Centerfield

It's eight degrees outside right now here, but the sun is shining. (I blame global warming.) And I did Valentine's pre-emptively, which takes all the strain off. I'm not starting the seedlings indoors until March 1st. It's even money on whether or not we have a frost after mid-April, but lettuce and spinach seeds are cheap. I can gamble some. It's the tomatoes and peppers and squash that I'd hate to lose.

Around here all they have to do is announce possible snow and the stores fill up with folks buying a week's worth of supplies.

Used to be you had to wait for the end of the odd-numbered year for the campaigns to get rolling, now it's 24/7/365. Early leaders have trouble staying the course. Current best odds in the Tully Pick: Richardson and Guiliani. (Subject to change as circumstances warrant.)

From what I understand, Marty and Smith were speaking through an intermediary beginning in March 2006. That can't be good but I really don't see the point either. Marty can't prevent his coordinators from leaving for head coaching jobs and he did what any good manager would do with the others, encouraged them to improve themselves. This seems like a pure power play by management and I think they're idiots for it. Sure, Marty lost in the first round again but almost everything had to break NE's way. Can't wait to see the replacement.

It's 29 outside right now but warmer weather is on the way and I'm pumped to start a new garden in a better spot on the south side of the house. Just have to put up a fence to keep my idiot dog out.

Don't forget to hide it from the Water Nazis, SD.

Who would agree with the notion that most or even all of the currently viable 2008 candidates for the Presidency are more palatable than GW Bush and John Kerry?

That's why I'm moving a 6 ft fence up 40 feet, Tully. :-)

Tully, are you really that sold on peppers? My results have been disappointing. Do you grow some special type? I've only grown green peppers, cubanelles and some red hots, and they're dirt cheap by the time my puny fruits mature.

I had good luck last year with parsnips, and I'll strongly repeat my recommendation for swiss chard. I've had VERY good luck starting tomatoes inside and then growing them in protected outdoor contraptions until mid to late may, allowing me to get really good sized plants with buds into the ground. Round here, we usually can't get tomatoes until August, but with the boost from a cold frame or whatever, I can beat that by 2 to 4 weeks.

FWIW, I think heirloom tomatoes tend to be mostly a waste of time, especially the very tempermental brandwine. I grow mostly better boys, which I consider the perfect hybrid. Good medium size, no pest or disease problems, great taste. I usually try at leat one exotic heirloom every year. Black Krims are ugly, but have an outstanding somewhat smoky taste.

I love peppers. I even make my own chili powder using my own peppers and garlic, when I get the right batches. I've mostly given up on jalapenos simply because the inevitable cross-pollination sometimes leaves me with Burning Bells. Capsicum peppers are one of the healthiest foods there is, almost a medicine by themselves. Yum yum! Great fresh, cooked, or dried. High in A and C.

For tomatoes it's usually a beefsteak variety or two, and some Romas and yellow pears. If you start 'em early you'll have a few for the late lettuces and spinach, before the heat kills that off. (Around here that's a real consideration--most leaf greens are May/June items, bolted or dead by July. August? Heh. Shut up and eat your tomatoes and cukes.)

For squash I do my best to keep the missus from putting in any ******** zuchs* and go with crooknecks for early harvest and some spaghetti squash for later. Sometimes we'll put in green beans or snow peas. And usually a few cuke vines with the squash. And thanks to a neighbor who's been growing it for years, we have a fair bed of "volunteer" asparagus on the fenceline. Since it seems impossible to kill, we just keep it contained, harvest early, and then leave it alone. And I have a small bed that I rotate through potatoes, onions, and radishes, depending on my mood and what's handy in the seed box.

[*--zucchini: a green squash of mediocre flavor that turns into the killer kudzu of veggie gardens if ignored for six minutes. Despite rumors, does not freeze well enough that you will want to eat it in January. Appears in such quantity around here in August and later that you can occasionally get people to PAY you to take it away. Also known as "The Green Plague."]

The Profesora and I have brown thumbs, ourselves, to the point where we've each killed cacti in our care. But we have friends who raise seven varieties of peppers and make their own salsas and chipotle sauces. I'm careful to get in whatever they make in most potlucks. Their potato salad is easily the best I've had.

I've had ONE good zucchini-based thing I've enjoyed - it turns out there's s good chocolate cake recipe that uses the stuff....

Around here that's a real consideration--most leaf greens are May/June items, bolted or dead by July.

All lettuces I have grown in my area bolt when the heat comes, too soon and just abpout without warning. So we can't be TOO far apart climatewise. So dude, SERIOUSLY. If you like salad greens you MUST try bright lights swiss chard.

I know I'm from Massachusetts, but this is not Michael Dukakis suggesting midwestern farmers ought o try Belgian Endive.

Swiss chard is really good...it's mild but somewhat iron-rich like a spinach or beet green, and you can eat it as a salad green or cook it and eat it like spinach. It's not fibrous at all like a collard. And it doesn't bolt. it just keeps growing until the frost comes. You can pick the outer leaves and leave the rest of the plant to renew by growing quicker as it is picked.