Althouse: At the Springtime Café...

April 11, 2012

At the Springtime Café...

... time to get started.

38 comments:

bagoh20 said...: No Acapulco Gold?; 4/11/12, 9:34 PM
chickelit said...: I planted two weeks ago: beans, watermelon, pumpkins, cantaloupe. Seedlings are up. I'll take photos and update.; 4/11/12, 9:36 PM
crosspatch said...: My daughter brought home the most beautiful bouquet of sweetpea flowers from her school garden club today (we are in California).; 4/11/12, 9:38 PM
YoungHegelian said...: If there's a Thai grocery in Madison, they may have some already sprouted "cat's penis" (as the Thai's call them) peppers. See example here.

These are great peppers for spicy Asian dishes, and the plants are very hardy and productive. They just like as much sun & heat as you can give them. They'll keep producing until the frost kills them.; 4/11/12, 9:47 PM
edutcher said...: Your sweet lips to God's ears, Madame.

It's been damp, chill, and a bit snowy today.

We've had a fairly mild winter, granted, but it's time for it to be gone.

PS Do be his Dream Come True and don't coax, purr like a kitten, and inspire your noble husband away from soft bed and warm wife for a couple of weeks more until it really is time to get started.; 4/11/12, 9:55 PM
wyo sis said...: Wow! The snow barely left here. Our lawn is still brown and no croci (of either kind)yet! Until last week soccer was played in the snow. It's by no means sure it won't happen again before spring gets a good hold on us.; 4/11/12, 9:56 PM
Paddy O said...: I'm getting started much earlier and more frequently than ever before.

Our little plant keeps needing to be watered at all hours.

So worth it.; 4/11/12, 10:01 PM
jungatheart said...: I bought seeds and those trays with compressed peat moss that swell up with water. Hope it works.
I haven't grown from seeds for years, usually get plants. Now I have zinnia, sunflowers, orange cosmos, babies breath, marigold, larkspur, and maybe some I can't think of. Also want to find some cheerier colors of hollyhock seeds for my mom. The ones at walmart were a little muddy. I liked them, but I figured my mom would like brighter :); 4/11/12, 10:16 PM
chuck b. said...: I'm already eager to see pictures of your blue sweet peas. I usually grow 'Cupani' (it self-sowed this year). Great fragrance, but I'm tired of those moody colors.

Although we have lovely wildflowers in California, I confess I do enjoy reading about your mid-western ones. I like to keep a Prairie Moon catalog nearby. http://www.prairiemoon.com/; 4/11/12, 10:22 PM
traditionalguy said...: It's a SEEDS WORLD!

Add warm earth, water and sunshine and patiently watch seeds begat plants far greater than the tiny seeds. Time for another season of everyday miracles.

They say civilizations were first organized to keep labor in fields over a growing season and harvest the crop, and guard the harvest from roving bands of thieves, and also cause laborers to feed kept
cows which had to be guarded from roving bands of thieves.

I take it that Meade's role is Guardian, which has a very noble tradition indeed.; 4/11/12, 10:25 PM
jungatheart said...: Where do those fancy-schmancy seed packets come from?; 4/11/12, 10:26 PM
chuck b. said...: Oh, you have Cupani too! Nevermind what I said! It's a fabulous plant. Great colors!; 4/11/12, 10:27 PM
MadisonMan said...: The nice thing about cleome: You only have to plant it once.

I've planted my mini-bell peppers, and they're up with two leaves. The zinnias are up. I planted nasturtium too. That might have been a mistake.; 4/11/12, 10:52 PM
Carnifex said...: My stepson planted 250 tomato plants earlier, and now is scrambling to scrounge up enough sheets to cover them up. It went from the 70's all last month to freezing last night and tonight.

Random story time...

This one has no point to it, it just is what it is.

I saw the poster Phil3:16 on another thread and it started a cascade of free word association of people named Phil...Hartman, Regis Philbin, Dr, Phil, and it stopped at Phil Simms.

