Made the big move and transplanted the tomato seedlings into the garden. This is about a month earlier than I had planned but the weather being so good, resulted in much faster growth of the seedlings and they were starting to outgrow the pots. I moved 12 plants – 4x cherries; 4x standard sandwich rounds; 4 x plums. It looks like a slight cool down coming toward the end of this week so I decided to hold back on planting the peppers and egg plants. They’re more sensitive to temp than tomatoes plus it’s easier for me to cover the tomatoes if necessary. I get rid of another 10 plants, tomatoes and peppers, that I put aside for Nancy’s quilter and that many for Joey’s garden. The quilter get’s hers this week but Joey is wandering around New Zealand so not sure about his. I think they’ll be ok but I’ll probably have to repot them into bigger quarters before he returns. Also planted a few squash seeds so within the next week to 10 days we’ll have a full spring/summer crop planted along with what’s left of the winter greens. There are a few cabbages left but the lettuce, spinach, kale, chard and collards are showing no signs of giving it up at all – good news for the bridge ladies. Got good germination on the green beans seed – 3 x 12’ rows with enough seed left over from last season to plant that much more. I’ll wait about 2 weeks before planting that seed so the two types won’t overlap in time that much.
Two more heads of cabbage remaining in the row I’ve designated for green beans. We get two meals out of a head – either in slaw or any variety of cooked meals. One interesting way we make it is to core it, load the empty spot with butter seasoned however you like and then put it in the Holland Grill, core up, for an hour or so. You cook it about as long as a whole chicken or rack of ribs to get a whole meal with nearly zero prep time. There’s a whole head and a half head in the fridge but you can only handle so much cabbage. The neighbors are trying their best to help but they have the same kind of limitations as us. Why did I plant so much? Because in past years the yield was less than 50% in terms of plants that make it the full duration so I plant “spares”. For whatever reasons, there’s been almost zero fallout this year.
Made an uber dumb move yesterday. A cooking accident. This chicken dish that we made once before and loved required a cast iron frying pan. You fry the chicken very fast on one side and then move the pan into a pre heated 450 degree for 20 minutes. Then you move the pan to the stove top, remove the chicken and use the residual for a sauce. Everything is hot and happening quickly and I had taken off the oven gloves after moving the pan from the oven. But I set it on the stovetop with the handle sticking out in the way and grabbed the handle without thinking. I ran for the aloe plant and an ice cube. It sure hurt and started to blister right away but in a couple of hours it was under control. I kept applying the aloe and by bed time, no pain at all. This morning I can see that it’s going to blister some but no pain, stiffness or anything really bothersome. It seems like a couple times a year it’s aloe to the rescue so I sure recommend everyone having one handy.
Joe's Blog 