Oh, yeah, I have a blog. Well, jumping right back in, there's been mad growth in the container garden. The peas haven't made a whole lot more progress in height (17" now), but the plants are getting heartier and the leaves are getting bigger and more plentiful.  I want to chew on them. Mmmmm. But patience is a good thing, in this case.

There's less celebration in the dill pot. The dill has become a fustercluck of tangled sprouts. I planted a large handful of seeds, thinking that I'd have a better chance of a good turnout. All I have is a mess. I am not sure if it's worth it to try to put them in a bigger pot, or if it's best to say adios to this batch and start from scratch. Any suggestions?

The onions are looking good, they're only a few inches tall, but they, like the pea sprouts, seem to be filling out a bit. These are likely going to need a bigger patch, too.

Seeing them makes me want to plant chives very soon. Chives are delicious and I love to snap stalks of it off  and chew on it. My plans include traditional and garlic chives.

And the icing on the cake, the grape tomato plants are busting out of the dirt. I thought for sure there was nothing going on in that pot. I kept watering it, hoping, and berating myself for even trying to give it what little sunlight my apartment gets. Now I see my laboring wasn't in vain. There are a lot of little sprouts and a couple are looking pretty ambitious, pulling ahead of the rest by about an inch. These babies now sit under a grow light since plants can soak up nearly 8 hours of sun easily. 

The other non-food houseplants are doing well. I have successfully revived the two vines, but the fern is needing lots more love. It is getting greener as opposed to the brownish-yellow I had been coaxing out of it all winter, but it's still looks like a scrawny Charlie Brown Christmas tree. My secret to perking this baby up.....an ancient expired birth control pill pushed down into the soil at the bast of the plant. I don't promote drugging your plants, but they do love the estrogen.

My new adopted (as opposed to birthed from a seed) plant is an Iron Cross Plant. It looked Irish-ey for St. Pat's Day and I had to have it. They seemed more powerful & stoic than the tiny delicate four-leaf clovers that sat beside them on the aisle endcap.

They also have a different viney quality. The plant was very droopy and depressed when I bought it, but a day under the grow bulb got it's thick vines flailing toward the warm glow of the light. The vines are interesting in that there were only two leaves at the very tip of each one, and the immature leaves had a very visible, hairy, cilia all over them. The rest of the vine is smooth and uninterrupted. It is really quite pretty.

Next week marks the beginning of Doug & Adrianne's Arizona adventure. One of my missions is to return with cacti or other cool desert blossoms. I have an excellent cat/plant sitter, the Kitty Cat Bandit, who has agreed to try to remember to photo-document the progression of my little veggie garden. I can't wait to see the progression that occurs over the next week, especially since we are now in Daylight Savings -- spring has got to be coming soon. 

 Along with spring comes, ugh, the task of yanking all the weeds and overgrowth from my fenced in garden space. Those dead tangled monsters have been there through last summer's flood and I am not eager dig in. It will be an interesting project though. Come back to see how that goes.

By the way, the river is looking a little high these days. Say a little prayer that the river stays where it is at least until noon on August 31st, 2010. 

I'd also like to take the opportunity, impending roadtrip and all, to share my favorite quote from one of my favorite books.

“Our battered suitcases were piled on the sidewalk again;

we had longer ways to go. But no matter, the road is life.”

-Jack Kerouac

On the Road

::adrianne::