Small Success

Clem and I went to Home Depot yesterday to see what plants they still have on sale.  Many of their plants were on sale for 5 for $10!  We picked up a Roma tomato plant.  We also wanted to purchase a cherry or grape tomato plant, but all that remained in stock were hybrids.  The eggplant plant we had in our buggy turned out not to be on sale, so we're saving that money for something else.  We may check out Lowe's to see if they've marked down any of their plants yet.  When we went last week, they were still about $3.50 but still had non-hybrid cherry tomatoes and eggplants stocked.

Otherwise. finally found our grow light.  We scoped out the basement for the best spot.  Clem and I are going to be nailing up the florescent light this week and starting our seeds for cherry tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, zucchini squash, cucumbers, and sugar snap peas.  Yes, I know it seems a bit late.  We're still getting thick frost some nights, however, so it felt best to wait a bit before starting the seeds. (That, and I can't do anything correctly without a bit of thoughtful procrastination first!)

As far as our herbs are concerned, they all appear to be doing well. The basil plant is about 8-10 inches tall now, so we decided to use some of the top leaves in the veggie packet we're cooking on the grill tonight as a side for our pork chops.  The catnip I planted last week has germinated ahead of schedule, and we have 3 itty-bitty sprouts so far.  It's surprising how encouraging these small victories are!

While assessing what plants we're actually going to have in our garden this summer, we decided we may not need to build a bed after all.  We found a large, sturdy kiddie pool curbside at the end of last summer that we kept around with the idea of using it for a container garden.  I have to measure out it's area, yet it may be all we need.  We're going to use some used for the potatoes.  According to an article I found online, the old tires are safe to use as long as they are not cut or damaged.  We may also utilize an old stainless steel garbage can for growing potatoes.

Heck of a Day!

My and Clemmie's area (southwestern Pennsylvania) has been receiving a lot of rain recently.  Not too surprising since it's spring, yet the storms are more powerful than most of us remember.  In fact, our area has been hit by tremendously high winds; there was a tornado that made national news (and You Tube) about twenty miles from our house.

Today, there was a hail storm that came out of nowhere.

Until that point, the weather was warm, "muggy" (humid), and fairly nice. CM3 and I decided to go ahead: splurge on the tumbling compost barrel we found a couple weeks ago at Tractor Supply Company after we discovered the one we wanted from Sam's Club for $65 is sold out across our region.  We browsed the store a bit before making our purchase.  The last of the bigger bins--that holds 12 cubic feet of compost-- was on sale from $160 to $130; Clemmie talked me into the bigger one since it was only $10 and the last on clearance.

I had an inkling it wouldn't fit into my mom's 2000 Hyundai Elantra due to the barrel's size.  Clemmie and a clerk from TSC tried to make it fit through both the front and back doors of the cars.  Once the decision was made to tie the barrel to the boot of the car, it began to rain hard.  The dime- to nickel-sized hale pelted down from the sky seconds later.  I retreated into the car while the boys deliberated on how to tie up the bin.  We were on our way home within 5 minutes.

$138 and a hale storm later, we made it home.  Clemmie and I both agreed that the easiest place to locate the compost bin is next to the garbage cans.  Years ago, my grandfather made a brick patio to keep them on.  It wasn't quite big enough, so Clemmie grabbed some extra pavers and extended it.  It's a little wobbly for the moment but should be nice and steady one we begin to fill it up.  I'm positively excited!

All Blue Potatoes

I've wanted a garden since I started living on my own in 2006.  Clemmie started to have a desire to start a garden with me after I told him we can have rare vegetables, including Purple Peruvian potatoes, purple carrots, and purple podded pole beans (I'd prefer the Moonshadow Hyacinth Bean or Scarlet Runner Bean).  They're nutritious and make for some yummy, eye-catching cuisine!

From what we've read online, any type of root vegetable will grow well in appropriately-sized containers.  The most popular way to grow potatoes is with the tire method--put four to five seeding spuds inside a tire located on top of some good quality garden soil.  Cover over.  Let the plant grow 4" to 6" tall, then cover plant with soil only 2" to 3" are showing. Repeat, adding new tires as needed.  Radishes are great companions to both carrots and potatoes; they can actually promote growth by loosening the soil, allowing the shoots of carrot and potato plants to break through.

So we know how to grow what we want, now to get them, right? Almost.  Purple Peruvian potatoes are not only extremely expensive, they are difficult to find or sold out.  Clemmie, thankfully, found an alternative: All Blue potatoes.  We visited local nurseries looking for starter spuds.  Most didn't even know that purple or blue potatoes exist.  One shop in Charleroi, Bill's Feed and Seed, called their distributor to see if they had any; they do!  The All Blue potatoes are expensive but much less so than we could find online. The only downside: we had to buy a 50 pound bag!

Yikes, right?!? Maybe not.  We placed an ad on Craig's List here in Pittsburgh, offering the starter spuds as $8 per five pounds.  We've had one gentleman place an order with us for ten pounds.  We also plan to share five pounds with both our neighbor Cindy and our friend Lisa.  That leaves us with twenty-five pounds of potatoes for which we need to find a home.  The order arrives on Thursday...we'll see how it goes!