Another new leaf

I talked yesterday about the revolting winter we had. Now, by God, I'm having spring. I have to believe it will eventually be something other than gloomy/chilly, and to that end I started my first round of seeds inside. 

This year I have probably the largest amount of gardening real estate I've had - and with good sun angles to boot - and am determined to maximize it. Our home, while lacking in legit yard space, has a startlingly large deck, which is both on the southwestern side and elevated away from most critters. The squirrels are an occasional issue but nothing like the deer and rabbits my mother contends with. While we do have our CSA membership for the summer, I want to be able to supplement with things that I know we like, and in a perfect world go to the grocery produce section for only specialty items and certain staples. 

The plan for the deck is ambitious but not, I hope, overly so. For produce, I'll do two kinds of tomatoes, zucchini, and container corn, which I have zero experience with but am intrigued by. Also, a pot of strawberries. I've got lavender and rosemary going inside and will relocate them when things warm up, and have two pots which will hold spearmint and thyme...I think. I'm considering doing two pots of mint, as I use it quite a bit in iced tea during the summer and thyme is such a pain in the neck to grow - and takes so much to get enough to use in a recipe. Maybe, though. I normally grow basil, but I have one of those odd hydroponic basil plants in the kitchen - purchased mid-winter because it was the exact same price as buying a clipped bundle, and I figured I'd see what happened. Much to my surprise, it's growing just fine. It's not visually interesting, or all that attractive, really, but it's there so I may as well let it be for as long as it survives. 

So back to the point. Last Monday, I started my seeds. I use the peat cups so as to not actually have to transplant them, and I generally start twice as many seeds as I want plants. This usually results in about a 70% sprouting rate, and then a few die off and I end up with the right number of actual plants. This year I am hoping for 2, at most 3, plants of each variety of tomato - I'm doing Sweet Cherries and Black Krims - so started five seeds. And all but one Sweet Cherry has sprouted! This is both exciting and daunting. If all the sprouts survive I will have too many starts, and everyone I know around here who gardens grows tomatoes themselves so will have no need for my extras. 

I was puzzling over this yesterday and remembered last summer at the food bank we occasionally had plants to give away. For the most part it was herb plants - basil and the like - but every now and then something else would be there. These plants all were WILDLY popular - gone in minutes. So if my plants are too numerous, perhaps there's a food bank here that may want them -- and on that same note, I'm now thinking maybe I ought to go ahead and plant the remaining seeds too. What do you think, readers? Do any of you have any experience with donating extra plants? 

It's that season again

The sun has been out here in Seattle for days now. Days! It's gorgeous. I'm sunburned. It's only April. I could not be happier. 

As an obvious result, I've been pretty much parked on my patio, and have been puttering and freshening up garden pots. In the process, I've discovered that while I never really checked to see if my peas from last year were perennials...it's kind of looking like maybe they are. The pot in which (I assume, can't really remember) they were planted last year suddenly has a collection of pea-looking sprouts, without me having paid the slightest bit of attention. 

there are four or five of these - peas-to-be?

 All I've done is...I don't know, till? the soil to air it out after the winter, with intent to fertilize and reuse later in the season. I didn't think I even left any of the plant behind last year. But something is growing and it's not a weed or a stray birdseed (not the current finch families are leaving much behind to begin with), so maybe I'm lucking into another crop. It's a mystery.

Meanwhile it appears I'm going to have some sort of tomato bonanza. Last year I planted 9-10 seeds and got something sad like 1 sprout, and had to purchase a start from a local farm at the farmers' market to make sure I had a crop at all. This year I planted 16 seeds, and so far I have 9 - nine! - sprouts. I'm going to have to buy more pots. The mint won't die, the thyme seems to have created a baby thyme at the side of the pot, the sage looks like winter never even happened, and even the rosemary is doing well. This is all before this week, when we've had nearly a full week of stunning weather (did I mention that I'm sunburned). This week the arugula has popped up all over the place and three new orchid buds have bloomed. The only thing not busting out is the violet hybrid I seeded in pots - which is probably fine since now I'm going to need those pots for tomatoes. I love spring. 

itty bitty tomato sprout...one of many

Sprung!

I'm typing from the inside of a sunbeam. A sunbeam! This is so exciting - not just because it's Seattle and it rains a lot. No, this is more because it's Seattle...and we're kind of far north. For a long stretch in the winter, the sun - when it happens to come out in the middle of the day to begin with - never makes it high enough in the sky to make it into the interior courtyard of my building, which my apartment faces. I know it's over there...but it never shows itself. But now! Now my patio is awash in sun, my desk is a warm and happy place, and my cat is writhing in ecstasy in a sun patch in the next room. 

There really is nothing like early spring, amirite? That first warm day: bare feet and cropped pants, iced coffee, chirping birds, picnic-planning with EPB (who is now EPFiance, so I guess he needs a new acronym). Best of all, though, there are actual!fresh!delicious! things in the produce section. Lunches are suddenly much more interesting - today's was a big fresh salad, with fresh asparagus and chickpeas (okay, those aren't "fresh", but they were good) with a lemon vinaigrette and fresh pepper. You can't get springier. It was marvelous. I used to be afraid of asparagus. If you don't know how to cook them you can rapidly slide down a complicated path of blanching AND sauteing, or roasting them to death, or other complicated disasters. No more! Thanks, Alton Brown.

Welcome, spring! 

Simple and Delicious Vinaigrette

It's a personal thing, a homemade salad dressing. I like mine on the basic side. The general rule of thumb is 1 part acid to 2 parts oil, with seasonings if you want. Add your acids first, then the salt and other seasonings - they'll dissolve better before you add the oil. Then add your oil, whisk aggressively, and you're all set. My current go-to, in the order you should combine: 1 part balsamic, 1 part lemon juice (fresh if you have it), a generous pinch of salt, a pinch of dried whole thyme (crush it as if your hands were a mortar and pestle as you add it to the container), and a generous grinding of fresh pepper. Mix. Then add two parts good extra virgin olive oil - and if you have a lightly flavored oil, like a pepper-infused one i'm enjoying right now, make it 1 part that and 1 part unflavored oil. Mix, taste, adjust as needed. 

Easiest possible way to make asparagus

Via Alton Brown, Food Network

Ingredients

1/4 cup water

1 pound fresh asparagus, 1 to 1 1/2 inches cut off the bottom [*note from your blogger: don't get too technical here, just snap them - the stalk will break where it's supposed to*]

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Pour or spritz the water onto 4 paper towels. Spread out the paper towels and lay the asparagus on top of the dampened towels. Sprinkle with the salt. Roll up the asparagus in the dampened towels. Lay the bundle, seam side down, in the microwave. Microwave on high until the asparagus is just crisp tender, about 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from the microwave using tongs and carefully unwrap. Arrange on a serving platter and serve immediately.