Mile End: Smoking is good for you....

For this month's Cook the Books Challenge, I made many things out of this month's selection....The Mile End Cookbook: Redefining Jewish Comfort Food from Hash to Hamantaschen.   I loved this cookbook so much that I bought it. I even made the Montreal smoked meat, which takes 2 weeks to make.  When I have more time to write, I will post details!

Seed starting

I started these seeds the weekend of March 23....

• Chadwick Cherry Tomato - it's supposed to be the best tasting cherry tomato you can grow. 70 days
• Black Prince - deep garnet round, 2-inch tomatoes are full of juice and incredibly rich fruity flavors. This is a tomato that chefs rave about for it's rich flavors. The small fruits contain deep rich colors on the inside. Perfect for patio gardens. Perfect for eating fresh, and in cooking in tomato sauce or other culinary wonders.70 days
• Cherokee Purple - one of the best tasting heirlooms.  80 days
• Camp Joy tomatoes  _ after planting, I learned it's the same as the Chadwick.  Oh well....
• Basil - I can't remember what variety, it was some leftover seeds I had kicking around 
• Thai hot chili peppers
• Cayenne Peppers
• Borage - edible flowers

Most of these were all ready to be transplanted into potting soil from their seed starting medium last weekend, a few of the peppers needed a little more leafing so I let them be until this weekend.

For this weekend, I transplanted the 

• Cilantro
• Bells of Ireland - only 2 of 8 sprouted
• Mallow - 6 of 8 sprouted 

Epic fails

• Mexican sunflowers - I saved these seeds from Greenfield Village last year.  These flowers were beautiful in the Burbank Garden. None sprouted, so I bought some seeds to try again. Lady Bird Cosmos - only 1 plant that was so leggy it tipped over and croaked out of 8

• Passion Flower -    My daughter bought these seeds 2 years ago, and she has been dying to grow them.  

This weekend, I am starting the rest of my seeds:

• Moonflower
• Blanket Flower - Golden Goblin
• The aforementioned Mexican Sunflower - Torch
• Marigold - French Favourite blend

Mexican Sunflower - it's 4-6 feet tall!

The seed packet for the Mexican Sunflower suggested planing them with Grandpa Ott Morning Glories, which would be lovely! I'm worried the morning glories will choke the sunflowers when they climb.  I'll have to think about how I will do that.

Morning Glory - Grandpa Ott

I usually plant morning glories on my mailbox, but this year it's going to be moonflowers.   I saw some last summer in a yard near the Ann Arbor Farmer's Market and I vowed to plant some myself.  They bloom at night, and they are supposed to smell heavenly.   I can't wait for summer.

Moonflower vine