Garden/vegetable note

A few minutes ago, I glanced out the front window and saw 42itous and her daughter in the front yard, so I went downstairs to say hi and ask what they were doing.

42itous showed me a bowl of nettle leaves, from the back yard, and I thanked her for going after them. She said she had barely made a dent; cattitude or I should go after them with gardening gloves and a long-sleeved shirt.

The front yard has some volunteer* lamb's-quarters, and 42itous was putting a bit of that into the bowl with the nettle leaves. I asked about eating it raw, and she said you could but it has no noticeable flavor, which I have now confirmed. I asked if she knew that wood sorrel is edible, and picked a bit to nibble on after she said yes, then they went home and I came back up here to have tea.

ETA: I try to note when I try new kinds of food—which for these purposes means something like lamb's-quarters or mangosteen, not a new recipe for goulash or cake. There are fewer of these as time goes on, not because I have less interest in novelty, but because I already tried more of the plants (and animals and fungi) that are known to be edible.

*a weed is a plant you don't want. I may pull these out if we need the space for cucumber, tomatoes, corn, or squash, but it doesn't show the mint's tendency to run rampant. Meanwhile, I had been thinking of buying milkweed seeds, but the question turns out to be whether/how much I will need to pull out so it doesn't shade the vegetables.

Farmers' market, and planting vegetables

Yes, two gardening posts in one day. No, I don't expect to make a habit of it.

There's a biweekly farmers' market in Davis Square, which opened for the season last Saturday; cattitude and I went there this afternoon, after treating ourselves to crepes for lunch. (The veggie special at Mr. Crepe today involved roast beets and walnuts, and was quite nice.)

The market was small, this early in the season, and all we bought was cheese and a frozen ham hock. We might have gotten a lettuce, or some fish, if we hadn't already had some of each. What surprised me was not seeing apples: I got used to the year-round Greenmarket in Inwood, where even in the depths of winter there are a half dozen varieties of apple, and I have found fine apples at the Harvard Square market in summer and fall.

We then stopped at Pemberton Farms and bought cucumber and tomato plants: yellow Brandywine and two kinds of cherry tomato. I would like to add a Paul Robeson or black Krim plant, if I can find one, but I don't feel like starting from seed this year. Cattitude pointed out that I had bookmarked a seed shop ursulav was tweeting about a few weeks ago, so I have ordered a packet of Paul Robeson tomato seeds, and one of Pink Beauty Radish, an heirloom variety that I hope will have some flavor.

We went home, played Scrabble, and then planted the tomatoes and cucumbers, and the herbs that had been in little pots on the porch, because they didn't seem to be doing well there. The tomatoes and cucumbers are in the front yard; dill and chives in the raised bed on the driveway side of the house; and the thyme went in the small bed in front with the young tree and the iris I planted a few weeks ago. We pulled out more mint from that bed, but did our best to leave the wood sorrel. Thyme is sometimes sold as a ground cover, so I have hopes that it can out-compete the mint.

The neighbors in the house just east of ours stopped by to introduce themselves while we were planting. (The person on the left stopped by weeks ago, while I was planting lettuce.)

We will probably buy some more herbs to have on the porch (which is much more convenient to the kitchen), but first we need to figure out how to keep them safe from the cats, and vice versa.