Considering the Garden

Today of all days I started thinking about this year's garden. I am realizing two new things this time around. The Twin Cities have a shorter growing season than Chicago. Our deck gets minimal sunlight.

I've played around with the idea of putting a Roma tomato plant in a container near our front steps, which face south. Other ideas include lining the east side of the building with herbs and other veggies that can do without full sunlight. Our backyard is HUGE but all shade (great for parties and hanging out, not great for growing).

Also, this year I will learn to preserve food. Like canning. Here is a slideshow of inspiration.

Tomato Blossoms

The three tomato plants are all blossoming, and a couple of pea-sized fruits are budding out. I'm experimenting with the Topsy Turvy tomato planter my mom gave me a couple years ago; the plant is upside down and it is supposed to be a way to grow the veg (fruit?) without stakes. So far, so good, though at the time the seedling itself was almost too big to insert properly into the contraption...note to self, don't squish tomato plant to the point roots break. Lesson learned.

Spring Green

By the calendar, spring is already here. But this week...it actually is starting to feel like it, too.

Fortunately, our rented apartment has a deck facing southeast, and while I'd like to build raised beds for everything or big planters....I question exactly how much weight the structure will hold. For now, I have five gallon pots with broccoli and romaine lettuce (photo on the left). They've faired well in the freezing cold we've been having, and I've noticed that with this week's sunshine they've perked up even more.

The only things I seem to be able to grow properly from seed are tomatoes. The seedlings here (on the right) are sprouting in our loft's skylight, and are the Mexico Midget variety from Seed Savers (located in my nativeland of northeastern Iowa).

I made a simple soup tonight--sort of an “everything but the kitchen sink” variety. Lots of veggies (carrots, zucchini, mushrooms, cabbage), a little ham, some tiny soup pasta, and homemade chicken broth. Served with buttermilk biscuits...we ate it all. Spring, here we come!