Thursday, April 16, 2009

April Update

Spring is late, as we all know. My garden journal from last year records the rhubarb coming up by April 15. No sign of it yet this year. I'm guessing it may not come up until the end of April or early May. Last weekend was nice and warm, so I planted (outside in the garden) some Green Arrow Peas, Dwarf Green Curled Kale, and Cherry Belle Radish. Hopefully they'll come up sometime before July! With the cool spring there is risk they may rot before coming up, but I couldn't resist the urge to give them a chance to try. My seed stock has grown too big anyway, so may as well use them up.
Below is an update on the indoor plants:
Prairie Pride Tomatoes & Southport White Globe Onions, early April.


"Salad Bowl" Lettuce, slowing down but still growing.


Plumeria showing some growth at top. It really perked up when I put it outside in the sun last weekend.


Tomatoes & Onions, mid-April. I'm thinking I may have to transplant the tomatoes to 4L pails before transplanting outside!


Oregano (planted around February, I think). Growing slow and steady.


Southport White Globe Onions. Flimsy but alive. Not sure if I should eventually harvest them or transplant outside. We'll see if they can wait that long.


Cilantro at flowering stage (planted end of December '08). I'll harvest the seeds (Coriander), dry them and grind them for the spice rack along with the plant leaves that remain. They seem to dry well in a paper bag in the cupboard (out of the light).


2 comments:

The Blog Fodder said...

If you want the cilantro "fresh" for ???pack in a small zip lock bag and freeze as fast as possible. To use, crush the frozen herbs in teh bag before opening and spinkle in whatever. Works very well for dill and should work for almost any herb.

Jo said...

Thanks for the advice! We'll have to try that. We typically use it fresh only and don't grow enough to freeze, but I hope to increase production outside. I only dry and grind after it decides to bolt, but should try your freezing method also.