The Saffron Experiment: One Year, New Sprouts

I’ve been holding my breath since mid-September, waiting for signs of life from the saffron corms I planted at this time last year. Honestly it’s been a bit of an obsession, though I have refrained from checking every hour. Just once a day has been enough, and yesterday I was finally rewarded when I found two little sprouts in one of the pots and one more in the other.

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Weekend Gardening Photos

Our harvest of shallots.

Last Monday we planted the ends of some scallions I had used, just the roots and about 2 cm of the white part. Top Gun helped me put the soil in the container and the roots in the pot, then we watered them. Just three days later we had little green tops peeping up out of the soil and now just six days later we have good growth. This was so easy even my four-year-old could do it! We plan to add more so we have a running supply.

Weekend Gardening Photos

Part of Labor Day was spent putting in the fall garden. Most of the vegetables and herbs are still growing like crazy, but we had harvested the lemon basil and most of the Genovese basil, so I had a couple of empty spots in the garden. We also started some herbs and greens in pots. (Above) Swiss chard plants sprouting.

Butter lettuce sprouts

Some volunteer dill sprouts.

Spinach sprouts

Thyme sprouts

After losing every single leaf to a parsley-loving critter while we were on vacation, the parsley staged a comeback and looks great.

We cut down the basil a couple weeks ago but didn’t pull the stalks out of the ground, and now we have more basil coming in. It should do well in the cooler weather for the next few months.

I used to have this stevia plant in the house, then it almost succumbed to a white fly invasion, so I cut it back and moved it outdoors, and now it’s flourishing.

The sage bush looks bushier by the day. I can’t wait to use it in fall roasting recipes.

Weekend Gardening Photos

It’s August and the tomatoes are starting to come in. The San Marzanos are mostly still green, but we do have some that are close to being ripe. (Note: I did not have San Marzano seeds in the spring, so I purchased plants from a good local nursery that specializes in herbs and vegetables.)

The grape tomato plants are producing in full force, and we bring in about a pound each day.

Back in March I started our grape tomato plants from the seeds I scraped out of some tomatoes we purchased at Wegman’s. I planted them in little peat pods and kept a grow light on them. Around the first week of May I separated and transplanted them to small cups then left them outside for a couple weeks in a sheltered area to acclimate. Once they were hardy enough, I chose six of the eighteen surviving plants and put them in the ground. The first few days are touch and go, and you never know if they will all take. One died within two weeks, and I just pulled one of the reserves and put it in place.

The plants are now over eight feet tall and have become prolific producers. Michael popped one in his mouth today as a little snack and commented on how good they taste. The ones that you find in the grocery store just don’t have the flavor of a warm, organic, fresh-picked tomato.

Update: It seems like San Marzanos are quite popular, so I added a Resources list below. The plants can get very full with fruit, so make sure you trellis or cage them for support.

Resources for San Marzano Seeds

Gary Ibsen’s Tomato Fest

Amazon.com

The Cook’s Garden

Seeds of Change

Weekend Gardening Photos

First harvest of the season. Roma, San Marzano, and grape tomatoes; pepperoncini, jalapeño, and Hungarian wax peppers.

Weekend Gardening Photos

Japanese beetles can be the bane of any garden, and basil is one of their favorite foods. This specimen was happily munching away on the precious leaves, but not for much longer after this photo was taken. We keep an organic garden, no pesticides allowed, so the best option for dealing with them is deterrent. After we kill them, we leave their carcasses laying around the plants to discourage others from snacking. We don’t use the bag traps because of studies that show they are relatively ineffective.

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