Well, I am still hardening off. But you know what I'm looking at the two week forecast. And I'm gonna put them in pretty soon it's gonna be in the 80s next week, and then the 70s Following that, so I'm going to do a last push in the next four days to harden things off and then I'm just going to because they're kind of partially hardened off, they still need to get to a full day son, they're about a half day son right now. So then I'm going to start playing
it's funny that you still do not my stuff's been sitting out for like a week or more probably almost two weeks now. In the night I cover it but it's all out and mice. My tomatoes are just not growing. I don't know what the problem is. They're teeny I'm terrified. I'm gonna have no tomatoes this year. It's
been too cool. And I think even though we put them outside and they're hardening off it's still too cool for them to really, you know, take off I think they're gonna catch up I'm not I've never been too worried about that. I'm gonna do that
to worry about I normally start mine so early by now I'm like, Oh my God, these things are getting too big they need to go in the ground and I have the complete opposite problem now these things are teeny that's the way it was for me last year I remember coming here and seeing your teeny little CES and I remember my big and use with TV and my other friends same thing with her. I used to I would joke with oh my god you're going to get those a Christmas break and then has caught up as soon as they do they caught up they do I've never had that problem. That's my first time. First time for everything. Yeah, I am hearing though from a lot of people on the pages on the tomato pages that I'm on saying that the tomatoes are so small as well why aren't they grow in? So
it's funny I there any, any problem you're having or any success you're having, you're gonna find other people are doing it and having the same problems. It's just like that. I remember that. I just remember that from year after year. I'd be having a good tomato year and somebody else wouldn't. Or I'd be having a bad pepper year and someone else yeah, it's not working for me. Yeah. So who knows? It's that's kind of the adventure of it's always a mystery.
Yeah. And you know, there's benefits and disadvantages to everything. So I felt like this year I started everything later. So I didn't have to have like 200 pots in the house and everything and have all these grow lights so I started them later the weather had warmed up enough where I can move them outside I didn't have to worry about the hardening the in and out in and out. But so that was the good that's the advantage of starting from labor Now the disadvantage is my plants are so bloody small they're like so freakin tiny. Like even if the weather was 80 degrees next week. I can't plant those things. There's nothing there to plant they don't have a tree leaves Yeah, but the tiny this just tiny some firm like I have a few my pink Berkeley tie dye looks good my there's like five or six of them that that have a good size. Well, not as good as my tomatoes normally have this Sunday. Yeah, but it's good enough. But the majority of them are like so small. Oh my god. So
I planted in two groups. The first group I planted they're going to be fine. I'd rather they be bigger but they're not but then the latest group they're like that they're just not big enough.
My peppers. Great. I might. Awesome. Yeah, yeah. Fantastic. I have your papers who have really
even more so and then I realized oh my gosh, I haven't pinched them off. So I did that this morning. I did that yesterday and a little bit. Why did you pinch them off. I don't pinch myself. Pinch off the very top set of leaves and then where they were, they'll branch out so you'll get even more peppers. You'll get more branches rather than one straight branch going straight up.
Okay. With one small branch going up
well it just helps it branch out Oh sooner so you'll get more peppers in the long run. Okay, I don't know if it makes a huge difference but it makes a difference. So yeah, I just pinched those off. I still have some that are not quite I don't feel they're big enough to pinch off yet. I want some really good solid lower leaves before a pinch off the top. Okay, yeah. It's like that with your herbs you know when you when you pinch off your basil or oregano or any of those, the place where you pinched off this underneath will grow more branch
I do that the only thing I do that with is the basil. They you know there was a pinch it from the top and it will grow. Or I pinch it when they start to flower like my Thai basil like starts flowering really early. So like nearly every other day. I'm sitting there pinching off the flowers. Yeah, but I haven't done that for anything else.