Phil Simms won MVP while playing for the New York Giants in Super Bowl 21. He set the record for pass completions in that game where the Giants beat the Broncos, 39-20.

He grew up in Louisville Ky, specifically on Sarah Drive, in the suburb of Okolona. I know this because he lived just down the street from my grandparents. I was friends with his brother Joey, and my sister was friends with his sister Anne. We all went to school together.

Phil was called "Whitey" because of his white blond hair, and general Nordic appearance. I had a tough time equating the Whitey of my youth with the Phil known to the sports world.

Growing up we played games like "Army Dodge" A variant of dodge ball using a baseball, 1st base and home. The runners would run between 1st and home which were "safe". In between, the pitcher would hurl the baseball at you. If you were hit, you were the new pitcher. As in baseball, there was no crying in "Army Dodge"

We would have BB Gun fights. No one lost an eye thank God. And our King of the hill involved a hill, dirt clods,and elements of WWE wrestling. Snow ball fights were conducted with ice balls, made by sucking the water out of a regular snowball, which rendered them gleaming, hard as diamond projectiles that could cut flesh, and cause concussions. To say we were a rough crowd is an understatement.

One day, down at the Simms' house we had a medical emergency. Their hound dog had swallowed the lid off of a tin can and was choking on it. whitey, displaying the calm he would later demonstrate under the rush of blitzing linebackers, grabbed the hound, and reached his hand in, and grabbed the offending can lid, thus saving the dog. As little kids we were suitably impressed with such a act of heroism. Whitey saved the dog! Huzzah!

This altruistic streak did not extend to cats or kittens unfortunately. When a neighbors cat had a litter of kittens we took great pleasure in seeing who could throw them higher into the trees. Now you know why he could throw such accurate passes. Whitey always won these contests.

Whitey was a better baseball player than he was a football player. Baseball is not considered a sport in Kentucky though. There is basketball, football, and well, that's it, unless you count hunting and fishing.(I don't, you hunt and fish to eat). Anything else is just a past time, even horse racing. I mean the jockey's and the horses are in great shape, but speaking as a spectator, I and many, aren't.

Whitey graduated from Southern High School, and went on to play football for Morehead State University. Moreheads' only other claim to sports fame is that it beat the University of Louisville in its first round game last season in the NCAA tournament. Those 2 things are enough to give it great cache in the state.(we're not very prosperous, or sophisticated).

So there you have it. Phil "Whitey" Simms, Super Bowl MVP, 2 time Pro Bowler, and most importantly to the eyes of a child, hound dog saver.; 4/12/12, 12:52 AM
Chip Ahoy said...: Last year I planted cucumber seeds in weather like this. Then it rained. And rained, And rained. Soaked my seeds. They did not germinate.

Downtrodden, crestfallen, wamble cropped, dejected, rather sad, I picked up another package of cucumber seeds that look much like these packages, from a rack at the entrance of Whole Foods. I thought at the time, being depressed about cucumbers, "this has got to be the shit" but I bought them anyway.

I wrapped a few seeds in a damp paper towel and they germinated overnight.

Overnight.

Overfay uckingfay ightnay.

Wicked fast.

Turns out I'm not that great a cucumber farmer. I still have that package of seeds. Didn't plant them all.; 4/12/12, 1:06 AM
Guildofcannonballs said...: Getting started might involve viewing, which is potentially illegal now.

"Republicans today would view Ronald Reagan"

Conspiracy, I commit thee, in thinking now, as before, and as I will again, of Ronald Fucking Reagan.

I view him the same: Friend of Buckley par excellence.; 4/12/12, 1:43 AM
james conrad said...: Started??? It's been spring in the Carolinas for 2 months now, where you been girl?; 4/12/12, 4:21 AM
james conrad said...: BTW, ol dad here has a new scam for my large tree covered backyard, a moss lawn. MOSS IS BOSS! No mowing, no fertilizer, no maintenance, YES!; 4/12/12, 4:27 AM
rhhardin said...: I'm waiting for Star of Bethlehem, which usually starts with poison ivy around the first of May, so ought to be coming up two weeks early right now.

