Pollen & Planting

Spring pollen has arrived full force with the blooming of DC's many famous trees, and with it come all the allergies that we, the unlucky masses have to face. It also means it's past time to get some stuff in the ground. And that's what we did this last weekend, finally planting all those spring seedlings we've been tending and hardening off. We've got kale, spinach, arugula, and brussel spouts galore. Using old seeds, the peas and zinnias we planted didn't work out for us.

Detailed maps of our front garden beds to be posted later today. For now, check out Calendula & Concrete's helpful spring schedule, which we are in total agreement with, even if we are very late.

Speaking of being behind, we still not have not planted our community garden plot, and it is a mess over there. We have started a map, but at this rate, we may be looking at missing all of early spring, which is a real shame. We also don't have any summer seedlings going yet, not even tomatoes. But, truth be told, I don't like to plant those until late-May anyway. (You can take the girl out of Wisconsin, but you can't take the Wisconsin out of the girl.) We've had great luck direct-seeding tomatoes, so will probably go that route again for a few of our favorite heirlooms. I also am a whore for some big-box store's clearance of eggplant and tomatoes towards the end of their planing time. We got about a dozen peppers, eggplants and tomatoes last year for $1.50 each. Great deals for Big Boy and Early Girl, of course, you can't get fantastic heirloom varieties that way. And, after reading Slate's article last week about the tomato industry, I am about ready to grow my own and can enough for the entire year. Think: Tomatoes that bounce. Ew.