AP story on tomatoes:

Organic Beefsteak Tomatoes

Organic
Beefsteak
Tomatoes

A frigid Florida winter is taking its toll on your sandwich. The Sunshine State is the main U.S. source for fresh winter tomatoes, and its growers lost some 70 percent of their crop during January’s prolonged cold snap.

Wholesale prices are up nearly five times over last year. That means you can say goodbye to the beefsteaks on that burger and prepare to pay more than usual for the succulent wedges in your salad.

…Some parts of Florida saw average temperatures so low that this January and February were among the 10 coldest on record, according to the National Weather Service.

It turns out that most of the tomatoes you find in the grocery store this time of year come from Florida — but not this year. California tomatoes (like the ones in my sideyard) won’t come to market till later in the year.

Mexican tomatoes will be imported to meet demand.

…until my sideyard warms up and begins producing.

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Save The Seeds

Filed under:Commentary — posted by cehwiedel on March 3, 2010 @ 6:01 pm

After developing an intolerance to wheat, I subscribed to a handful of new-to-me magazines to get ideas for what to cook for myself. One of those new titles was Vegetarian Times.

An article on page 14 of the March 2010 issue praises heirloom vegetables and urges that VT readers Save the Seeds!

As a backyard gardener, I was interested to read their suggestions on what to do:

Cascade of veggies; graphic: cehwiedel

  1. Donate. Give to Seed Savers Exchange (seedsavers.org), a nonprofit dedicated to saving rare produce, or join the organization to receive discounted seeds.
  2. Plant. Purchase seeds from Seed Savers Exchang or Web sites such as rareseeds.com, heirloomseeds.com, or heritageharvestseed.com to grow in your garden.
  3. Discuss.Chat with gardeners about heirloom produce via online forums such as idigmygarden.com.

All three suggestions are fine as far as they go — I planted an heirloom variety of pear tomato this year, for instance.

But I didn’t buy the plant online. Much more humdrum, I bought it at Home Depot. That’s good, too: creating demand for heirloom seeds and plants in the do-it-yourself market improves their chances of survival.

Another possibility is your local farmer’s market. Check for heirloom varieties as you walk from stall to stall, and talk to the vendors about your search. If these growers find a market for heirloom veggies, they’ll grow ’em and sell ’em — and that again improves the chances that heirloom varieties will survive.

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image: bromeliad blossom by cehwiedel

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