Yeah, it pretty much applies to almost everything. Now I know you don't want to pinch off your tomatoes. I'm
definitely not pinching you there'll be nothing left some people,
they'll let one of their suckers grow. And then they'll have to, it'll be like having two leads. And especially if you have room, the way you're trellising, if you have room to let those two leads, go, you know, branch out. I never do that. I always pinch off or try anyway, pinch off those suckers. Plus, you can route those suckers and get a whole new plant. If you need to succession which, you know, that's a good idea if you have room. But yeah, if you have, I wouldn't ever pinch off tomatoes either. I like that one main thing just growing into eternity until it gets killed with frost. But um, yeah, that's what I am doing now. Pinching the peppers. And the other thing in my garden is the perennials have just exploded. Yeah, it's really cool. Anyway, what do you do in your garden yesterday,
I waited both my beds. So yeah, and it's that crazy weed. It's everywhere this year with the little purple flowers on it. So they come out nice and easy, you know. So I did. I did one side and I started the second side in the morning. And then in the evening, I went out and I did the other side. So it didn't take very long at all any comes out so easy. So now the beds are ready. All I need is my tomatoes to grow. But I'm thinking I'm probably not going to put them in until I'm probably not till Mother's Day because they are so small. I know. I can't believe that I'm saying this that you the weather's gonna be nice. And I'm not ready to put them in normally I can't wait to put them in. I'm putting them in when it's still cold and then put in jugs over them at night and stuff like that. But nope. to shame on behind.
Yeah, there's really no rush, really. But looking at the weather. Yeah, there's the nights are not going to be below 50. So that's a good sign from this weekend. Yeah, I am going to wait on the tomatoes. There's no rush and the peppers. But I've got a lot of other things. I've got the beans and
I just direct sowed my beans the other day. Yeah, but a week ago, I see a couple of them look like they're coming up. But that's it. I
did my copies but they haven't even come up yet. I'm kind of wondering when did you do them? It's been about three weeks. I would expect them now but nope. And the other day. Now one of the things that I like to do, I have a bag of black beans that I got from H Mart like a couple years ago. And I don't like them when I cook them. They're because they're white inside. They're not the black beans I'm used to. So I just have been saved. I saved the bag and every year I go out if there's a blank space, I poke a hole poke a hole, plan a bean because beans are great. They're I don't plant them to get the beans off them. I plant them as nitrogen fixers. They're just great to have everywhere in your garden. So
what kind of beans do they grow?
I don't know. I got this bag at h Mart. It's not labeled except beans. You know, it's an
it's once you've never done this before. Yeah, yeah. What kind of beans grew when?
I don't know. I don't I don't harvest the green beans. Yeah,
it's green on the outside. Right. Okay.
Just like a long green bean. Nothing special. I'm sorry. I thought I thought you meant what's the name of the video? No. Yeah, well, yes, it's a bag of beans in a Ziploc bag at h Mart. And they're real cheap. So that's, that's what I've been doing. I went out and I just poked some holes. I know where I'm gonna put things and and so I just you know, planted a few and if if they come up and the you know, the bunnies eat them. That's okay. That's just nitrogen into the soil. Right? Yeah. So I did that last year. And the year before and I I don't know if it made a big difference, but it's something easy to do. And, you know, beans are just great to have they also it's good to plant beans starting out to make sure your soils Okay, and nothing's wrong with your soil or doesn't need anything that's kind of interesting back a couple years ago, when all there were saw this tainted potting mix and garden soil going around. That's what I learned plant, start planning with a bean and it because it comes up real fast. And then if it dies immediately, then you'll know you've got some tainted soil, but mice was fine, but that's just one of the perks. Yeah.
So well, last year, I did the same yard long beans, and I maybe got four or five beans if I was lucky. I have no idea why. So I'm trying them again. I'll see my friend didn't and she had so many beans. I mean, she gave me like two bags of beans, um, grocery bags of beans, not a once but you know, over like two or three visits. So I'm hoping to get some I really love how they look. I didn't like three years ago and I did the red ones. And actually some red ones came up by itself last year. But the ones the variety I did a couple years ago they were really tough even when you even when you pick them really Yun last year you know like I said I got very few beans I don't remember. I don't remember if I even got to cook them because they weren't I didn't get five close enough together I don't remember if they may have gone into compost or something or maybe a through Minister fry, but my friends weren't definitely weren't tough. They were they were really good. I love them.
