Peas are up, cold weather on the way

I stopped at the garden this morning and took a whole bunch of great garden photos… then realized I had no memory card in the camera.  So last year’s photos of the same subject matter will have to suffice.

The daffodils looked just like this:

In fact, these flowers are from the same patch that I photographed today...

The peas looked just like this:

Super sugar snaps, well on their way

And the beets look just like this:

Well, actually the beets are a little bigger than this, but you get the idea..

The forecast is calling for a cold, rainy week with a dusting of snow in the hills. The peas will be fine, and I’m guessing everything in the one bed I planted will too. I’ve got a double layer of gro-therm film on it.

First Spring Planting

I know it’s a bit early, but I just had to do it.  It was a beautiful sunny day, the forecast is for a continued mild winter/early spring, and I have gro-therm film covers, so I started a few things.

The dogs went with me to the garden.  Maisy was so happy to be back roaming around the beds.  She jumped into one bed and just stood there, waiting for me to notice.  (She knows she isn’t supposed to be in them, trust me.)

The fall garlic is looking beautiful!

Carrots, lettuce, spinach, beets, radishes, collards and swiss chard went into one bed.  Three different types of peas were planted elsewhere.

It was just lovely to be playing in the dirt again!  And the beds were just crawling with earthworms, with several of them chowing down on the remains of the swiss chard that was killed off by the 10-degree weather in December.

My only concern is these little guys, who have taken up residence.  This one spent a half an hour exploring my camera bag before I relocated him to more suitable habitat…

I suppose some sort of snail relocation program is going to be necessary.  Their presence also explains the holes in the winter spinach!

Wondering About Worms…

Every morning I take my dogs for a stroll around lower Columbia City.  If it’s been raining and the road is wet, I wear a headlamp so that I can step over any worms that I pass along the route.

I worry about the worms. So many of them get smashed by the cars that pass by.  Others become bird breakfast.  And the rest?  What happens to them?

I would love to scoop the little buggers up and relocate them to my garden, but I haven’t done so for a few reasons:

• I’m worried that they may have worm germs that I don’t want in my garden.
• I’m worried there may be many different kinds of worms and that I might get worm war in my raised beds.
• I’m worried that the worms are actually happy where they area and don’t need my assistance.
• I’m concerned about injuring the worms during collection and/or transport.
• I’m worried the neighbors will think I’m nuts.

Rick says that I really am the only person he has ever known who worried so much about the worms on the road. I have a hard time believing that.   Surely there are other people out there who worry about such things… right?

Springing into action once again

The sun came out!

The seeds are here!

I could be planting peas, but where? And which kind? And with what companion plants?

I have spent the past month mulling over crop rotation plans for the garden.  It turns out my abhorrence of “change” in any form applies to where my crops grow.  I just can’t picture the tomatoes anywhere other than where I planted them last year.  I can’t imagine putting anything in the “pumpkin bed” except pumpkins.

But alas, powdery mildew was such a problem last year, and I don’t want to ignore good advice just so last year’s pictures match this year’s.  That would just be silly, right?

So I guess I must change it up a bit.   And quickly, because it’s time to plant peas! Aargh. Such is the life of a neurotic gardener.

Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup

Here’s a healthy, tasty way to use those home-roasted tomatoes you made in August, along with lots of other garden vegetables.

Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup

6 red peppers
1 yellow onion
2 cloves of garlic
2 carrots
1 quart of home roasted tomatoes, or 1 28 oz can of fire roasted tomatoes
2 cups of carrot juice (fresh is best, but odwalla works too!)
1 cup of water
2 Tablespoons of MatoZest (a very tasty salt free seasoning blend)
1/4 – 1 teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes (depending on how spicy you like it)
1/2 teaspoon of fresh cracked black pepper
1/2 cup of raw cashews (or 1/4 cup raw cashew butter)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Halve the red peppers and remove the seeds and stems. Place them cut-side down on a nonstick baking sheet and roast until the skins start to turn brown. Put them in a bowl, cover them with plastic wrap and let them sweat for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, chop the carrot and onion, and mince the garlic. Water saute the vegetables until translucent. Add the carrot juice, water, tomatoes (juice and all), MatoZest, red pepper flakes and black pepper. Simmer over low heat. Once the red peppers are cool enough to handle, peel the skins off of them and put them in the pot. Simmer another 10 minutes or so.

Carefully ladle half of the soup into a high-powered blender. Blend until smooth. Transfer it to a bowl and blend the other half with the cashews until smooth. Pour all of the soup back into the pot and heat through. Serves 4.

Maisy’s Magic Mushrooms

Today as we were gathering up the pumpkin harvest in the garden, Miss Maisy took a break from rough-housing with Mac to see what she could find to snack on in the garden.  This is what she chose:

One of the lovely lavender mushrooms in the garden beds

I’ve been trying to figure out what kind they are, so I know whether to panic and run her to the dog emergency hospital.  She’s showing no ill effects from her afternoon snack, but who knows?  Here’s a group shot:

A group of purple mushrooms in one of the garden beds

Any ideas?  Anybody want a garbage disposal dog who will eat everything you grow in your garden AND many things from your house that you didn’t expect she would find tasty?