The State Of The Onions

I took this photo on Feb 5th, at this point I think almost all the onion seeds had germinated. I think I may have planted a little to many or maybe alot to many. The Prince storage onions are in the front and the Armador Shallots are behind.

This shot of the shallots was also taken on Feb 5th. It seems they like to keep their heads in the sand as you can see by the curls. Currently they look very similar, if they don't straighten up soon papa might have to give them some help.

Yesterday, Feb 10th I thinned the Prince onions as they were getting pretty unruly. I pulled about half of them out and trimmed the long sprouts a bit. They are just starting to form second leaves so I figure it was probably a good time to thin before they start bulking up.

I have also decided that I am going to try some onion sets as well this season. I will look for either white or red onion sets and grow them along side the seeded onions. This way I can tell what does better or if there is any difference at all.

All in all it seems onions are pretty easy to grow from seed. Lets hope I am on the road to my dreams of massive onions this summer.

Some Veggies Of Interest

As with most veggie gardeners, I am on the look out for a few interesting things to try each year. I am particularly interested in heirloom veggies that are a little out of the ordinary. This year I am going to try the following varieties, they have all been found in books, veggie blogs or seed houses:

Armenian Cucumber - Cucumis melo var. flexuosus

A member of the melon family, they are very long & thin skinned.
They are light green, very crunchy and mild tasting like a cucumber.


Romanesco Broccoli -Brassica oleracea var. botrytis

Originates from Northern Italy, light green with spiraled florets. It is one
beautiful looking veggie! It is good fresh, stemmed & boiled. Freezes well.


Crimson Flowered Broad Bean - Vicia faba

This broad bean was recorded as long ago as 1778 although they had never
been commercially available. If it was not for an elderly lady donating the seed
to Henry Doubleday seed saving group in 1978 it may have become extinct.

(Seed & Photo from Down on the Allotment )

Cocozelle Zucchini - Cucurbita pepo

A bush type zucchini, grows two feet high, good for smaller spaces. Best eaten
from baby size up to seven inches. A pleasant nutty flavored flesh.


Australian YellowLeaf Lettuce - Lactuca sativa

A bright, almost neon chartreuse coloured lettuce. Heavily textured
leaves are tender, sweet & can grow to sixteen inches long. Slow to bolt.

Now I just have to figure out the rest of my varieties and order them all. I better hurry as I have already noticed some seed is selling out.

All these varieties can be found at Pinetree Garden Seeds except for the crimson flowered broad beans, they can be purchased from Heritage Harvest Seed.

More Bald Eagle Photos

After spotting the eagle yesterday and posting some photos we headed out again this morning along the Grand River in Brantford. This time we spotted it out in the open. We were told that the eagle is in an old hawk nest that it is adding too and that there is a pair of them. Can't wait until I can capture two of them together.

Bald Eagle Sighting

Today was a high of 6c(42f) and was the warmest day we have had in 2009. With the some what favorable weather, we headed out for a hike along the Grand River. We came across this guy that pointed out an eagle nest to us. After hanging around the area for a few minutes the bird flew into the nest. This was the fourth Bald Eagle sighting I have had along the river and now that I know where the nest is I will have many more. I can't wait for the spring when I can possibly get Bald Eagle Fledgling shots. The nest is to the left, kind of hard to decipher

Also well we were out we ran into a flock of Male American Robins. It was a little puzzling to see so many as I thought they all migrate south. After doing a bit of research I found out that not all males will migrant but the females all do.

What to grow this year?

After selecting all the tomato varieties I am going to grow this year, it is now time to tackle what else to grow. This year I am planning on growing more things that can be preserved, froze or stored. I am also going to try and grow only things that will actually be eaten. Some of the things from last year that will not be grown this year are:

• celery - I really don't like celery and what is one to do with a whole row of celery when it is ready all at once.
• potatoes - I love eating potatoes, however they take up an enormous amount of my limited space and don't produce enough to be worth the space. I will get my fresh potato fix from the farmers market
• bell peppers - they took forever to produce and tasted awful. I will be growing a few chili peppers though. I may also grow some sweet banana peppers, they did really well last season.
  
• lima beans - was not really a fan of these.
• eggpplant - I may or may not grow these. They did not produce anything last year.

With that out of the way, I have decide to grow almost everything from seed this year so I can select the variety of each plant. Being that I received next to no seed cataloged this year, which really isn't a bad thing, I set out looking through all the seed houses online. I ended up finding what I wanted but it was from 3 seed houses and the cost had escalated a little higher then I was interested in. The approximate total was $45 w/ shipping for 12 varieties of seed from the 3 seed houses.

My memory then kicked in and I recalled a post on Daphne's Dandelions Blog about Pinetree Garden Seeds. She was remarking how inexpensive they are and how you could then order many more varieties. I headed over to their page and was pleasantly surprised. Not only are they very inexpensive, they carry all kinds of different varieties and many are the same varieties that the other seed houses have but charge 300% more for. They had everything I was going to order from the other 3 seed houses, one stop shopping! The total from Pinetree was approximately $20 w/ shipping for 13 varieties of vegetables. I think pinetree is my new place to go for seed, everyone should check it out. Don't forget to look at their around the world vegetable section, I found many of my varieties there.

Once I finalize my order I will post a list of all the varieties I am going to grow this year.