Interesting weather fact

Just heard something interesting on NPR.

Since March 21st (spring around here), we have had only 23 days where the temperature has been above 60 degrees. This has been the coldest spring/summer in this area since 1917! Ugh.

Vegetable Review

Vegetable: Radish

Variety: Easter Egg II blend (F-1)

Seed Co: Renee's Garden

Description: .75" to 1.5" diameter bulbs in red, white, purple, and pink. Green tops to 6".

Sown: April 5

Germination: very good

1st harvest: May 16

Days to maturity: Stated: 28 Actual: less than 41

Held in field: about 2 weeks

Problems: None. Began splitting at 50 days, as can be expected. No flea beetle or root maggot damage

Results: very easy to grow, germinated very well, thinned to 1" initially, then to 2" as leaves touched. Radishes were crisp and mild flavored, great fresh on salads and sandwiches or stir fried. Last of the crop was pulled June 8 (64 days) and all but a few were split wide open.

A few more seeds

Broke out the seed heat mat one more time for the last seeds to start indoors. Sowed lots of basil. Basil is probably my favorite of all the herbs. We use it often in our cooking. There are tons of varieties available these days - probably too many. There are red and purple leaved, variegated leaf, big leaved and small leaved, lemon, lime, cinnamon, and licorice flavored, columnar and globe habit, ornamental flowering, even non-flowering tender "perennial" varieties. It's a little ridiculous. Northwest Washington weather is not the greatest for growing basil, so it is best grown as a tropical veggie, along with peppers and eggplant. The more uniquely colored and ornamental varieties are more finicky and a bit tougher to grow well here, so we stick with the basic Italian sweet basil and a few varieties of Thai basil.


- four 2" pots Siam Queen
- four 2" pots Thai Magic
- two 2" pots Red Holy Basil (Thai)
- six 2" pots Sweet Italian

I sowed about 6 seeds per pot, which will be thinned down to 3 or 4 after germination. Basil grows fine in a small clump, so each pot will go out in the garden that way.

Still too cold for tropicals. For the last few weeks we have been 1o degrees cooler during the day and 5 degrees cooler during the night than the usual average temperatures this time of year. I hope summer comes soon.

New Garden-Mobile

Well I can feel a bit better about driving across town to get to my garden twice a week, now that I'll be getting 75-85 mpg! I guess I'm still depending on petroleum, but I'm doing it 3 times more efficiently than before, so it's a start. At least I've banned it from my fertilizers...

It's a 2008 Genuine Stella.

So it's still spring...

Weather for this week remains cool and rainy. Highs in the upper 50's, nights in upper 40's. That means the peppers will have to wait one more week before even thinking about staying outside at night. Furthermore, cool soil temperatures will negatively affect germination percentage and speed, and general health and hardiness of any direct sown seeds that manage to germinate. It's a well known fact that seeds planted in the proper conditions up to 2 weeks after seed sown in improper conditions will easily catch up and surpass the early sowing. Cucumbers, squash, zucchini, melons, and other hot weather veggies I want to try will just have to wait a few more weeks.

Harvested two nice buttercrunch lettuce heads today, as well as some salad mix, a few leeks and radishes, and a whole rapini.

Snaps and snow peas are flowering.


Strawberries are filling out.


NW native nodding onion (Allium cernuum) ready to flower. Edible chive-like leaves.