Thursday, April 26, 2012
My Lettuce Bolted, So I Did Too!
As you have read, I had little success with my winter garden this year. This was, of course, weather related. Can’t do much about that. I make sure everything gets whatever sun is available, but there’s nothing to do when the weather is just too warm. Shade doesn’t help when plants want sixty degrees, but they get eighty.
The two crops that did well were my strawberries and my lettuce. That is, until we approached Spring Break. The temperature went up, and my lovely crop of leaf lettuce bolted overnight. Boy, did they get tall! So the weekend before Spring Break (remember, I’m a teacher), I took my shears and an empty grocery bag out to my container garden and snipped off each head just where it started to stretch upward. Then I grasped the remaining stub and twisted it out of the soft planting mix. It took all of about five minutes to clear out the six heads.
My intention was to plant my spring garden during Spring Break, but then the weather did its thing again. What? Eighty degrees when I’m at work, but only sixty when I’m on vacation? That’s just not fair. But then I decided to take my cue from my lettuce. Since they all bolted, I did too. I turned on my computer and booked a flight to Hawaii. My spring garden could wait.
Had a lovely time. Read books, strolled along the beach, watched a few performances of traditional dancers, took a free ukulele lesson and bought my sister several patterns for Hawaiian quilting. Didn’t grade papers, didn’t plant my garden. Didn’t think about either.
The best part of having an easy condo garden is just that. It’s easy. It’s easy to plant. It’s easy to tend. It’s easy to harvest. It’s easy to leave when the whim strikes. No harm no foul.
Until next time,
Elizabeth
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Winter Weather Gardening?
I know I mentioned that our weather here in California has been wildly unpredictable this year. It still is. If this is winter, I’ll take it. For people, this is great. My winter garden, however, just isn’t happy. I had a similar problem last winter. Every so often, the temperature goes north of seventy-five degrees. The strawberries don’t mind. The leaf lettuce is also hanging in there, but everything else? Forget about it.
Since I enjoyed the fresh broccoli I grew last year, I purchased two transplants for this year’s garden. Interestingly, although they are fairly near each other and receive the same amount of sun and moisture, one is doing better than the other. Well, I should say, one did better than the other. Then spring arrived, or so it seems. Before the head of the first plant was even five inches in diameter, it started to bolt. I chopped it off, and enjoyed what little there was to eat. It was really yummy, but there was only enough for one portion.
I didn’t remove the plant right away because the side shoots last year gave me more than the main head. I was hoping that this would happen again, but now I’m not so sure. The plant sent out several shoots right away, but they look like they want to bolt too. They aren’t even two inches across! The main head in my second plant bolted two days ago. It wasn’t even worth putting on a plate. I rinsed it off and called it a snack…a very small snack.
Now for the peas. I planted two pots last year, but spring arrived too soon. Disappointing harvest. This year I used seeds I was given by a gardening friend. Since he had a fairly good harvest last year, despite the weather, I was hoping for a good showing. Right. I have one pot of snow peas and one of sugar snap. The first container has plants that are about ten inches tall, and look weak. Poor things. The plants in the other pot aren’t even doing that well. They are only six inches tall and starting to fade to a light yellow. They really didn’t like the eighty degrees we had last week. Water didn’t matter, neither did shade. It was almost hot. Peas just prefer the cold.
Looks like the harvest in my winter garden is going to be rather pathetic this year. I have carrots, leaf lettuce, strawberries, a very little crop of broccoli and a tiny cherry tomato plant that keeps hanging on, giving me a little round gem from time to time. Oh, well. Things could be much worse. I could live in Europe where they are having a brutal winter. I may not harvest much this season, but at least I’m not up to my ears in snow!
Until next time,
Elizabeth
Since I enjoyed the fresh broccoli I grew last year, I purchased two transplants for this year’s garden. Interestingly, although they are fairly near each other and receive the same amount of sun and moisture, one is doing better than the other. Well, I should say, one did better than the other. Then spring arrived, or so it seems. Before the head of the first plant was even five inches in diameter, it started to bolt. I chopped it off, and enjoyed what little there was to eat. It was really yummy, but there was only enough for one portion.
I didn’t remove the plant right away because the side shoots last year gave me more than the main head. I was hoping that this would happen again, but now I’m not so sure. The plant sent out several shoots right away, but they look like they want to bolt too. They aren’t even two inches across! The main head in my second plant bolted two days ago. It wasn’t even worth putting on a plate. I rinsed it off and called it a snack…a very small snack.
Now for the peas. I planted two pots last year, but spring arrived too soon. Disappointing harvest. This year I used seeds I was given by a gardening friend. Since he had a fairly good harvest last year, despite the weather, I was hoping for a good showing. Right. I have one pot of snow peas and one of sugar snap. The first container has plants that are about ten inches tall, and look weak. Poor things. The plants in the other pot aren’t even doing that well. They are only six inches tall and starting to fade to a light yellow. They really didn’t like the eighty degrees we had last week. Water didn’t matter, neither did shade. It was almost hot. Peas just prefer the cold.
Looks like the harvest in my winter garden is going to be rather pathetic this year. I have carrots, leaf lettuce, strawberries, a very little crop of broccoli and a tiny cherry tomato plant that keeps hanging on, giving me a little round gem from time to time. Oh, well. Things could be much worse. I could live in Europe where they are having a brutal winter. I may not harvest much this season, but at least I’m not up to my ears in snow!
Until next time,
Elizabeth
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