the great tomato rescue of 2012

Starting off with some good news, we have plenty of things coming up in the garden this week!

Yup!  The taters are up!  Something so cool about having potato plants growing, I don't really even know how to explain it.  We have all small and fingerling varieties that I seeded from actual spuds I bought at our local Farmers Market, put in a paper bag in the dark for a couple weeks until we got eyes growing, sliced up and put in the dirt and here's what you get after a few weeks of patience...

May not look like much right now, but trust me when I say we have big plans for these taters!  Check out this awesome article that I got from my buddy Beverly on how to get huge yield on potatoes!  We just added some peruvian blue potatoes to another couple of barrels out back to grow along with our other varieties.  Look at these beauties!

corn

Just in front of these, we have onions coming up in three different varieties, as well as a few other things in the yard garden.

onions

Squash

Dragon Tongue Beans

We even have things growing indoors now!  Remember growin these on the window sill in the kitchen as a kid for salads and stir fry?

mung bean sprouts

We have been having a little trouble with the birds in the yard garden, so we will be attempting this same technique with the peas to give them a bit of a head start before giving them a protective little cage out in the mounds.  Who knew mocking birds loved pea seedlings to much!

Which brings us to our next big repair effort... the great tomato rescue.  Our seedlings didn't fare too well in our high tech greenhouses.  2 weeks after seeding, this is what we have...

That would be dirt and cow poop in falling apart egg cartons.  Lovely eh?  So, we had to get a little more fancy.  Turns out, those little peat pellets in the covered plastic trays really are the best way to go, along with a cool little device we found at our local nursery...

look how happy!

The 'Matenater 2000

24 hours after getting this setup together and the seeds in the peat, we already have sprouts!  How cool is that!  So, for tomato fans out there, trust me, the $40 you'll spend on this setup for your tomatoes and eggplants... completely worth the investment!

Last but not least... I of course got a few last minute seed packets in the mail over the past couple of weeks... trade from buddies way back home in Colorado and a few varieties of other plants I just couldn't resist... like watermelon radishes, honey bear winter squash and butterbean edamame!  Do you think Chad will be okay with finding another 6 by 12 foot plot plowed up and planted in the back yard when he returns from Michigan the second week of May?  :)  Surprise!!  Grass is so over rated anyhow.  Give me kale!!  And maybe one other variety of watermelon so he can't stay mad.  ;)