Grow What You Eat: Cilantro Fail

I bought my cilantro plant on May 14 from Franklin Park Conservatory when I was there making my rain barrel.



I planted it in a bit of potting soil topped off with some compost. It was thriving.



I planned to use it in salsa all summer, but there was not much chance of that. I was able to harvest one bunch in mid-June before this happened:



And then this happened:



R.I.P. May 14, 2011 - July 20, 2011

Thing I'll do differently next year:

• Maybe try a clay pot, as this is not a rain lover.
  
• Maybe try sandy soil. I read that it would be a good idea, but I promptly ignored the advice due to laziness.
  

Next up...cucumber!

Grow What You Eat: Peas & Green Beans

Beans and peas. Every kid's dread? Every green girl's dream?

To start, I bought Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds' Oregon Sugar Pod II snow peas from Raisin Rack and Burpee's Bush Blue Lake 274 from Home Depot (I think).



I planted the seeds as directed on the package in the wooden boxes mentioned here in mid-May. Many of them never sprouted, but I ended up with 6 viable plants (4 peas, 2 beans).



I set up one trellis with two tomato stakes and soft garden twine. But it wasn't enough for two rows of plants, so I bought a second trellis that with three polls and connector pieces that snap together.



The plants flowered.





Then (eek) snow peas appeared.





And then (eek) green beans appeared.



Probably got a couple of handfuls of each by the time everything was said and done.

Update: To my surprise, the green bean plants were still producing a handful of beans every week by the end of August.

Things I'll do differently next year:

• I'll plant the seeds earlier. The middle of May didn't seem to give them quite enough time.
  
• I'm going to get a second set of wooden boxes and split the beans and peas up into two boxes so that I can grow more. Or, since the beans were bush plants, I could using two or three round pots for these, as long as they're tall enough, and just let the plants grow over the side.
  

Next up...cilantro!