No rain at all the past week and no significant events on the way. Still very warm, about 10-15 degrees consistently above normal, in fact many local records were broken for the date yesterday. It hit about 81° here in Richmond but back down to 70 today as the sea breeze is starting to kick back in. So weird, that's something someone should only be saying in summer.
The veggies are booming and now a lot of the other material - rhododendrons, roses, etc. - are starting to bloom, about 3-4 weeks ahead of normal. Things have done so well that already I'm starting to rotate things. We've gotten quite a bit of food and lots more to come. Feeling lucky enough to have planted a couple of padrón peppers and a basil plant today, 3 weeks ahead of schedule.
The cauliflower experiment was interesting but it's starting to look like they won't form heads in time before I need to take the box over for the tomatoes. The plants have gotten huge but I may have forced in too many in too little space. I've heard that it needs chill to set blooms and there certainly hasn't been enough of that! They have a couple of weeks still to show but if they're not ready to do something by the end of the month, they're gone.
I also probably planted too many chicory plants in my enthusiasm to try it fresh sautéed. Very tasty but not really something I'd like more than once a week. Definitely will show some restraint on the next batch.
Box 1
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| garlic |
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| radishes, lettuce, arugula, mesclun |
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| mesclun |
Been pulling out mesclun, pulling lettuce heads now that the thinning is more or less complete. Pulling radishes before they get too large and hot but it's turning out to be a bit more than we can use. Still clipping the mesclun but it's getting rather large.
Box 2
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| lacinato kale |
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| Rainbow chard |
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| chicory |
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| beet seedlings |
I pulled a couple of chard and kale but still plenty left. The beet seedlings are really getting there, thinning out for greens but backing up on what we can use for salads.
Box 3
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| celery |
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| broccolini, caulflower |
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| cauliflower, chicory puntarelle |
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| puntarelle, cicoria blanca |
I probably planted too much chicory as we can't keep up but it was an experiment anyway. Now I have a better idea of how much to plant.
Box 5
(inadvertently placed out of order)
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| celery, mesclun, lettuce, beets |
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| padrón peppers |
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| sugar snap peas |
We stopped at Westbrae Nursery and saw some padrón seedlings so decided to go for it since the space where the peppers will be planted is already fallow. I guess I'll be needing to provide some support for those snap peas soon.
Box 4
(inadvertently placed out of order)
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| parsley (pulled the second one today) |
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| cilantro, dill, parsley, chives, sage |
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| thyme, marjoram, basil |
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| marjoram, oreganos |
One of the two parsley plants I planted in January was showing signs of bolting so I pulled it. I got it in a pot at Berkeley Hort so it may have been in its second year already. I planted a new one more or less in its place. I also added another on the far side and amy trying a basil seedling too. I plan to seed some basil but not for a couple of weeks and in their own spot in another box.
The remaining Italian oregano seems to have settled in as its finally established. The Greek plant from the pot last year is also progressing well.
Containers
Trees
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| Ye olde lemon |
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| Satsuma |
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| persimmon leafing out |
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| Radishes 2 months from seeding |
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| Large lettuce heads after considerable thinning the past few weeks |
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| Mesclun 6 weeks after seeding |
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