Cold snap

I am taking a break from Econ to update this. (When the prime example in my head for Econ degenerates to "the marginal benefit of waking up early to go to the gym when that really cute guy is there outweighs the marginal cost of not being able to sleep as late as I want to," it's time for a break.)

Our false spring is over, and it is officially cold. It feels like January outside, and it's the middle of March! We need the snow in the mountains, so I can't complain. I can't help worrying about my little baby plants, though. I'm glad I bought a floating row cover -- a lightweight blanket designed to warm up the soil a little. Everything has sprouted, and I recently put in second sowings of chard, radishes, lettuce, peas, and fava beans. Does anyone know how and when to thin lettuce, and why one seed seems to produce a myriad of plants?

My tomato seedlings are really starting to take off. So much so that I've had to thin them out, and will likely need to thin them again tomorrow. It feels like I am killing my little baby plants by snipping them off at the base, but this will allow the tomato seedling I choose to spare room to root out and grow. A few of them are just about ready to be transplanted into pots. I will need to buy another grow light and set the transplants in another part of the dining room. Then it will really look like I'm growing pot! Although, as a friend of mine asked astutely, "what kind of idiot would grow pot upstairs, where police could see it through a window?"

Funny how being a gardener makes one worry. I am going on vacation in a few weeks, and I will be entrusting my plants to my brother in exchange for $20. I don't want to bother my new roommate with them, and Ryan's fairly reliable if you pay him. But I find myself wondering if they will survive my absence. I hope so. It's disheartening when you put in a lot of effort only to watch your plants die.

Speaking of this, did you know that cinnamon is a fungicide? When starting plants, seedlings can catch harmful fungi from the soil. Damping-off disease kills little baby plants overnight. Both cinnamon and chamomile tea have anti-fungal properties. I sprinkled my indoor seedlings with cinnamon, and will be purchasing some organic chamomile tea to water both the indoor and the outdoor plants with before I go on vacation. You don't need to make a strong tea, a weak one (one or two tea bags to a gallon) should do just fine. One sprinkling of cinnamon on indoor seedlings is all they need to kill any fungi. It's fine to get the cinnamon on the leaves -- it shouldn't hurt them. My house always smells like cinnamon now, too. :)

The single lifestyle is still a bit of an adjustment, but I'm doing okay. Earlier this evening I saw a billboard on a local drugstore proclaiming "we have coconut M&Ms," and I really wanted to call John to tell him -- he'd been trying so hard to find the elusive coconut M&M when we were dating that he had convinced himself they didn't exist. I smiled to myself as the thought passed, proud that I had kept my phone in my purse, and happy that the memory didn't make my eyes water. I feel like I'm sure my tomato seedlings will when they go into transplant shock after leaving their compact little pellets for a great big pot. With water, light, and heat, they will adapt. With time, they will put down roots and grow strong.

As will I. It's just going to take some time. I will walk through this grief, because I know there is joy awaiting me on the other side.

HARVESTING
Lacinato Kale
Oregano

OVERWINTERING
Walla Walla Sweet Onions

GROWING
No new varieties here!

JUST PLANTED (less than one month)
Champion radish (heirloom)
Mesclun blend lettuce
Freckles lettuce
Marconi red pepper (heirloom)
Oregon sugar pod pea
Rhubarb chard
Sugar Daddy snap pea
Broad Windsor fava beans
North Star sweet bell pepper
Carouby de Maussane snow pea
Sungold tomato
Celebrity tomato
Red, Yellow, and Pink Brandywine tomatoes (heirloom)
Yellow pear tomato (heirloom)
Rainbow heirloom mix tomatoes (heirloom)
Stupice tomatoes
Peacevine cherry tomatoes
Bendigo F-1 pepper
Lacinato kale