That's why I like I like the rattlesnake beans. They're the tenderest Yeah, they're the ones with the modelled purple and they did really well for me last year I had them out right in the middle where there was nothing around them. So they got full sun all the time. I think they need that
isn't the best. Yeah,
that could be it. I also had them. I had a I did a Florida week because that's all I really had. I'd run out of trellises. So they were going up through that and then I noticed the bunnies and the groundhog we're getting to them. So I put some T posts in the shorter T posts I have and I wrapped the whole thing in chicken wire. So then they got so robust, they were climbing up the chicken wire the Florida week just wasn't enough. I mean, it wasn't very attractive. It was like a you know,
that's an idea I have to check in wire. Because the tremors I built last year is all like falling apart. It's all lopsided and everything and I guess I need to get some more zip ties to tie them back together. But maybe I can just throw some chicken wire over it and they can climb up the chicken wire
I just did that with my peas I have them in a raised bed and I have a thing for them to climb but then I put chicken wire wire all around them. And I feel like that way they can climb up the the pea trellis in the middle of the bed but they can also climb up the outside on the chicken wire and still have lots of space and airflow between them. I can just get more peace. That was the thing with me with peas last year they didn't do very well. And I got peas but a handful a week and it just was never enough to actually full meal. Yeah, I just frustrating. I did
peas in a spring and I only got like you said a couple of peas. But then I did them in the fall and they did really well. Well they got really tall and bushy and healthy. Never got a pee because I guess it got too cold for it to actually produce the bees. But it got really tall it look really great. And I wrapped it in in a cloth thing, Kimber? Yeah, and I would look down there and it's still look good but never no peace. So
I'm hoping this year I love peace the front I never ate them much growing up. I didn't like him that much. But frozen peace was maybe in a in a in a what is that dish you make with the rice and fried rice fried rice? Yeah, love peas. And that's about it. But man when I eat fresh peas, it's like a whole different food. I love that
I the only time I would do peas, like you said is in fried rice, or something that was popular in English in England was something called fisherman's pie. So you made you know, like some kind of white fish in and you do like a cream basher meal sauce, and you put in peas and carrots, and then you it's like a fish shepherd's pie. And then you top it with mashed potato and you put it in the oven and bake it and it's so good fisherman's pies delicious.
Really sounds good. We need a recipe. Alright, there's another recipe that will be on the website very soon.
I love fisherman's pie. What kind of fish like a cod? Something white like cod? Hundreds? Yeah,
something like that. And especially that you can even get frozen and you're not going to know the difference. You know,
I have a problem with frozen fish. I don't know whether I've had bad froze because sometimes when you go to the fish, fish market, well, not the fish market. But like if you go to the grocery store to cut in fish, some of that's previously frozen. But when I bought like a packet of fish, I don't know if it's in my head, and it's frozen and I have to defrost it I feel like the texture is not right. Like when I cook it I feel like it's kind of creepy. Yeah, it's not right.
But how can you tell when it's in the middle of a pie? can you really tell the texture? I don't know
because I've never used frozen for it's I so I honestly don't know. I've always bought if I see like cod cheap or something. I'm like Oh, um, I'll even do like a Mediterranean fish with olives and tomatoes and stuff like that. Or I'll do I love making fisherman's but I just haven't had it in forever.
That sounds delicious. I've never I would have never thought mashed potatoes with fish, because it's traditionally just not what we would do. Yeah, mashed potatoes always go with me.
Well, yeah, chicken. It's kind of like a shepherd's pie. You put the mashed potato on top of it, and then you put it in the oven. And you can even sprinkle some cheese on it. It's God it's so good. So was there a little bit of gravy in it? You could use a white sauce like a best Shamil is with the fish. Yeah. And you put in peace and carrots. And for some reason that's something I always use a ballyfin is in that source. And yeah, it's so good.
That sounds good. All right, I'm getting that on the website. I'm trying to get more more recipes. As we talk through these things. I have a recipe for service. Green seasoning, okay. It's a Trinidad Yeah, thing. I found several. So. And a lot of these things I noticed. I've always cooked this way anyway. You don't have to follow a specific baking. Yeah, it's more of a concept. And you have there's, there's these general ingredients. Exactly.
