Category: shallots

Lotta leeks…and beets

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Sam helped me harvest at the community garden today. He dug the leeks and I dug beets. Then I processed them back at home. A messy muddy task.

What was I thinking! This is a huge quantity of leeks. And there are more in the home garden. I will have to look for more leek recipes.

The beets seem more reasonable in volume. A good selection of medium ones and another of baby beets. A few greens were harvested, but most were not edible.

And this always seems to happen. No matter how painstakingly I try to harvest all the onions and shallots, some slip by. I found this glowing plateful today.

Potting up tomatoes

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The tomato seedlings have a good set of second leaves and are ready for potting. We did half of them today – that’s 40 seedlings.

Other seedlings being nursed along: eggplant, peppers (not germinated yet), tomatillo, ground cherry (not germinated), celery leaf and shallots. The leeks and borrettana cippollini onions have been planted out.

Tomato potting operation
Sturdy Amish Paste seedling
Top row tomatillo, bottom row eggplant
Shallots and celery leaf

Spring day

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An exciting day at Cross Road Gardens. It really felt like spring, for the first time, I think. A burst of gardening energy, although I only really worked for a few hours.

Frilly pink Hazelnut bud
Dug about a pound of leeks from last year, stored under mulch
Planted peas and spinach under a relocated trellis
Seedlings: Brussels sprouts and red cabbage
Kale seedlings
Broccoli and leek, shallot, cippollini seedlings
Indigo seedlings looking fresh
Removed mulch covers from garlic
Garlic sprouts ready to grow

Starts

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I moved my seed starting schedule two weeks forward. I think I started too early last year.

So far, so good. My alliums have sprouted and some kale. Still waiting on celery leaf and indigo.

Left: a full tray of mixed broccoli.
Center from top: kale and cutting celery, cabbage and Brussels sprouts, alliums.
Right: a pot of indigo.

Today I planted brassica seeds: broccoli blend, Speedia Brussels sprouts, and Mammoth red cabbage. All Fedco.

Baby kale sprouts.
Alliums: King Sieg leeks and Cippollini onions.
Two kinds of shallots: Conservor and Big Ed’s.

Community garden planted

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I put the squash plants in at the community garden. Planting is done there! Now I’m waiting for the plants to do their thing while I nurture them as best I can.

Three rows of squash
Too small to see, but leeks are in the trench and Cippollini onions are to the left of the trench
Six rows of onion plants, one row of shallots

There’s also a nice perennial sunflower and echinacea plants, not in bloom yet.

It begins! 2020

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Twelve weeks (estimated) until last frost date for my zone (5b). I’m using May 8 as that date.

First seeds started

So we started seeds today. I’m trying to get more organized with my garden planning. I used a planting schedule from Johnny’s Seeds to plan out the indoor seed starting schedule week by week. First up, alliums:

  • Conservor shallots
  • Borrettana Cippollini onions
  • Bleu de Solaize leeks

We used our soil blocking tool and a potting mix composed with the following recipe:

  • 5 parts ProMix Growing Medium
  • 3 parts compost (Vee, left over from last year)
  • 1/2 part sand
  • 1/4 part azomite
  • 5 parts water

I sprinkled the seeds over the top of the blocks, then sprinkled more ProMix over the top and misted. The flat is on the kitchen floor for now, where the radiant floor heat can keep them warm.

Next week, I’ll start some celeriac and leaf celery. Maybe parsley. And I need to fill out my planting schedule with set-out dates and direct-seed dates.