Gone Feral In Idaho

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Yeah, I'm not doing  this . It looks like I have an albino Imperial Star artichoke, it seems to have stopped since the true leaves started to sprout. Maybe I should buy that big lottery ticket. It looks like I'm off and running with this years first garden freak .

Here's the 2012 grow-op.  I just re-potted some maters into bigger pots, burying them up to their necks. The fan helps build strong stems and keeps fungus gnats away. We had a plant full of them that I got rid of, but the damn things keep popping up. Fungus gnats look a bit like fruit flies, but they love to lay eggs in the soil of houseplants and will eat the root structure, often stunting a plants growth, but usually killing baby seedlings if there numbers are high enough. This is the first real harvest of the season. These are collards and broccoli we planted back in October that were in hoop houses. I'm not dead set on doing it again next fall, but we do have a lot of garlic coming up, so maybe we'll focus on that next time.  Here is Sadie posing with my new bargain find. I plan to bring it to Vegas for my first International Association of Coroners and Medical Examiners conference in June.  It will be 5 years in November that I started with the Coroner's office. I...

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Here is the broccoli and collards we planted last fall. We actually have broccoli! The watermelon radishes were a bust, I'm finished with them. I think there are some shallots or onions in there. I didn't get a photo of the garlic and Rocket arugula in the larger raised bed not shown to the left. I'm wearing the Simplicity 2603 cardi-wrap that I've been needing to finish for over a month. I sewed it up today and am quite happy with the result. I could really jazz it up with a cinch belt and some leggings if I keep up with the jogging.  Broccoli that made it through the winter. The grow op is in full swing. We've got tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, and flowers coming up. Happy St. Patties!

I've found that I really drag my feet on a new post if I don't have any of my own photos. I've been meaning to address the garden plans for this year and I don't have any examples of what I consider a reason to grow. I might be a jerk, but when we plan on growing something, my rule is that if it is good and easily procured at the store (cheap) but difficult to grow, we don't grow it. Brassicas are on that list due to my awful attempts at dealing with aphids. Brussels sprouts were a huge space waster considering they were covered with aphids with all but non-organic pesticides. Should I eat the store bought ones? That is a great question, but not one for now. I had a n interesting talk with a pathologist that will only eat organically grown meat, just to avoid those nasty neurological wasting diseases we've heard about in the past. I digress. My goal this year is to continue my delicate new love affair with the tomato. I am a born tomato hater. They are full of ...