Yeah. Follow, I'll look at a recipe to see what they use and how they kind of make it. But then I will never measure and follow. Exactly. You know, I make it how I want it.
Right. Yeah. Right. And if you make it enough, then you can alter it. Yeah, see what you like. It's just if you ruin it the first time.
That's not good. How are you doing?
They're sprouting and coming up. Yeah, my cute. Yeah,
I know. I get excited when I see them. And I have this pot that um, I planted potatoes in about two three years ago. And potatoes grew back there last year. I only ended up getting like two tiny potatoes and I think it was kind of scabby as well. So I you know, I didn't think I never even bothered to look at it this year. And I just noticed two days ago, it has greens like coming out hanging over the grobag some like oh my god, maybe I'll get more potatoes this year. So I went in I mixed up the soil a little bit, put some fertilizer, put some bone meal, watered it and then just gives me topped it off with some fish fertilizer. So maybe this year I'll be looking at for potatoes. I didn't put any I don't put anything in there for a couple of years. That'll be Yeah, but the ones that I did plant they're looking really nice and healthy so that's always exciting. Yeah,
I have a whole bed dedicated to those a little bit I'm hoping I'll get enough you know worth it. I never
picked my potatoes late enough because I picked them when they say pick them when they died off so I always wait I feel until they've died off but I'm just never feel like I got enough potatoes. There's always so many tiny ones. And if you got I should have waited a couple I should have waited a couple more
weeks you could get Yeah, they get just a little better. They probably wouldn't get that much better. But yeah, yeah, I don't know maybe this year wait and see. Yeah, maybe
this year so I just get too excited. And I start sticking my hands down in there and feeling to see if there's any and in one of them like you could see the bulges on the side of the bag. Oh my god yeah, I get too excited about the potatoes and then I always kick myself shoo I should have waited
that's why calendar journals are good either some kind of a planner where you can write things down.
Well I write the date on it. The tag Yeah, it says when seeds potatoes I put in and what they I did
it right but do you journal like I picked it on this day?
Oh, no, no, I don't last year. Don't do it until Yeah, yeah, like that. But these are different varieties. Well, I have yukon gold and I do have to fingerling again, but this time I have a different purple potatoes I normally do purple majesty. And this year I have some hickory something. This time it's purple on the outside but white on the inside and purple majesty is purple on the outside and purple on the inside. Right.
I've gotten those at the store. Right? Yeah, I've gotten the purple ones on the outside and white on the inside too. Yeah, that's
what I have right now. So I can't wait. I think um, I want to get more potatoes in the ground like July so I can harvest some at the end of October this year. So So if these when in these went in in March, April, May, June, July, they bloody better be ready to come out. So I'm gonna start shooting off some more potatoes like may like late May. So the in July, those are coming out and I'm gonna put fresh ones in again.
You'll have a double harvest.
I hope so. I hope so.
That'll be fun. Yeah, yeah.
I've been eating my regular meeting. Yeah, yeah, that is Yeah. Any letters but yeah, my reglas coming in. And I love it.
I keep pinching off it keeps trying to flower so I keep pinching those off until a little bit raggedy looking some of it because it overwintered, but there's still plenty of, you know, the new growth. It's that smart.
So if threw in those seeds that you gave me was that last week when I was here two weeks ago? I think two weeks ago. Yes. The Greens. Yeah, yeah. Um, I don't know if I'll be able to tell the difference. I don't know if any of that's coming up as yet.
No mine yet. Yeah. Okay. So yeah, we'll see. Yeah, that's a southern it's winter crests. But it's it's more of a, I guess the name Creasy greens is what they call the South but I'm sure the This, the plant is all over the world. My
Brookley had a gross, gross, gross sprout. Like I looked at it the other day, and I'm like, oh my god, it's getting really tall. So I'm hoping that I can get some broccoli before it, you know, goes to flower. That's the thing with doing it in the spring you don't have long enough. You can't put it in too early and then it takes quite a while I feel you know, for it to grow into produce. So I don't know if I'll actually get a cauliflower this this spring. And I was really looking for I did the purple cauliflower and something called flame cauliflower, which is like a very light orange one. Yeah, so I've seen Yeah, I'm hoping I hope I get some,
the only successful Braska I have ever grown in the spring was cabbage. Really? Yeah, it can withstand and it was a particular it was called Market cabbage, Copenhagen market cabbage. And is particularly bred to withstand a little bit more warmer temperatures. Yeah, because people who have market gardens grow it so no, that was a success.
