More Fall Planting

I sowed a patch of snap peas (bush type) in the squash bed. I also sowed a row of kohlrabi and a row of beets, one on each side of the asparagus bed. And I sowed the last two rows of carrots.

I've harvested the last of the cabbage. One head had split, but the rest are fine. I made three more jars of sauerkraut, plus I left some for cole slaw and stir fries.

The weather has become very summerlike, with highs mostly in the 80s. The cherry tomatoes are ripening, but so far no other tomatoes. There's one cucumber about three inches long and an aubergine about two inches long. And I found the first tiny green bean. I've had to extend the bean trellis with some string. I hope it's enough.

We're getting lots of zucchini now, and the Delicata squash is finally being pollinated.

Beet Harvest

Fall seems to be here to stay, and I'm in a harvesting mood.  Today I pulled all the beets and canned them.  I hadn't planting many this year.  I had some 'Cylindra,' which had really gotten too big, and then there was an assortment including 'Chiogga' and golden beets. 

They were very pretty when I pulled them, but they pretty much all blended together when I canned them. 

I started with about 9 lbs. of whole beets and ended up with ten pints.

It's All In!

We've been having consistent night time temperatures in the upper 40s and lower 50s, so I decided it was time to plant the rest of my vegetables.  But first, I had to remove the overwintered spinach and parsnips.  I had planted the parsnips in September, knowing that they really wouldn't amount to anything.  And I was right.  I saved four to put in my next pot of stock.  Most of them were the size of small, very long carrots. 

I planted four tomato plants and six peppers.

I planted two black zucchini and two Cube of Butter yellow squash. 

I planted five types of melons and one hill of butternut squash in the area where we took out three raised beds.

Lastly, I sowed another row of carrots and a row of gourmet blend beets.

The strawberries are loaded with fruit.  Now we just need some nice warm weather to ripen them.

Off and Running

We've had two nice days in a row, so I was able to get most of the vegetable garden started. 

I planted Yukon Gold potatoes, and one bed with spinach, a few beets, and chard.  I immediately covered that bed with netting to keep the leaf miners out (I hope!).

I also sowed one bed with kale, lettuce, and arugula.  I also sowed some basil in that bed.  And I started carrots in the bed that still has some leeks and chard from last year. 

I transplanted the seedling leeks into the herb bed, although they seem really tiny.

Just about everything has started to bloom or leaf out.  The early blueberries are in full bloom, as are the peach and nectarine.  The apples and pears are a little behind, but coming. 

We're seeing several stink bugs a day, including in the house.  I even saw a young light green one. Sigh.

The Battle Continues...

I've now taken out the pole beans.  They were being badly damaged and there was no way to reach the upper vines.  The last stand seems to be the cucumbers, which we have been patrolling religiously. 

The bean bed has been planted with more kohlrabi, a row of beets, and a row of spinach.  I've removed the largest planting of basil (I had delusions of making pesto) and planted a short row of chard in the space.  I found stink bugs in the basil. 

I've found an occasional stink bug under the netting in the tomatoes and the peppers, but so far the damage is minimal. 

Bean Tower

I'm trying again to make a bean tower that actually works.  This one is made from eight 1x2s.  It still needs to be staked down, but I think it might work.

Yesterday I got nine new dahlia tubers in the mail.  Today I planted them in groups along the back wall of the house.  I also planted some zinnia seeds in the big gold pot.  I pulled out all of last fall's carrots.  They had gotten too woody.  And I sowed a couple more rows of Yaya.

Even though I've covered the chard and beet bed, the leaf miners are still in there.  They were probably already in the soil.  I'm doing a daily patrol to get them all out.

Off and Running

Yesterday and today were sunny and warm, so I got lots done in the vegetable garden.

I sowed peas, carrots, kale, chard, lettuce, and beets.  I also started some parsley in a six pack.

I did some weeding as well, although things don't look bad. 

I decided to try a new way of growing the raspberries.  I split each plant into two sets of canes and tied half on each side of the wire.  My hope is that this will make them easier to pick.

I learned an expensive lesson about seed storage.  When I dug the gloriosa and sweet potato tubers last fall, I thought they were dry after a short time and put them in paper bags in the bucket with all my seeds.  Today I opened the bucket and found that not only had the tubers molded ( I think I can save the gloriosas) but all my new seeds, in just their paper packets instead of in ziploc bags, were also moldy.  So I had to reorder nine or ten new seed packets.  Fortunately, nothing needs to be planted right away, so I have time to wait for the replacements to come.  Rats!!

Beets & Beans

I pulled the first planting of beets and canned them.  I still have a short row of Cylindras.

I also planted the last batch of bush beans.  I put in two rows, as far from the previous planting as I could get.  The first planting is still producing, but at a slower rate.

I also pulled some of the first planting of carrots.  I pulled this Purple Haze carrot. It's the longest carrot I've ever grown.  Note the spiral root.  I guess it hit the clay at the bottom and decided to corkscrew into it.

Berries Galore

We're  back from our trip and the berries are really coming.  While we were gone, the Marionberries

and Prime-Ark blackberries have started ripening.  They're both very tasty.  The Prime Ark is the everbearing one.

We have more raspberries than we can eat, and I've frozen enough, so I'm going to juice a bowl of them to freeze for later use.

