Garden Update : Cold weather growing

So this is our first fall growing season and we dont entirely know what we're doing yet, so I'll share few discoveries we've made so far. The tomatoes are kinda done since we dont have a greenhouse, but all the brassicas and lettuces seem to be growing strong. I say growing strong because they look healthy, but I must admit growing organic outside os summer creates an awfully slow crop. It took me about 4 weeks to sprout sweet basil seedlings.

Although summer is gone, winter means a successful crop of yummies such as swiss chard, kale, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and artichoke ... of of which we're trying to grow. We ran out of space in our yard (still trying to convince our landlord to dig up the 400+ square feet of crab grass outside out front door :/ ), so we started planting in 5 gallon containers. This is great for those of you who dont have yard space to utilize. As long as you have a patio or porch that gets sunlight for about half the day, you can totally find containers (my neighbor was throwing away like 15 of them!) to start growing in. See below the photos for specific info.

New raised bed with arugula, roma beans, artichoke, kale, and brussels sprouts. I have a feeling it'll get crowded soon and I'll have to thin it out.

What happens when you ignore a head of romaine lettuce. It gets uber tall and sprouts cute little cute flowers.

Basil seedlings (left) and peas climbing the trelis (right)

Strawberrys! What what!!

We planted this broccoli from seed in April and it just keeps going. It survived being eaten to death by two different pests. Total trooper.

Artichoke, four weeks in.

Swiss chard (rhubarb), four weeks in. Chard and kale both grow really well in containers. It doesnt even have to be meant for plants ... anything that holds about 5+ gallons and allows drainage will work fine.

Roma beans (havent ever eaten one before, I am curious to see what happens) and cherry tomato.

Leanne's baby. Cabernet grape successfully made it over the door.

We just found out that the ugly little tree in from of our neighbors house is a baby pomegranate tree (!)

Nice yellow and blue (almost) complimentary colors standing out on a cool fall morning.

peace, love, and carrots,

-Paul

Amazing Roma Beans

Its safe to say we have never eaten, let alone seen, a roma bean. But the seed package enticed me and I bought them. Out of about 40 seedlings I have going right now, these were the last to sprout. I was worried that they weren't going to develop for some reason ... most seeds will germinate and sprout within about 10 days this time of year, but after day 13 there was nothing (!). I kept watering them hoping to see something manifest and lo and behold ... I come out to check wednesday morning and these guys were popped up. Apparently (to my delightful surprise) the bean was developing entirely under the soil and decided to jump up overnight. Keep an eye out for more posts on the status of these buggers.

-Paul

Pescaterian (?) gets a wag of the finger

Here's an insightful article from the BBC this morning. It was categorized in the "most popular" grouping, so I wasn't out trawling for something to fit my own personal agenda. It discusses the idea of vegetarians eating meat and still keeping their title as vegetarians. It also goes on to offer reasons why people are eating less or no meat, but not calling themselves vegetarian.

I think the line is drawn pretty clearly in the sand ... people should not amend the term vegetarian with thinks like "pesca" and "pollo" because they eat a lot of vegetables the rest of the the time ... its stupid. There's nothing unique about that ... not eating red meat is just healthy common sense. Calling oneself vegetarian is a title that is special, needs to be earned, and should be regarded with pride. If someone wants to eat a vegetarian diet most of the time, but occasionally sample seafood, no worries just think of a title that accurately reflects that (green diet?). Its like calling myself a heavy weight boxer because I punched a guy in the breakroom at work. All I can say is I would rather see a world full of mostly-vegetarians than a world full of marginalized vegans.

heres a link to the article here.

- Paul

Take that Sucka!

Oh man, what can I say about this one. I'm really glad the courts have it together with this case ... can you imagine what would happen if he were just fined and turned loose? He be out shooting at cyclists to "teach them a new lesson" - D-bag.

One step closer to making cities away that they need to support and protect cyclists. With obesity and gas prices rising to ridiculous levels, cycling is going to only get more popular in the coming years.

Full story by the LA time here.