Skunks have been active under and around the house since early February, a development that I choose to think of as auspicious even though I can smell skunk on my parka even after I get to work. This past weekend was beautiful, with plenty of snow left upon which to snowshoe around. Critter tracks are everywhere. I should be able to report on the specifics but by the time I go out, things are melted and vague.
Garlic and dried chiles have really kept me going this winter. For 2008 I have two beds of hard- and soft- neck garlic waiting under the snow. Eager to get farmy and convinced that certain chiles need a long time to germinate, I planted a few Limon and Hot Paper Lantern seeds in soil blocks on a heat mat in the cellar last week. I think these two are C. chinese. The other peppers I am going for are Fish, Czech Black, Matchbox, Red Rocket, and an Ancho hybrid called 211 -- waiting for early March. I assume that they are all C. annuum, but the catalogs don't say for sure. It will be educational to try to ID them. I am finding all kinds of info on the Gardenweb Hot Pepper Forum. I am also finding that the online Chile Freak world is not unlike or unrelated to BBQ culture.
Just so you don't think that I am distracted from tomatoes, these are the packets I am sitting on for April: Speckled Roman, Orange Banana, Amish Paste, Hog Heart (yes, I like the paste tomatoes.) Also Garden Peach for a novelty, Principe Borghese just in case I get it together to try drying them, and Glacier in hopes of ripening something a little earlier. I also want to squeeze in some purple tomatillos and ground cherries. All this under four fluorescent tubes?
Mike Doughty has a new album out and that makes me very happy. It is Golden Delicious.