I wonder if we put like a shade cloth over it if that will make it last longer.
That's what some people do. Yeah. I've never really done that. It seems like a lot of Well,
mine is covered anyway. But we've tool so I don't know if that's preventing much sun really? Yeah, I
don't think so. It's worse President preventing the pests. But yeah,
yeah. Yeah, I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I'm really looking forward to those.
You know, it's always worth the experiment. Even even even though you don't get much in the spring. It's like that dirt just sitting there empty.
Yeah, yeah, it's
such a waste. Yeah, right. Yeah, some some of my spaces of I don't plant something. I'm gonna get weeds. And I'm gonna go fact people would accuse me of being a violent farmer right now because the time it's ridiculous out in my garden, but I have I've surrendered this year. I just I can't, I just can't keep up.
Yeah, I mean, I just left it and decided I wasn't going to do it until I'm going to be ready to plant but that's still a couple of weeks away. At least I think we've decided to my demand and maybe some maybe I'll put some in. Yeah,
if you have enough like the bigger ones that's kind of what I'm going to do. I'm just start just gradually as they get big enough, I'll pop it in. And just so I don't have to do it all at once,
which is Jupiter. Wind Wind is so small because I've never planted them so small. Do you put something around it to kind of protect it? Like I know when I did my okra went because okra is I think it's kind of fragile. So what I will use is like a plastic bottle and cut the top and the bottom off. And then I just put it over it so that it doesn't get eaten by I don't know rabbits or or I don't have squirrels that eat them. But I know they were eaten before a few years ago. So that's why when they're still small like that, I would I would put plastic bottle over it.
That's a good idea. I I've never just impersonators because nothing really eats the tomatoes.
Oh, they don't. Yeah, again, I've never had to borrow but it's a good
idea with other things that the critters might want to eat. Actually, I have these black mesh trash cans I bought at the dollars. Were dollar two courses now the dollar 25 tree they need to change the day. Yeah, but I bought like 25 of them. And they're about how big is that? Like 10 inches? Yeah. And they're perfect. Whenever I have a new seedling coming up that especially the beans or, or I've got them over my corn right now my corns kind of come up. It's about two inches. So I'll pop those over until it gets about till outgrows the.
So the bottom isn't solid, right?
Right. Oh, no, the bottom is solid. No, it's not solid. It's mesh. Right? Okay. Okay, I'm
gonna say yeah,
a mesh is wire. Yeah,
I know. It's why around us a mesh around. But I didn't know if it's a trash can if the bottom was solid. So then the bottom is now your top and it's solid and
it's not solid, right? So they still get light. Yeah, there's are lifesavers. My neighbor went out and bought a bunch, too. And I see all their little brassicas have have them over with netting on them. But yeah, it really protects and sometimes I'll leave them on the whole time. Like I did it with my beans last year, they grew up through the little hole through the holes in the mesh and they were fine. And it still kept the critters from getting to the bottom. Sometimes if I didn't have if I don't need them for something else. I'll just leave them and then in the fall when I took everything out, I just put them back in my garage. So those are really good. I really that was a goodbye. Hmm. Other than that, I
just use a plastic bottle. Yeah.
because it lets the sun in. Yeah, and you only need to protect the sides of
Yeah, until it gets to a certain size and then I take it off. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. I may still have a couple of those saved. I used to drink seltzer water all the time. So I would save those bottles, but now I don't have any.
