spoke too soon

Last night, just as I finished getting ready for bed I went outside to bring in my flats. Ten seconds later, one flat - the one with my three seedlings! - fell to the cement. In my late-night desperation I swept the root-speckled mulch into a pile and tried to re-seed with some fake-mulch-dirt that we bought from the store, but it wouldn't soak up the water (it was shitty soil). With a bit of a heavy heart (sniff, sniff) I decided to wait until today. Will reseed again, putting myself an additional 4 days behind schedule... I wonder if we'll harvest any of these wintery-goods?

Winter Citrus Salad

Inspired by MegHAN! One orange, one grapefruit, leeks (shallots would have been leagues better), salt, pepper, good balsamic vinegar, fruity olive oil. Astonishingly addictive.

We have a dwindling stock of grapefruits beyond the patio, but conversely, our lemon tree is sagging under the weight of heavy, fruit-toting branches. To celebrate, my ma made a double batch of lemon curd (to last a lifetime!) that I've been dolloping into plain, whole-milk yogurt each morning. (With homemade granola + orange-scented dried cranberries.) I absolutely DREAM of breakfast, dessert, snacks and yesterday, because I couldn't help myself, dinner! :-D

P.S. THREE seedlings today!
(1) eggplant (2) broccoli (3) turnip

FIRST SEEDLING!

Smile-worthy announcement: I redid my WAY-LATE turnip and broccoli seeding to make room for three types of heirloom peppers in a spare flat. I re-seeded on Monday and today, Wednesday, I just saw my first turnip seedling, poking it's little cotyledons out of the mulch. HOORAY!!!

P.S. Those wonky green, spindly-looking guys in the back rows should have been transplanted ages ago. I think my ma may have planted some peas or beans? Whatever the case, this photo was taken Monday, right after their first drink of water, so my solo turnip seedling isn't photographed above.

g'morning!

We nudged Ellie & Doober out of their hibernation in the ol' dog crate and let them scope out their new, shmancy-pants home!


P.S. Guess who we found in the back of their crate? A non-hibernating, sneaky roommate!

raring for spring planting!

Rainy today, but just about ready for tomato and pepper transplants, onion starts and trillions of carrots:
P.S. While the windows are fogged and skies grey, I'm off to soak up just a little more citrus with this sweet-something!

Late Seeding

Yesterday I seeded two flats of heirloom seed: Purple Top White Globe Turnip and Calabrese Broccoli. It's a little late to be planting these wintery greens, especially from seed. In fact, yesterday at the Santa Cruz farmers' market I filled my bag with turnips and broccoli - a sure sign that I should have been seeding a month and a half ago!

But, while we're in the midst of this interim limbo between winter and spring, I'm going to give these seeds a shot. As soon as the weather warms they'll bolt (or turn to seed) and taste awful. But, if luck goes my way, they'll grow into modestly small tubers and heads and we'll get to enjoy a few more cold weather dishes before launching headfirst into tomatoes, eggplants and melons!

sixty-degree bike ride over the dry Rillito River