Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Adopt a Crop

Hello, people.

I am home from riding a lot of powder and enjoying what I heard someone call, "Winter". Of course, here in NorCal it looks a lot like spring, what with the blooming flowers and all, but in places like CO, they're still calling it winter because of the snowing and single digit temps. Crazy.

But since things here are green, sunny and getting close to The Last Frost Date, my mind has begun to shift to other things like gardening.

And really, if you think I wasn't gardening while I was snowboarding, you would be wrong.

Even if my hands aren't elbow deep in an overgrown tomato plant reaching for that big beast that I could almost reach if only my arms were thismuch longer I'm still gardening in some way.

Right now that way is cross-legged on my office couch surrounded by seed catalogs, my Great Gardening Companions book, my notes from years past, my sketchbook and the creatures who wish I'd just get off their couch and take them for a walk instead of weighing the benefits of pickling versus lemon cucumbers.

For some reason this bores them?

I'm not sure how they could possibly be bored since Bubba just agreed to put in a fourth (!!!) vegetable bed for me. When we moved in it was two, then three and now (because I whine maybe) it's going to be four.

Four vegetable beds inside which I can plant WHATEVER I WANT WOO!

See, are you bored? Impossible.

Funny thing though, I now have extra space for all those plants that get passed up at the nursery or left as seeds in their pouches in the garage and I can't decide which to plant! And woe is me, what is a Finny to do?

Um, put it out to y'all to decide, of course. Outsourcing!

How to play Adopt a Crop:

Choose from the list of vegs below and then I do all the work to make your choice turn into food.

Easy!

And almost totally unlike "adopting". In fact, you don't have to do anything, but if I end up bringing The Crop to fruition and it can be prepared in a way that facilitates shipping, I might just send it for a visit. And then you don't have to return it or anything. Just eat it and pretend that's what you do when you adopt something.

Think of the fun...You get the glory of having the veg of your choice found, sown, cultivated, harvested and prepared without any of the loud swearing, soul sucking sweating or endless worrying that comes with actually putting hand to soil.

Plus, it'll all be chronicled for you right here at a safe distance from the scorching sun with photos, mind-numbing recounts of sprouting dates and all the minutia that goes along with bringing a crop to fruition.

Oh, and when I say, "crop", I mean, "vegetable plant that fits in 3'x6' raised bed" - in case you were wondering while picturing a hillside of cornrows or something.

I have my finger on the trigger (ie. the "Buy" button at rareseeds.com) and am all ready to order up the winner. Just make your choice from the list below and let the adopting begin!

Which crop would you adopt?
Butternut Squash
Pickling Cucumbers
Beets
Salsa Jalapenos
Sweet Bell Peppers
Free polls from Pollhost.com

And then I will ask that you join me in finger-crossing for a Last Frost Date that does not run contrary to the Farmers Almanac (3/1).

GO.

17 comments:

  1. I selfishly chose pickling cukes. I figure that way I get some "Finny Pickles" posts, "Some Finny Has Too Many Pickles" posts and "Finny Has To Buy A New Fridge" posts.

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  2. I hate squash, hubby is allergic to beets, so I chose sweet bell peppers. He's allergic to those too, but he doesn't know I voted.

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  3. I voted for beets! I've never seen them growing in a garden and think it'd be nice to see them sprouting all in a row. :)

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  4. sweet bell peps... red orangee yellow.. why? because they are sooo effing expensive.

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  5. Had to go for the sweet peppers...more versatile and they look so pretty in the garden!

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  6. I'm totally losing this battle, but Jalapenos! Let me live spicy food vicariously in your garden from its inception to the plate. These crazy New Englanders don't know anything about hot.

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  7. Beets! C'mon people, beets rock! They're EASY to grow and I haven't had them in forever -- yum, yum!

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  8. Holy crap... March 1st? Are you kidding me?

    I am beyond jealous. Our last frost date here in wintry CO is the middle of May!

    I may have to seriously consider cold frames this year.

    Seeing all the gorgeous stuff you've grown really helps get my ass in gear. Thanks! Can't wait to see this year's stuff.

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  9. Cukes! Cukes!

    I have plans to go buy tomato plants this week. Who knew that THIS is when you were supposed to plant them here? Maybe this is the key to seeing even one fruit this season? Maybe?

    Oh, and welcome back!

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  10. Beets! You can eat the tops too! And there's not just the red ones, there's gold ones and even cool bulls-eye ones! I love beets- raw, cooked, roasted, pickled...gosh I sound like Forrest Gump now!

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  11. You're home! And while I'm glad you could enjoy my altitude for a bit, you are my lifeline to the hope that spring will come, again. As the north side of my house looks like a skating rink, I voted for salsa jalepeno! Gotta heat something up, plus, anything that begins with salsa sounds sexy.

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  12. Odd - there's no one here in the posts mentioning butternut squash, which I voted for, and yet butternut's in the lead!? Yaaaay! I WIN!

    Oh, um, yeah... Anyhow. Wow, only 3x6 ft? I imagined you had much larger beds from the pics I remember you posting previously - I'm impressed!

    And I hate that your last frost date comes so much sooner - ours here in NE Ohio is May 21...and yet I'm seriously thinking of starting some seeds as early as this weekend.

    You better gets started on that ordering - pronto!

    So which seed catalogs do you prefer?

    PS Beautiful cat!
    PPS Great Gardening Companions is a GREAT book!

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  13. OK, so I voted for squash, but when I found out it was winning, I felt bad for pickling cukes.

    I bet it's the amazing sauce that convinced Buba to add another bed.

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  14. How did I miss this? Jalepenos definitely - I make kick-arse salsa, and I would HAVE to send you some back, right?

    I am going to try for a veggie garden this year too...I was thinking of doing a salsa garden...any suggestions for moderate elevation So Cal?? ;)

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  15. Love this! I hope jalapenos can pull through!

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  16. I voted for the bell peppers because I use sooo many of them when I cook. I mean, if you cook alot of Cajun food like I do, you have to have the holy trinity of vegetables(bell peppers, onions & celery) on hand at all times. Can't you just smell a pot of seafood gumbo cooking right now?

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  17. Don't even know if this is still open to debate, but I choose GLORIOUS ORANGE BUTTERNUT SQUASH.....oh, sorry for yelling. I just can't help myself. I could eat that crap enough to turn orange myself. I love it. Soup, roasted, whatever. BTW, one of my BF just moved to S J and he loves it there.

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[2013 update: You can't comment as an anonymous person anymore. Too many douchebags were leaving bullshit SPAM comments and my inbox was getting flooded, but if you're here to comment in a real way like a real person, go to it.]

Look at you commenting, that's fun.

So, here's the thing with commenting, unless you have an email address associated with your own profile, your comment will still post, but I won't have an email address with which to reply to you personally.

Sucks, right?

Anyway, to remedy this, I usually come back to my posts and post replies in the comment field with you.

But, if you ever want to email me directly to talk about pumpkins or shoes or what it's like to spend a good part of your day Swiffering - shoot me an email to finnyknitsATgmailDOTcom.

Cheers.