Posted by oakandsage on 2013-04-06 00:40:29 UTC and edited at 2019-05-26 22:11:12 UTC

Yay, seeds arrived. Gonna go on a planting binge tomorrow. Especially since tomorrow is tomato day!

Got: Golden purslane Watercress Yard long bean Blackeye pea Charentais melon Cantaloupe (Minnesota Midget) Shelling pea (I ran out)

I've never grown melons before, it will be an adventure. I prepared a little raised bed filled with potting soil far away from the other beds so that they have plenty of room, though I haven't decided between sprawl and trellis. Possibly I will trellis the cantaloupe since they are supposed to be small.

I probably could've planted tomatoes two or three weeks ago the weather has been so hot. (And of course now driving all the way out to descanso gardens for the tomato festival doesn't sound like fun, and I'm tempted to see what they have at the local nursery. But I had such good yields with the kinds that I got at the tomato festival last year. I grew Sunsugar and Jetsetter and they both produced like crazy from the beginning of june to mid-october. Almost half a year of tomato season. I also got decent yields from Copper River and Mister Stripey, but I planted the wrong Mister Stripey somehow and the tomatoes just weren't good. And I don't really like green tomatoes. This year I'd like to grow Sunsugar and Jetsetter again, a paste type, and one random long-season heirloom, whatever looks interesting at the time. Maybe I'll grow Brandywine even though everyone says it never grows well in SoCal.

(Looking at tomato pr0n online is making driving to the festival seem less of a pain, at least…)

At least one edamame plant from the first planting looks like it may actually survive/grow. Second planting, of course, was only a week ago and hasn't come up yet. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Will this be the year I actually successfully grow beans?

Transplanting the cauliflower in early march looks like it was a good idea (aside from the fact that the horse broke into the garden and ate all but one). The one remaining plant has set properly instead of growing tall and weedy, so I will probably have one decent cauliflower this year and a better idea for what to do next year. Growing brassicas here is a little like trying to get blood from a stone, the climate just isn't suited, but homegrown cauliflower is just so much better than store-bought.