Friday Favorite: Blooms in Winter
I often cut branches of various things to force indoors when the weather is still dreary outside. Forced branches, whether they have leaves or flowers, can really help during this season when the snow is mostly gone and the world outside is still brown and drab. A little color indoors reminds us that spring is not far away, soon enough our gardens will be riotous with color. Forcing branches couldn’t be easier either, simply cut, put in water, and wait.
The sunny yellow of forsythia is especially lovely to me right now, I cut these branches last week.
I’m thinking about cutting branches for flowering almond next, then perhaps I’ll try a few apple branches. If I had a star magnolia I’d cut a few of those as well. I would force lilac, but I’m not a fan of the smell at all, so those will stay outdoors. You can force branches from all sorts of trees like: quince, pussy willow, lilac, dogwood, cherry, apple, honeysuckle, spirea, hawthorn, viburnum, cherry, plum, and so many more!
Do you force blooms from branches or bulbs?
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Homegrown Goodness
Even though the garden is still sleeping, I’m harvesting greens for my salad. It’s not a huge amount, maybe 25% of the greens we currently eat, but it’s something. All these little leafs come from a few containers I have under grow lights and the thinnings from a few seedlings of greens.
It’s especially nice that the greens I’m adding to store bought lettuce are radicchio leaves, so the little bitterness they carry helps round out the sweeter leaves.
What is your typical first harvest from the garden?
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Growing?
This year I set up the big grow light in my office, that way it’s easy for me to monitor the seedlings. One of our cats, Littles, has decided that the grow light is her new sun lamp.
I’m not sure if she’s trying to keep SAD away or if she’s hoping to grow a little more. Either way, it cracks me up every time I see her.
What’s growing in your seed starting area?
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And Sow It Begins
This past weekend I seeded my first two flats of lettuce and radicchio. I like to have a flat of seedlings ready to be planted into a low tunnel when the weather starts to warm up. For me, it’s well worth the few minutes it takes to complete this chore in early February in order to be harvesting loads of salad greens by mid/late March.
Littles decided that the flats needed a little warmth and has decided it’s her new favorite top. Thank goodness for these heavy duty Perma-Nest trays!!!
What’s the first vegetable you seed for your garden?
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First Seeds of 2016
Yesterday I planted my first garden seeds for this year. What were they? Artichokes.
At 180-240 days these babies take a LONG time to reach maturity. I’ve also read that they appreciate a bit of a cold snap early on to make them think they’ve gone through a winter.
Will I be able to harvest artichokes to eat? I guess we’ll find out this fall. If Eliot Coleman can grow them here in Maine, I think I can as well.
What fund edible are you going to try this year for the first time?
