garden madness & many small pots

We enjoyed an unexpected mini Indian Summer this weekend. We all acted very surprised, though, really, isn't this always the month when we are rewarded for our suffering with 2-3 days of pleasant sunshine & warm-ish temperatures, so that we are lulled into thinking, "This isn't really a bad place to live after all." I'm still feeling that way. But check with me again next week.

Anyhoo, the sunshine tempted me out in to my expansive acreage for many hours on Saturday, where I finally put all my bulbs & many more of my seeds into their apartment block pots. The concrete garden is starting to look like a housing estate for seedlings. All the clashing plastic & terracotta, mismatched green & seventies orange, it's like Ballymun for plants!

I hope that my drop in focus the last few weeks & subsequent storage of the bulbs doesn't hamper their development. I did at least store them in the fridge while I went temporarily unenthused about planting stuff (it got cold, okay?). Still, it felt really nice planting these funny little blobs into the seaweed drenched soil & imagining the possible pretty results I will get come spring. I've got a few different tulips, iris & crocus (the early bird that I hope will keep me from fleeing the country at the end of the rough, not-exactly-freezing-just-plain-depressing winter). I also have bundles of pink & yellow ranunculus (very excited about these). Plus, hyacinth & some giant allium (I'd rather call them billy balls, personally, though that's not correct).

Pic from bluestoneperennials.com
It's kind of unfulfilling to post pictures of bulbs buried in dirt, but here's where they're living right now:

I hope to get a shelf or some sort of unit to lift some of the containers off the ground. It's kind of crazy taking up all this "floor space" when there ain't much to begin with. Saucy couldn't care less though.

I've also planted spinach, carrots, onions, broccoli & cauliflower from seeds. Seeds used to scare me cause they always failed before. But that's before I grew my green thumbs! A few of these plantings are down in the gardening journal as an experiment. Some are being planted at the wrong time of year. But I figure the seasons aren't that clearly defined in this country & global warming is f-ing it all up anyway. I've been germinating the broccoli & cauliflower on the window sill & it seems to be working! I have big pots of spinach under plastic outside (and added a few more to my high tech, egg carton germinator machine this weekend too). Oh & corn salad, whatever that is. The picture looks like watercress. So maybe we'll start eating salads.

The onions & carrots are already sprouting! Will need to thin these out when they're ready.

I'm daydreaming about zucchini (courgettes to my coworkers), cucumbers, arugula/rocket for the spring. And hellebores. I'm in love with these flowers & may have to invest in some garden shop mail ordering from the UK. They are too pretty. Look at this! What is it, a bucket or a barrel? I want a barrel of hellebores.

Pic from muskogeephoenixonline.com
But I need to cultivate my patience first & take care of these winter projects for now. Here's to a pretty & nutritious future harvest! It's crazy growing your own food, isn't it? Something about it just feels really.... good.

Now, if only these guys would figure themselves out, I'd be happy. Any ideas on how to finish ripening these dudes? Should I snip them & throw them in a brown paper bag? Some seem really tiny...but it's getting cold!