Sunday, March 1, 2009

Let the good times grow!


Brandywine, Japanese Black Trifele, Black Krim and Marmande tomato seedlings to the left. Young lemon plant from blogger Casalba to the right.

And as you can see, there's a lot of that happening atop the sill of my only southfacing window. Life has been stirring in another location at L'Orto Orgolioso too. Most of the young broccoli, red cabbage and brussel sprouts that were set out to overwinter last fall actually survived 2008's snowfest, so we should be enjoying an early spring yield in a few weeks. A pot of tuscan kale (started from seed) didn't grow much in the past 5 months but is still alive, and looked even better after I gave it some fish fertilizer. Fava and sweet pea plants went into the ground yesterday, and both indoor potted nufar and thai basil herbs (sown Feb. 20th) just peeked out of the surface this morning.

My husband has been occupied with his own garden tasks. I asked for a cold frame and look what he built! The box measures 4 feet (120cm) by 2.3 feet (70cm) and should hold all of the tomatoes and other plants when it's time to make their transition outdoors. Setting a dome-shaped composter in the garden is the next project.



For MotH's general description on how he built it, read The Cold Frame

Aside from the usual observations and notes on what succeeds in our garden this year, I'm going to balance the dirty work with some creative play. I love the effect of bokeh photography and hope to capture scenes from the garden where light reflections are aplenty. This trick with hearts on a pea shoot is an example and instructions for the technique can be found here: DIY - Create your own bokeh


Bokeh hearts on a pea shoot

Average daytime temperature: 9°C / 48°F

6 comments:

chaiselongue said...

Good to see you back from hibernation! Happy New gardening Year! And, yes, it is lovely to see the spring seedlings coming up, isn't it. Your cold frame looks great - we've just made one, too, and we're looking forward to filling it with tomato and pepper plants in a few weeks' time. At last the days are getting longer and the sun warm enough to imagine planting them out in the garden before too long.

Amber said...

The bokeh hearts- just beautiful! And can I borrow your husband? I would really love to have a cold frame like that!!!

Anne in Oxfordshire said...

How sweet of your husband :-) look forward to seeing all that you grow ..

Anonymous said...

I've read the bokeh article a while back but never got a chance to play around with it. I love how you appplied this technique on the raindrops!

Fern Driscoll said...

That bokeh is very cool. I'd like to try it, but don't think my point and shoot will adapt - will give it a 'shot' though. We're aching to get back to the garden - your pics of little green shoots makes my fingers twitch. Beautiful cold frame! Do you need any seeds from the US?

Rowena said...

Fern - you are a dear to offer bringing back some seeds but I have a good stash for now. Look forward to your return!