Capitol Tilth

It's been a pretty eventful couple of weeks out in my planting strip. Radishes are in constant delicious supply, providing spicy snacks as I run out the door in the morning. Salad greens are taking off and the weaker and/or more delicious looking plants are being thinned directly into my stomach.

My Raab bolted, probably because I squished too many plants into too small a space. Lesson learned for next planting. I've been staying on top of the bolting and it's starting to fill out a bit. Questionably, I interplanted fennel with the Raab, making the world far, far too crowded. Luckily, I have some oyster mushrooms and green onions that are dying to meet some of their outdoor cousins in my wok, hopefully providing some room for the best looking fennel.

I planted all my tomato's that's I'd been 'growing' (killing?) inside. They will probably not live, but the basil might. I'm still not sure what's wrong with my plant growing cabinet, but it seems to enjoy killing plants more than helping them grow. Wrong kind of florescent lights perhaps? I'm just using warm white CFLs -- I suppose something more in the 6000 degree / blue spectrum would be better. I need to find somebody who knows more about artificial light and tomatoes than I do.

Tonight I got to enjoy the largest meal from my garden yet. It was a sandwich piled high with spicy greens, a bit of store bought tomato, and a layer of crispy radishes, with some tofurky to give it that meaty chew you except out of a sandwich. It turns out the spiciness of the greens and the radishes (and the dijon mustard) perfectly mask the tofurky 'wet cardboard'-ish flavor that I consider its downfall (not that it's not good, but it's got a certain flavor in the background that just isn't right.) In this combination though, it was fabulous. I've never really been one to buy greens from the store, and I'm not sure I'll start either - they're easy to grow year round in Seattle, and incredibly delicious straight from the ground.

The City of Seattle finally did something that actually seems progressive and made a right-of-way permit for gardening in your planting strip free! That's good, cause I've got a lot of stuff growing in my planting strip. Pictures and a story soon.