Garden for Next Month

You do have to think ahead in growing a garden.  It's like playing chess, your moves have to be worked out ahead of time or you just flounder.

The weather is cool now in February, but next month is March. That is a very unpredictable month here, it can be chilly or hot. What I do is look back at my garden journals and figure out what worked a year ago in March, and two years ago in March...and April.  If I start lettuce now, it will be maturing in April and it will likely be too hot for lettuce.

So I'm planting peppers, as I usually do this time of year.  First the standbys...Serrano and Jwala.  Those are very reliable for me.  Bell peppers and other "sweet peppers" are hit or miss.  And I actually prefer less sweet, more pungent peppers in my stir fries.

The lettuce was very successful this year, but now it's all bolting. So it's time to replace it all with string beans and peppers...and maybe some kale.  Vates kale is very heat resistant and likes alkaline soil, so it's a very solid choice for me.

They're doing a lot of burning east of here, so the air in the morning and evening is too smoky for my lungs to deal with.  I'll try going out around lunchtime tomorrow to see if I can mix more soil and get some material ready for shredding.  Today's shredding is tomorrow's compost, today's planting is what I'll be eating two months from now...and so it goes.

Tonight I had a nice stir fry with onion, chard, Jwala pepper, lentil sprouts, cooked lentils, ginger, garlic, sage, and cumin powder...and of course lots of rice.  So I'm really glad I planted those little chard plants a while back.  My past self is taking care of my present self, and tomorrow I'll do what I can for future self.

And the crazy world of lies and manipulations spins around my little sanctuary of truth.  Sometimes it all seems to be trying to destroy itself in some deranged suicidal dash for a cliff.  You can all go run along, I have important things to do here...time to plant sweet potatoes again soon.  Knowing how to grow sweet potatoes is important in a world that is getting warmer and warmer each year...they love hot weather...and compost.