I try to contain myself when flipping through the 2011 seed catalogs on a zero degree morning. The sun comes out and warms the room, but outside it remains painfully brisk. The warm photos in the catalog entice our gardening minds to wander toward possibilities and good intentions. I intend to weed and water more frequently this season. I intend to protect my garden from molds and pests. I intend to mulch and fix up some row covers. I intend to plant some cover crops and enrich our soils.

Who knows what will really happen? At this stage, who cares? Let’s just dream for a while.

Our Pinetree Garden Seeds order:

SCARLET SPINACH (F1 hybrid 40 days)
HABANERO HOT PEPPER (heirloom)
BLOOMSDALE LONG STANDING (heirloom)
STARBURST BLAZE SUNFLOWER (F1)
DELICATA SQUASH (heirloom)
ARACHIS HYPOGAEA PEANUT (120 days)
JACOBS CATTLE DRY BEAN (83 days heirloom)
KELLOGGS BREAKFAST TOMATO (79 days)
PACKMAN BROCCOLI (F1 hybrid 52 days)
TENDER SWEET CARROT (heirloom)
PURPLE RUFFLES BASIL
BIG RED PEPPER (75 days)
BEER FRIEND SOY BEAN
LEMON CUCUMBER (65 days heirloom)
ORANGE SUN PEPPER (81 days)
HORN OF PLENTY SUMMER SQUASH (F1 hybrid 45 days)
HOMEMADE PICKLES CUCUMBER (54 days)
MATTS WILD CHERRY TOMATO (55 days)
LAVENDER TOUCH EGGPLANT (F1 hybrid 66 days)
EARLY GIRL TOMATO (F1 hybrid 60 days)
FANTASIA MIXTURE SUNFLOWER(F1)
REDBOR KALE (F1 hybrid 55 days)
PINETREE LETTUCE MIX
MINNESOTA MIDGET MELON (60 days)
SUGAR LACE II SNAP PEA (65 days)
PURPLE CAYENNE PEPPER (70 days)
ITALIAN LARGE LEAF BASIL

I also purchased some Burpee seed packs today:

BIG MAX PUMPKIN
HOT LEMON PEPPER

It’s no wonder that Jack’s magic seeds were beans. The way the vines twist and grow and climb lend themselves to fantasy and imagination. And they produce beaucoup amounts of beans too. Something I am not sure Jack was ever too aware of. Or perhaps his grew so fast and then he had to chop down the stalk so soon after planting that he was never able to harvest anything.

I like to think the beans of the Jack’s plant would also be magical. Maybe a few seeds have survived and have been past down through the generations. And maybe one day I will trade those seeds for a cow. I’ll need a cow first.

We’ve been eating better these days. The garden has been helping. And while we have pulled the occasional items here and there, this was the first full meal of a wide variety of fresh veggies. The chiogga beet (white and red stripes behind the cucumber) is a very sweet variety and it doesn’t bleed all over the plate when stabbed with a fork – which, as we all know, is one of the worst things about beets. The garden is about ready to explode with produce. It’s exciting, but in some ways I wish it would just stay at about this pace.

Most gardening books and seed packets will suggest planting for the least amount of re-planting. It makes a lot of sense. It saves soil, time and effort. It also likely produces less shock on the fragile seedlings. But in the Midwest and north, Winter is long and boring. If you glance back a few posts, you can see I gave in and started some veggie seeds in late February. With this jump start on the season, it becomes necessary to have lights, a good watering ethic, and eventually the resources to manage potting on.

Potting on becomes a very quiet, meditative experience. There is a certain rhythm to it. I can’t claim to have actually found that rhythm. I have always been a bit rhythmically challenged. Still, it was a day spent with dirt and sun, and that was nice. I did find myself a little bored toward the end of the day, but I potted on over 30 eggplant, over 50 tomatoes, and several peppers. Have loads more to go, but ran myself out of room.

That’s the other thing you need when potting on – space, and lots of it.

Planting greens and other cool weather crops into the hoop house has been on the list of things to do for a couple of weeks now. Now we have six bags of spinach, radish and butterhead lettuce seeded. We’re guessing the bag planting will be fine for these shallow root crops. I did over-plant each bag so heavy thinning will be in order, but the seeds are older and germination might be less than optimal in these cooler conditions. Although it wasn’t cool in the hoop house at all when I was planting. The sun was shining and with only a light wind – probably over 80 degrees. It’s all a big experiment — later we will share some wildly anecdotal conclusions based on our initial results and experiences.

If you look closely, you will see patty-pan squash, rond de nice squash, tomatoes (cherry, brandywine?, stupice), beans, lemon cucumbers, lemon peppers (ripened red), okra, brussel sprouts and blackberries. It was a good day for harvesting. Tonight we had a cucumber and pepper salad with mustard vinaigrette along with a tomato and mozzarella plus basil salad with vinaigrette.

I finally convinced Anne to order seeds with me from Pine Tree Garden this morning. Here is what’s coming to the garden this year, assuming things go well. 

KOLIBRI KOHLRABI (43 days)
GOURD MIX
ARMENIAN CUCUMBER (90 days)
JADE CROSS  (F1 hybrid 87 days)
IMPERIAL STAR ARTICHOKE (F1 Hybrid)
LANCELOT LEEK (F1 hybrid 100 days)
MATINA SWEET LETTUCE (50 days)
AMBROSIA MELON (F1 hybrid 83 days)
CASCADIA SNAP PEA (48 days)
TABASCO PEPPER (85 days)
PASILLA BAJIO HOT PEPPER
SWEET RED CHERRY PEPPER (75 days)
MANYEL TOMATO
DIAMOND PEPPER (78 days)
HOWDEN PUMPKIN (105 days)
PINETREE RADISH MIX
SPINACH MIX 1 oz
SCALLOP-SUNBURST (F1 hybrid 50 days)
VEGETABLE SPAGHETTI SQUASH (100 days)
DELICATA SQUASH (97 days)

I enjoy harvesting. It typically means eating is just around the corner. But I always feel a twinge of sadness and worry. The sadness, I think, stems from the impending finality of the season that harvesting marks. And I worry the produce will fail to live up to tasty expectations. The acorn/winter squash was especially nerve-racking since it is hard to know if/when it’s ripe. It isn’t winter yet, so it seems a bit premature, but we were not disappointed at all. And with enough butter and brown sugar on top, who cares if it’s ripe! The eggplant is a white variety, so that one is ripe.

Another sure-not-to-disappoint are the cucumbers. I’ve been taking these along with raw beans in my lunch this week. And I think I mentioned this before, but the cucs are a burpless variety. I’ve never noticed that regular cucumbers cause me to burp, but these certainly do not. Perhaps it’s just a marketing gimmick. Seed stores would probably sell more if they labeled everything burpless. Burpless corn, burpless watermelon, burpless greens… When faced with the decision to buy burpy or burpless variety, who wouldn’t buy burpless?!

More on the way. I froze most of the remaining kohlrabi – we shall see how that turns out. Also picked a large turnip last night, along with some potatoes, fennel and carrots. I don’t think I will be planting turnips of this variety again. Not my favorite.