The leaf miner battle has become interesting.  The chard is gorgeous and perfect under the netting.  But the miners have switched to the beets, and boy, have they made a mess.  Obviously next year I'll have to put nets over the beets, too, as well as spinach.

Big Garden Day

We've had nice weather, but rain is returning soon, so today seemed like a good day to really get the garden in shape.


The tomatoes were getting big, so out they went.  I put black plastic around the bottoms of the cages for a little added heat.  I cut up trash bags lengthwise, one bag for every two cages.

 The peppers and aubergines went out, under cover of a plastic tunnel, open on the ends.

I also planted bush beans, a bed with five different dry beans, summer squash, and more carrots, beets, lettuce, spinach and kale.

Spring Planting

Today I got the first of the spring crops in.  I planted snap peas, carrots, beets, lettuce, chard, and kale. I also planted onion starts and started some leeks in a pot. It really felt good to get out there in the dirt.

We're getting an estimate on having the irrigation lines repaired.  Several of them broke during the extreme cold in January.

Beets

We have a major storm coming in tonight, followed by very cold temperatures.  So I figured it was time to harvest the beets.  I had just one row, and many of them were very small, but I pulled them all up and I'll can them tomorrow.   I guess next year I'll plant my fall crop a couple of weeks earlier.

I also pulled about half a row of carrots, because they'll be too hard to pull when the soil freezes.  I still have two rows in the ground, but I'm hoping they'll handle the freeze o.k.

Notes for Next Year

No more melons!  They take up too much space and come all at once. 

Only 6-8 pole bean plants.  Really!!  Also, plant all the bush beans at once, when the pole beans go in. 

Plant just two aubergines.  One globe, one Asian.

Plant more peppers.

Plant basil in the beds, rather than in pots.

Don't bother with planting beets in the spring.  They get lost among all the other summer vegetables.  Plant them in late summer and fall.  Also, plant only 'Cylindra.'  They're much easier to can.

Update:  Actually I will plant melons again, just not so many.  I failed to follow my own advice about only two aubergines.  Too many peppers.  Probably six would suffice.  And forget all the colored ones.  The beet advice is sound, although I still planted some in spring.  

Uncovering the Sweet Potatoes

I read somewhere that if you grow sweet potatoes under black plastic you need to remove it in early August or the gophers will eat all of them.  I don't think we have gophers, but I decided to uncover them just in case.  They are doing quite nicely.  In fact, they're starting to encroach on the second planting of squash.

The first planting of bush beans is finished, so David pulled them out.  I'm not sure what I'll put in that bed.  Maybe lettuce.

I pulled all the first planting beets and canned them.  I got 5 lbs, not counting three big lunkers that I decided not to can.  I'll make borscht.

Beets

Today I pulled the first planting ( a four-foot row) of 'Cylindra' beets and canned them.  I had about 3.5 pounds, without tops.  I got six pints.

I also canned seven pints of beans, mostly from the first planting of bush beans.  They're just about finished, and the 'Blue Lake' pole beans are starting.  I'm not sure what I was thinking when I decided to do two plantings of bush beans.  It would have made more sense to plant them all at once and can them all at once, as well.

Out with the Garlic, in with the Carrots

Today I pulled the garlic and put it on the drying rack.  The heads are a nice size. It's one twelve-foot row, 36 heads.

It's a narrow bed, with just three drip lines.  So I planted a row of beets (Red Ace) along one line, a double row of Yaya carrots along another line, and a double row of Danvers 126 along the third line.

I hope to plant Merida in late September for overwintering. 

Three Zucchinis

Today I picked one portofino and two cube of butter squashes.  I just steamed them.

Two days ago we had the first cube of butter squash on our pizza.

I also pulled five beets.  They were delicious.

Today I planted the second planting of Blue Lake bush beans, about a third of a bed. 

The Vegetable Garden in June

Here's what the garden looks like right now.

The potatoes look like they're on steroids.  I think there may be too much nitrogen in the new soil.  The strawberry plants are also huge, with few flowers.

I ran out of my IRT plastic, and I haven't been able to find any to replace it. so I cut up a couple of black plastic trash bags for the sweet potatoes and melons.

The tomatoes and peppers are looking good, with lots of blossoms.

The salad greens are doing well.  I pulled the arugula and spinach and have replanted them, as well as more lettuce, kale, and chard.

I've also sowed another two rows of carrots. The first carrots are just about harvesting size, and the beets are golf ball size.

The eggplants and squash in big pots are also doing well.

A Week Away

We've been away for a week, on a trip to California, and things have really changed.  The tomatoes look really good.

The pea trellis blew over, so we've reinforced it with some rebar.   We have tons of snap peas.

The potatoes have gotten really big, but no flowers yet.

The beds with greens are doing well, under cover to protect the beets and chard from the pine siskins.

The pole beans are still not very tall, but the nasturtiums with them are starting to bloom.

The blueberries are looking good.  The Bluecrop has tons of fruit, but the Chandler has none.

The biggest disappointment is the sweet potatoes.  I had planted them before we left on our trip, hoping they'd take hold.  But they all died. 

Birds and Greens

The pine siskins have really become a problem.  They've taken a liking to my beet greens and chard and are destroying them.  First it was the small ones, so I covered them.  But now they have discovered the mature chard plants and have been eating them.  So the big ones are now caged as well.  I hate the covers, but I'm not willing to lose my crop.

So far they have not bothered any of the other greens, such as the spinach, kale, and lettuce.