Artichokes!

Yesterday as I was planting green beans I discovered the lone artichoke plant actually has two artichokes on it! We'll see how this artichoke plant does in the coming weeks, but I think what I'm going to do is plant artichoke seeds in the greenhouse. Artichokes need a long growing season, or they will fruit the second year. So I'm thinking their first year can be in the greenhouse and then I'll transplant them outside next spring.

Today I planted Charentais melon, Marketmore 76 cucumbers, Butternut Rogosa Violina Giola squash and Fordhook acorn squash. I also planted Kentucky Wonder pole beans in the squash bed and put in some bamboo stakes for them. I sprinkled some marigolds in some hanging baskets.

I transplanted the tomatoes and peppers to the garden. I "ordered" some eggplant plants from a coworkers wife when I was at the farmer's market. She has a nursery but she left all the eggplant at home. I asked her to send some with her husband to work tomorrow.

This morning I picked 12 oz of strawberries, which brings the year's total to  49.5 oz.

 

Here's the bigger artichoke. It's probably golf ball size.

The smaller one is harder to see because it's only about the size of a marble. It's directly below the larger one.

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Garden 2011

I started seeds this morning. The Hubs bought me a Burpee Seed Starting Greenhouse and a Hydrofarm Seedling Heat mat. Here's my setup this year:

I have two grow lights and a heating mat. I won't turn on the lights until I have seedlings. Until then, I'll have the heating mat on.

Here's a closer shot of what I have planted so far. The seed starting tray has 72 cells, but I only used 30 so far. I'll probably start some herbs closer to transplant time.
This year, I'm limiting myself to 2 plants per variety. I planted 2 seeds per cell, and 3 cells of each to ensure I'll have enough to transplant. The excess will be donated or given away.
A majority of these seeds are from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds out of Mansfield. They do not have banana peppers or poblano peppers, so those seeds are from Lowe's. All of the seeds I started in the tray today are from last year.

Peppers:
Red Cheese
Quadrato d'Asti Rosso
Golden Marconi
Banana
Poblano

Tomatoes:
Amish Paste
Thessaloniki
Black Cherry

Eggplant:
Thai Long Purple
Rosa Bianca

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