Chard and kale vs. Choi vs. baby choi

Ding ding ding!  There is a clear winner to this match-up, this year anyway.

Baby bok choi went to seed a few weeks ago after hardly any harvesting.

The other choi (which I could swear the package said was also a baby version but is pretty normal-looking in size) has not yet gone to seed, but the vast majority of the leaves are full of holes (slugs I believe).

And then, there's the chard!  The glorious, bountiful chard!  And the kale, too!  Wow.  Both are going strong with no sign of bolting yet, and the slugs have hardly touched them at all!

Lesson learned:  Probably won't try baby bok choi again.  Will probably grow regular bok choi again just for some variety, but will definitely grow swiss chard and kale again.

Bok choy bolting

The mini baby bok choy started going to seed a few days ago -- flower buds have begun to emerge.  The other kind is still good.

How timely -- came across this interesting article about bolting and some tips for way to deal with it.

http://www.creativevegetablegardener.com/bolting/

Harvest: Kale, chard, bok choi

Just like the title says.

For the kale, tried a new recipe.  Kale salad (i.e. chopped kale) with a great chickpea dressing.  So easy, and pretty good!  I omitted the suggested "potato croutons" out of laziness, but will try them sometime.

Used the chard and choi for my tofu / yellow pepper rice dish.

Outdoor updates

Beets:  Of first two sowings, only 1 sprouted!!!  Sowed 2 more rows.

Carrots:  sowed more, all the way to the lettuce.  Carrot bed now full, other than some un-sprouted gaps to fill in.

Spinach:  FLOP!  Not one of the seeds sprouted.  Oh well.

Celery, bok choy, and rest of swiss chard:  Transplanted after about a week of living outside full time.

Bok choy seeds:  Just for fun, tossed some seeds in the defunct spinach bed.  Curious how outdoor-sown will compare to indoor-sown.

Lettuce:  Coming along.  Still way too tiny to harvest any yet.

Petunias from round one:  Living outside full time.  Will transplant soon.

Onions:  The ones I started from seed are coming along, some more quickly than others.  The multiplying onion bulbs though -- wow!  Love them!  Wayyyy more productive than "normal" onions that only send up one green thing.

Tomatoes -- big:  Living outside full time.  Will transplant 1 soon and keep the other as backup/give-away.

Tomatoes -- small:  Started hardening off today.

Peas:  Transplanted the rest of the indoor starts.  And, put plastic crow to guard the outdoor starts of which there are some new ones to the scene.  Crow seems to be working -- nothing nibbling on them since I put it out!  Knock on wood but it looks like I may get some actual peas this spring!

Cabbage / Brussels sprouts / kale / chard (which were transplanted several weeks ago):  Looking ok, haven't lost any, although not thriving, maybe due to the very cloudy and cool weather we've had.  The best one is the cabbage in the tiny "bed" near the patio door -- it looks great.



Grass:  Seeded half of the bare areas 1 or 2 weeks ago.  Seeded the more south spots today.

Indoor plants -- various updates

Woops -- haven't posted in a while!

Here are some updates.

- Petunias:  The original petunias sowed on February 18th finally went tall and leggy... started them about 3 weeks too early, I'd say.  The petunias that I started on April 8th are looking good, nowhere near flowering yet but I think the timing will be good for setting out late May.  Lesson learned:  Don't start petunias as early as February 18th!  I think mid-March would be the best time to start petunias.

- Tomatoes:  I've started hardening off the two big ones, if for no other reason than they're just too tall to put under lights anymore!  Lesson learned:  March 18th is a little too early to start big tomatoes!  The little tomatoes are looking good and fit in well under the lights, being the same size as the pepper plants; pinched off a few more flowers to encourage more busy growth.

- Peppers:  Looking great!  They continue to be safe and warm inside, with the only "hardening off" being the oscillating fan a few hours every day

- Bok choy, celery, and the rest of the chard:  Started hardening these off as well about a week ago, just because I needed more room under the lights for my peas.  See separate post about the peas.

- Tuberous begonias:  Wow!  The three that "took" have really taken off!  The foliage  look great.  The other three, one of them looks like it's trying to start having leaves -- I see those little pink nubbins, but they've been there a while with no more action yet.

- Cucumber:  Wow, I think 100% germination rate.  They're looking good. 

- Zucchini:  Hmmm, only 1 of the 3 pots germinated, although both seeds took.  So, I transplanted the smaller one into its own pot.  Started another set of seeds earlier this week but no sign of anything yet.

April 2nd sowing: Round two of bok choy, and, a couple more swiss chard

Round 2 of baby bok choy sowed.  3 joined-pots plus 1 singleton pot, 2 seeds each.  This time, I added in some left over vermiculite as I find the Go Pro mix dries up fast and hard.  Will see if the vermiculite makes a difference.

Also filled in a couple of gaps in the swiss chard.

Oh!  And, transplanted some of the older bok choys into their own pots.  Will see if they survive or not...

March 26th sowing: Baby bok choy; round 2 of peppers and celery; round 3 of swiss chard

Baby bok choy sowed.  4 joined-pots, 2 or 3 seeds each.

And, round 2 for these:Peppers:  5 pots, 2 seeds each.

• Celery:  3 pots, many sprinkled seeds.

And, round 3 for this:

• Swiss chard:  4 joined-pots, one unsoaked seed each.