Outings and Plantings

I made it to Haymarket this weekend, although I still haven't used the berries and limes purchased there (I had hoped to make a raspberry/blackberry lime tart but ran out of time in the weekend - the berries are surprisingly still good in the fridge, so mayhaps this evening!). However, I still wanted to share some of the pictures. It's a full city block of tents, with most selling fruits and vegetables. There are also at least two seafood tents, as well as some storefronts that face the tents and sell cheese, bread, and various meats. It was a perfect day to be there - cool and sunny. I've never been there when it wasn't shoulder-to-shoulder traffic, and unfortunately the pictures are not able to capture the noise and chaos of the place. I love going not only because it's the cheapest fruits around, but also because in my opinion, it's one of the most wonderful, lively events in Boston.

Strawberries! No more than $1.50/box (prices vary according to vendor, so it's always a good idea to scope out the entire market for quality vs. price before purchasing).

Some booths let you pick out your own, while others select for you. Obviously I prefer the former, so this is something else to check on before buying.

One of my favorite occurrences - the vendors will cut open some of the goods and put them on display, so that you can see how ripe things are. These mangoes were tempting at only $5/box, but I couldn't come up with a use for 10+ mangoes.

My first attempt at capturing some of the vendors unawares. I had quite limited success - I think they are accustomed to watch lurkers closely.

Did I mention stuff is CHEAP here?

One of the meat stores that lines the outer edge of the market. Some of the crabs were crawling around on the ice. Freaked me out, but hard to argue about the freshness.

If I ever need raw sugar cane I know where to go...

My second semi-successful attempt at capturing a vendor portrait. He had the accent of a true Bostonian and the facial hair of Seneca Crane.

Unfortunately I didn't make it back before 4 pm, at which point my plants were in shade and I wasn't sure when it had occurred. However, on Sunday I was able to determine that the first hints of sunshine hit my plants at 8:20 am and by 3 pm the sun has moved to the other side of the building (where it should be hitting my seedlings, now set in the front window). So they are just barely hitting their "minimum" six hours of sunshine, but they are making it! Good news.

I repotted my pea plants last night. As mentioned earlier, they had been growing great guns, but stalled out over the weekend. I needed to make/buy some sort of lattice, so on Friday I grabbed a few tall sticks from decorative pots on the medical campus. They had been there since before Christmas, so I figured they wouldn't miss a few. I had my camera out on Saturday morning when I went into lab to capture what I had stolen from, but the landscapers were there, removing the decorations and putting live plants in the pots. Great timing!

The tools. The colored sticks with some offshoots were much taller than I needed, but were serviceable after cutting. I do wonder what they originally were before being stuck in a pot for winter decorations.

 I was horrified when I pulled up the pea plants to repot them to discover that the roots were dripping wet. So I will be holding off on watering the rest of the tray for a few days to let them dry out. I have no idea how the lattice will work - I definitely don't get any points for presentation, but I wanted to give the plants options on where to grow.

The final product. It's a little sad looking, I know.

I checked the pea pot out on the balcony this morning and nothing has fallen down yet, so that's...good? I'll see how it holds up in the rain the next few days. I also checked the rest of my plants, as it had gotten down to just a few degrees above freezing several nights in the past week (I had read how several farms outside the city had been going to extremes to protect their crops, but luckily I am well within the urban heat island of Boston itself). I was pleased to see a strawberry with a slight pink tint, as well as at least one white berry on each of the other three plants I first bought.

Definitely pinkish. I plan to eat it as soon as possible.

I also found the first flower on one of my tomato plants (the Patio strain), although the angle made taking a picture rather challenging.

It's blurry and hard to see, but in the center there is a spot of yellow - that's a flower! I had to hang out my window at a most precarious angle and hope that I got a shot, so this was the best one.

Finally, I was thrilled to see new growth on the two strawberry plants I bought on my second trip to Home Depot, as they had been rather large question marks. So currently it looks as if all my plants are heading in a positive direction!

My two sadder strawberry plants. On the right there is fresh growth in the middle of the three leaves, while the one on the left has new growth as sprigs underneath two of the current leaves.