Bike riders have wildflowers.; 4/12/12, 4:47 AM
edutcher said...: If the spat between Hillary Rosen and Ann Romney is any indication, people are going to like her as much as Laura Bush.

Maybe more.

That lady is no shrinking violet.; 4/12/12, 5:53 AM
Phil 314 said...: Now we're READY for the real campaign against Romney to begin. It will be the 3 "F" words:

-Filthy rich *
-Flip - flopper
- Funny underwear

* optional substitution : F**king Rich; 4/12/12, 7:30 AM
LilyBart said...: Re: Ann Romney

The Obama campaign views her as a real threat. She's very likable. So they will try to minimize her.

Obama and his close associates cannot be seen to critize her, so they will send out people like Ann Rosen to do it. And they will keep it up until something sticks.; 4/12/12, 7:40 AM
Toad Trend said...: 2 Thessalonians 2:9; 4/12/12, 7:47 AM
pm317 said...: I tried sweet pea last season. The flowers are extremely fragrant.; 4/12/12, 7:55 AM
KCFleming said...: So, this guy walks into a bear and...; 4/12/12, 7:57 AM
pm317 said...: From what I hear, Hilary Rosen lost the twitter battle and had to go to huff&puff to saw what she really meant to say. Hard to cram a walkback if there is a 140 char limit. Somewhere Aaxelrod showed up to save the day (for Obama).; 4/12/12, 7:58 AM
pm317 said...: Here is what happened on Tuesday that still surprises me. We were driving along Rock Creek and a deer runs right into the side of our car but a few inches away from hitting, it makes a U-turn and runs back. Almost like a human. How is that?; 4/12/12, 8:02 AM
Freeman Hunt said...: I'm growing hairy bittercress, dead nettle, corn speedwell, and field madder.; 4/12/12, 8:12 AM
Freeman Hunt said...: The Japanese quince just finished blooming. It was in bloom for a long time.; 4/12/12, 8:14 AM
Paddy O said...: Here's what we've been growing since Easter.; 4/12/12, 8:32 AM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: OMG!!. Don't plant sweet peas unless you want to have them forever on your property. They spawn like Kzudu.

Still too early to plant here. It is still snowing and freezing at night...... but we are getting our planting beds in shape. Yay.; 4/12/12, 9:50 AM
MadisonMan said...: Don't plant sweet peas unless you want to have them forever on your property. They spawn like Kzudu.

I've never had sweet pea re-seed.

I know there is a variety that's perennial-ish, but I'm not sure that's a true sweet pea.; 4/12/12, 9:54 AM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: @ MM

These plants came with the property. Were already planted over 20 years ago when we bought the place.

I am at constant war with the sweet pea vines that climb all over every other bush and plant that they can reach and sprawl out over the ground. When they finally die off for the winter I have to pull the tangling vines down. They are beautiful when blooming and the flowers blend well with the roses in cut arrangements.

But....my God...they are persistent. They come back every year. They crop up in the middle of the fields, in the orchard....everywhere.

I am going to grow more Fava Beans again this year. They are yummy and very difficult to buy in the store.; 4/12/12, 10:08 AM
MadisonMan said...: Perennial sweet pea vine. Yes. Hard to get rid of. Lathyrus latifolius as opposed to the annual Lathyrus odoratus, which is what Meade's seeds are.; 4/12/12, 10:24 AM
Sydney said...: I have pepper and tomato seedlings growing on my south window ledge. Planted peas and potatoes two weeks ago. My parsley never died this winter and I used some of it for our Easter dinner. It snowed here yesterday, though. One inch on the ground for about 12 hours.; 4/12/12, 12:05 PM
Christy said...: @PaddyO, Congrats on the beautiful girl.

My luck with seed isn't so good. I'll never make it as a survivalist.; 4/12/12, 1:54 PM
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