April 06, 2013

Two days ago we got four inches of snow. Today was sunny and in the 60's! Jango did still find a little patch of snow to munch on in the shade of the car. Eden and I are loving being able to spend msg of the time outdoors. She is supplementing her diet with lots of dirt, leaves, bark, etc. Joe's mom asked that we please not let her eat dirt as she might get parasites. While I think that sounds like a perfectly reasonable request on paper, in reality it is like asking water not to flow downhill! A friend td me the other day that having parasites is good for you, prevents allergies. I'm gonna go with that theory.

It has been way too cold and unpredictable a spring to do much garden work, but I have managed to plant onions and start some plants in the greenhouse. My kale, broccoli, chard and lettuce starts have been up for weeks, but they're growing rather slowly. It hasn't helped that many nights their soil blocks have been ice cubes. We're really testing the limits of "cold tolerance" here !

The weather report looks to be spring-like for the next week or more, so I planted some tomatoes in the greenhouse today. My "garden of Eden" may be more Eden than garden this year, so I'm planning on crops that are as low maintenance as possible. Pretty much every year our tomato crop suffers from BAD blossom end rot. No amount of calcium supplements or strict watering regimens seems to help. This year I'm planting only tomato varieties resistant to BER. I'm refusing to be wooed by gorgeous catalog photos and mouthwatering descriptions. The best tomato ever is the one that actually makes it to my plate and doesn't fall off the plant half ripe and half rotten. I have a couple of varieties that always do well, namely Sungold (best cherry tomato ever!), Eva Purple Ball and Principe Borghese. These are all smallish tomatoes. The big dinner plate kinds and any "saucing" variety are doomed. I'm trying one new variety, Earl of Edgecombe" that's supposed to be BER resistant. I'll give you my review at the end of the summer.