May 6 Friday Farming

Happy MAY!!!! 

May is one of my favorite months in Montana. I love the long days and drama of the weather. Thunderstorms! Snow! Sunshine! Rain! Hail! ThunderRainSnowHail!

I think we're in a bit of a quiet period for Farming. Just waiting for the seeds I planted 2-3 weeks ago to sprout. Now I know many of you are thinking that if seeds were going to germinate, they'd have done so by now. I think the four snowstorms which deposited two to six inches of snow on the ground probably slowed germination. I'll wait another week before re seeding. 

What's going on around the farm?

Bulbs are coming to life. Clockwise in this photo are Alium, Iris, Hyacinth and Daffodil. 

My Hyacinth only bloomed on half of the flower this year. I added bulb fertilizer on Tuesday night, so hopefully the bulbs will have an opportunity to recharge for 2012. Anyone have an idea what gives though?

 The spinach I planted in one of the pepper pots on the south side of the house is finally coming alive. 

I tried companion planting chives and cilantro in these pots with my tomatoes last year. At first I thought these were spinach starts, but couldn't figure out why they were in the wrong pot. It's cilantro! I didn't know the seed would winter over! Maybe I should fall-plant cilantro seed this year?

The bee balm I transplanted from under the hammock to the utility box bed seems to have survived the move. 

And though the photo is blurry, you can see that I didn't kill the hydrangea. Hurray!

 The crocus under the tree is blooming. 

And lo and behold, the muscari is actually going to bloom this year. I'm so confused. These bulbs are usually the first guys up, but after growing all of their leaves last fall, they're slow to bloom for 2011. Weirdos. 

I have a mystery plant on my hands. See all that green stuff? I think it's either an aster or a chrysanthemum bush, which I planted last fall. You can see 2011's twigs at the center of the photo. After rooting around in the dirt I found that all of the green shoots tie back to those twigs. So until I'm told otherwise, I'm letting the green shoots go. Set me straight if this is a weed! I'll be planting a banana pepper and a jalepeno pepper in these pots eventually. 

The starts inside are doing okay. I'm trying to set them out on the front porch every day for some sunshine. The marigolds are about to put on their first set of real leaves:

In the photo below, from left to right, leeks, broccoli (round two), and eggplant seedlings. The broccoli is struggling, though I can't figure out why. It's almost burned for some reason. I'll be transplanting it this weekend. I'll probably also throw a new seed in the ground, just in case my starts fail. 

The Bibb and Romaine lettuce will also be transplanted outside this weekend. I also need to pick up onion starts to pop in the ground this weekend. I'll plant Walla Walla sweets and Red onions. 

I have a hard time photographing the purple basil. 

The cilantro is doing really well in it's little pot. I've had it on tacos all week. MMMMmmmm. 

 The rosemary sent up another surprise start! 

And the lavender seems to be growing okay. 

Remember the  broccoli I started inside in early March? It's seriously leggy from lack of adequate light. I told DJ that a grow-light is in our future. 

Poor plants!

At the end of last summer I was drinking a lot of mojitos. I ran into the grocery store and found mint plants instead of just leaves. Purchased, potted, and kept the plant over the winter. The plant itself was dried out when we went to Portland, and I assumed it was a goner. Then I found new growth yesterday! 

I sheared off the dead stuff, and will replant this outside once the chance of frost has passed. 

So far we've eaten chives and cilantro grown at home, albeit in small amounts. Which is kind of the point of growing that stuff at home. I don't need a bushel of chives for my baked potato; not even a handful. It's great to step out of the kitchen and grab what I need. Same goes for cilantro. 


Only the garlic is showing signs of life in the in-ground garden. Frustrating. Where is my asparagus, sugar snap peas, sweet peas and spinach and lettuce I seeded three weeks ago?


This weekend I'll transplant the broccoli, lettuces, and onion sets. I planted a few spaghetti-squash seeds outside on Tuesday. I'll also seed for indoor starting a couple of annual flowers: zinnias, cosmos and larkspur.

Hurry up and wait, right!