You say your climate is as bad as mine, but your bulbs are, like, a month ahead. I’m so jealous.

[x] Any (D) in the general. [ ] Any mullah-sucking billionaire-teabagging torture-loving pus-encrusted spawn of Cthulhu, bless his (R) heart.

The middle is the hyacinth and the bottom is prolly a crocus, like you say. Tulips usually come later, tho mine all showed up early. They have wide leaves that are pointy on top and sort of curl around each other. Yours are all coming up at once, too, just like mine here in WA. It’s usually crocus first, but the daffodils and baby iris came up first this year. Odd. We started seeing them about mid-Jan. and now they’re blooming! Frikkin’ squirrels and raccoons dug up a lot of them though - I learned too late about putting down chicken wire.

Spring is always in the air, and pointing that out on a CD flower thread just seems like the right thing to do.

We have several kinds of wild Iris like this one, that have been up for a couple of weeks along with increasing numbers of other wildflowers all across the lowlands and starting up the hillsides.

Photos from Rebecca at Calipidder of a hike last weekend include more flowers and coastal vistas. Warming weather brings the local fauna out and on the move, and spring rain makes these guys very happy:

(Ariolimax dolichophallus or Banana Slug, the giant slug of the Western forests and official mascot of UCSanta Cruz. Largest I’ve seen was 10½ inches long at full gallop but there are reports of 12”, and yes the species name is fully justified. Their mucous contains an abundance of strange chemicals including an anesthetic. A rite of passage for children hereabouts is to put a banana slug to your tongue while everyone stands around and shouts “Lick the slug, Lick the slug!” Leaves a numb spot for about five minutes.)

My tomatoes have been in for two weeks now and have doubled in size; Beefsteak, Early Girl and Granny Smith, all hybrids this time around. Twenty cucumber seedlings started from seed were set out yesterday. Several neighbors have big gardens this year so I’ll be bartering those cukes for other veggies.

Other than that it’s 70F here again today and the weeds are everywhere. It ain’t all Garden of Eden.

……….whoa! That slug is a whopper. Are they not the official mascots of the University of California at Santa Cruz?

Go slugs Go!

A. Citizen

Peace, Health and Prosperity for Everyone.

I had excellent results with Early Girl, last year. I think the Beeksteak tomatoes look great, but… The texture, not so good.

[x] Any (D) in the general. [ ] Any mullah-sucking billionaire-teabagging torture-loving pus-encrusted spawn of Cthulhu, bless his (R) heart.

for having all that early spring growth, you westerner!

actually, i love and envy you, but you know that, BIO.

my SF-living sister really hated the slugs out that way. she tried everything to keep them from eating her cultivars, with little success. she even had a whole “native CA” garden. it was still semi-destroyed from those giant sluggies. myself, i only see them sauteed in butter, wine and garlic. do they taste as good as the french kind? you tell me.

1-3” of snow today. that’s the real miracle. i “boxed” the hyacinth/daffodil today. it won’t feel any snow, directly. when the snow melts, i hope they all are moving and energetic. but: that’s the whole point of cultivars for me. learn which ones are truly hardy, and which are not.

leah, you can do your pots and gardens anytime, readers should know how you shame all of Corrente with your superior selections and rows. sob, i already told you how much i want your 1/200th of an acre in trade for my cold and barren larger space.

Escargot simply means edible snail, and there are several types. One, Cornu aspersum, was brought to California in the 1850s for farming and escaped, establishing itself strongly. They can be picked by the dozens on any morning and cultivated for a couple of weeks on lettuce and cornmeal to clear out any residual toxins, then prepared by any of several recipes.

Banana slugs are delicious breaded and fried with green tomatoes. I’ve also had them on a stick, Saté style. A lot of work for what you get though, and since they are one of the few animals that eat poison oak – and I hate poison oak – I’m inclined to let them be.

Lambert, my Beefsteak do well while the days are hot but get mealy later in the year; you may not have warm enough weather for them. There’s a newish variety called Siberia that is supposed to come in very early, 45 days, that might work well with a short season and cool nights. I haven’t tried it but the reviews are positive for whatever they’re worth.

CD, spring in Michigan is a glorious thing; there is something very heroic about the little green things pushing up through the snow, so full of optimism and…hope. Look forward to seeing your garden grow.

Engineered for trucking, not for eating?

[x] Any (D) in the general. [ ] Any mullah-sucking billionaire-teabagging torture-loving pus-encrusted spawn of Cthulhu, bless his (R) heart.

so far as I know. They don’t work well for mechanized handling because of their uneven shape, and the yields are much less than many other hybrids. I grow Burpee, have for many years, and as long as the summer is hot I get great results. The hybrids, Beefsteak and Beefmaster, are derivatives of older open-pollinating types like Brandywine, Mortgage Lifter and Cherokee Purple. None of them are grown commercially anymore either, except by some small heirloom growers.

omg we were just looking at that one yesterday. i think we’re going to be trying it. that’s so funny. gmta, or something.

I think you’re right, and the mealiness is a climate thing. It’s not that they aren’t very good, they are, it’s just that they don’t seem to dissolve on the tongue like sunset, as the other varietals do.

[x] Any (D) in the general. [ ] Any mullah-sucking billionaire-teabagging torture-loving pus-encrusted spawn of Cthulhu, bless his (R) heart.

If you’re going heirloom then Cherokee Purple is worth a risk. (Some purists will argue about it belonging in that category, but then some people will argue about anything.) Not so hardy as the VFNs but their flavor is to die for, like a mouthful of Essence of Tomato. I could never get them to produce, and with limited space can’t see tending a plant all season for a half-dozen fruit, but other places it supposedly does well. Mortgage Lifter is a fine tomato, keep it up off the ground and water in the AM only, in my experience it tends to mildew; but then I’ve never grown tomatoes in MI. A cousin in WI raises them and has no trouble, so maybe it’s me. Brandywine is a little tart for my taste.

My Beefsteak are firm, juicy and come August in a good season nearly a pound each. Nobody actually needs a tomato that big so perhaps I’m compensating for something, don’t know and don’t want to know, but I sure do like showing them off.

“Dissolve on the tongue like sunset” Mmm. yes.