So I'm sure somebody's got some new Yeah, yeah, find something go through somebody's recycling bin, or somebody's
trash and see what I can find. Yeah. So I'm really excited to try this. As we're talking about brassicas, something called Nine point broccoli. It's a perennial broccoli, and it looks like it has baby color flowers on it. It's kind of a yellowish color. It's apparently really popular in England. I had never heard of it until I was watching one of these girls in England that I follow on her YouTube yesterday. And she she had this thing and I didn't even quite catch the name, I had to keep rewinding it. And it looks like a cauliflower head with in the middle and then many little baby color flowers around it. And it comes back for about four or five years. That's so exciting. I have to track down some of those seeds.
Yeah, that sounds really good. We're, we pulled it up on a search and we're seeing all these pictures. They're just beautiful. It looks a lot like like if you would have stocks of broccolini without so many leaves, but you know that narrow. The heads themselves seem a little bigger than each of the broccolini heads. Maybe. But yeah, you should post
up on the site. Yeah. Because that's, I've never ever heard of it. And every time I tried to search it came up on an English site. Yeah,
that's why I've heard of it. People in England grow it. I don't know that it's real popular. It needs a cool climate. So I'm
gonna try and do it in the fall. Yeah, yeah. I mean, if I don't get any new fall, I will get some in the spring. Right. Yeah. Well, I
think perennial vegetables are so smart. I don't know why we don't do more of it. I mean, I know they're different. I mean, I have a few. I have lovage, which is a perennial celery. And it's got a really strong tastes. So if you're using celery for to add the taste, you would use like a better quarter to half as much. And maybe a soup or stew or whatever using but you wouldn't just eat it.
If they're just leave though. Love it. Does it help stoke? Yeah, it has
stopped. Oh, okay. Actually, I saw one. One YouTube video where somebody took the stocks are hollow. And they cut the stocks and they used him for straws in their in their bloody marys. Oh, seasoning. Yeah, it was like, Oh my gosh, that would be fun. That's a great idea. Yeah. So I'm excited to try that sometime. But yeah, the stocks, you can use all of it, the stocks and the leafs you want to use newer growth, it's not quite so robust in flavor. But if you know, I have I had some I have a lot of it actually. It's also got a really deep root. So it's good for if anybody like me, I do chop and drop. I have some plants that are just there. I'll harvest them. I'll chop them all up, and I'll drop them right on the soil and they'll make a nice fertilizer. It's also good for that, because it's very nutritious. It's got a lot of nutritional value. I don't remember I read about it a few times.
But I remember the leaves in soup years ago when I was in culinary school when I was still a commie chef. They call me chef. You go to school part time, and then you work. And I remember using it then but that's the only time I've ever used it. Yeah. And it was just delete from what I remember. Yeah,
I think the leaves are probably more tender and better. But you can use all of it. Yeah, I dried a bunch of it. And I'd throw it a little bit into soups and stews over the winter. But yeah, I'm gone that I looked up a few perennial vegetables that are that are, you know, nice to grow the course the Ninestar broccoli was one that I'd like to try to. Of course, rhubarb asparagus.
My rhubarb was looking a little sad yesterday. You know, reasons started to look wilty when
it gets overcrowded, it needs to be maybe that's what happened.
Yeah, yeah. Because a few days ago was looking really nice. And yesterday. I noticed it was all like looking wilted and soft. Is it sending up a flower yet? No. Usually that's the sign of I need more room. Yeah, no, no flower yet. Yeah, it'll
mean Yeah, once you harvest it, you probably want it. Yeah. Like we talked about. Yeah, um, and then the letter or you know, the herbs that are perennials, the chives, rosemary, lavender thyme. They're really nice to have.
Oh, I planted your times I got from you looking good. I've been using them already. Good thing with my herbs. I use them. So
yeah, I don't use them as much as I should. But I don't really use chives very much. What do you do with
eggs? Eggs? Yeah, sometimes I put chives in my scrambled eggs. I
like that. Okay, do you cook them or just throw them in? They'll
just throw them in and sometimes in the salad dressing?
Yeah, well, yeah, I've used them in my ranch dress Ranch seasoning. The dried chives. But yeah, okay after Look at that. Horseradish is a good one. If you know I don't Okay, but horseradish is good for the garden to be thing about a lot of these perennials, besides the fact that they're low maintenance, besides the fact that they come back year after year without you doing anything. They're actually good for your garden because they're helping the soil.
