Starting Early Crops, the Winter Garden & Seed Starting/Planting Schedule

Today I finally got some of my early crops started! I was planning on starting some crops last weekend. However, cleaning up the basement and fixing my one germinating table took more time than I expected.

Since last year was my first time trying to use soil blocks......and I didn't do all that well with them. I decided to start my first plantings in containers. I am however planning to start my Broccoli, Cabbage & Cauliflower in soil blocks.

 I started Collards, Arugula, Tatsoi, Pak Choi, Baby Choi, 4 varieties of Kale and 6 varieties of Lettuce. All of these will be planted out in the empty cold frames very early.

These pretty and colorful tomato cages are the only thing in the cold frames right now. "The Italian" got them for me for my Birthday in December. I think they are really cool! He had them all lined up in a path from where I park my car to the back door and then a special present in the last one!

 

I didn't get around to planting the cold frames this past fall. Life got hectic and truthfully I think it was best for the soil. Last year I had slugs all winter and lots of bugs all season due to the mild winter we had. Maybe a good freeze will help things out a bit. That's my excuse reason and I'm sticking to it!

 

The overwintered spinach (the only way I can grow it) is doing well. The plants are very close right now. I will space them out once the weather permits.

 

There are some burned leaves. But, we will have happy Spinach this Spring!

 

I also started two varieties of Leeks, Caratan & Large American Flag. Large American Flag is new variety for me. I received the seeds from Seeds of the Month Club and am happy to try a new variety. I wanted to try another variety.....so, we shall see how they do.

 

The Celery was also sown today. This year I sowed my tried and true variety, Golden Self Blanching. I also started another new variety from Seeds of the Month Club, Utah. I'm really excited to see how the Utah celery does. Let's just hope we don't have more celery than last year!

 

Also sown were some Herbs; Rosemary, Basil (for inside), Winter Savory, Summer Savory, Cumin & Lemon Grass.

 

 

 My seed starting & planting schedule for this year is as follows:

 

February 23/24 - Start Broccoli & Cabbage

March 9/10 - Start Cauliflower, Eggplants & Peppers

March 16/17 - Peas Outside

March 30/31 - Start Tomatoes

March 30-Mid April - Potatoes, Onions, Carrots, maybe Beets & Greens Outside, weather permitting

April Mid-Late - Broccoli Outside

April -Late to May-Early - Cauliflower Outside

May Early - Start Squash & Melons

May-Early to Mid - Tomatoes Outside

May-Late - Peppers & Eggplants Outside

May-Late to Early June - Direct sow, Beans, Cucumbers, Squash, Popcorn and any other warm crops that I forgot!

 

I'm sure this will change a bit, as it always does. But, that's the plan for now! How are you making out with your garden planning for this year???

Harvest Monday................... 09/24/2012

I weighed the Kennebec potatoes that I dug last week figuring that would be about it for the harvests this week. Then I went to the plots to start Fall Clean-Up! I always take my harvesting containers just in case. It's a good thing I did!

Here are the Kennebec Potatoes that I harvest last week

They were a nice size and the yield was OK

These are the ones we will eat first. 

They are the tiny potatoes and the potatoes that have some type of damage.

I pulled all of the tomato plants from the one bed and managed to get some nice tomatoes

and some pretty tomatoes

and some more green tomatoes for Green Tomato Salsa. Since some of the other green tomatoes turned red.

Sweet Peppers

A few more yummy Raspberries

The last of the Sugar Pie Pumpkins and biggest leek I have ever grown! This baby is at least 2" across at the bottom!

The nicest Jalapenos so far this year and the Habaneros are finally getting ripe! 

More Eggplant

I have no idea what I'm going to do with these! 

The first Lima Beans of the year. 

The vines were so dense that I couldn't find them until I trimmed them back.

Total weighed harvest: 50.92 lbs.

Beans,Lima - 12.8 oz

Eggplant - 34.15 oz

Leek - 8 oz

Onions (not pictured) 38 oz

Peppers:

    Hot & Spice - 30 oz

    Sweet - 24.52 oz

Potatoes, Kennebec - 450 oz 28.13 lbs

Pumpkin, Sugar Pie - 47.5 oz

Raspberries - 3.2 oz

Tomatoes:

    Red - 138.55 oz

    Green - 28 oz

Hop on over to Daphne's Dandelions, our host of Harvest Monday to see what's going on in gardens around the globe!!!

Harvest Monday.............09/10/2012

What a very strange gardening year it has been. It's September and I'm still harvesting tomatoes! Last week was my biggest tomato week, harvesting 75 lbs of tomatoes. My biggest tomato week is usually in July. This week I harvested a little over 30 lbs. and also pulled some plants. How strange is that? It all seems so weird to be doing the bulk of my tomato canning at the same time I'm harvesting winter squash and shelling my dry beans.

The beans are still going strong. I basically stopped harvesting the Chinese Red Noodle and are leaving them for seed We have plenty in the freezer. As you can see, some green tomatoes were harvested. The green tomatoes will be used for Green Tomato Salsa.

The tomatoes aren't nearly as nice as they were last week.....

but, they still are pretty!

I just love looking at pictures of them!

It seems like the peppers are finally starting....in September!

I also harvested my first successful fall garden peas. There would have been a lot more....but, some Bunny thinks they are on the menu art the bunny buffet! There were a ton on Wednesday that were almost ready and yesterday most of them were gone :(

These are really the first raspberries I have picked this year. They are going to be made into something special! The plants are really looking great since the move this year. I hope next year will be a good year for the raspberries!

This basket of eggplant was dropped off to my in-laws on the way home from the plots. I think there are about 20 more beauties that will be harvested within the next week or so. How weird is that for September???

I also harvested the last of Butternut Squash. This one is small in comparison to the others. Two more Sugar Baby Pumpkins and the first and smallest of the Spaghetti Squash of the year. The Spaghetti Squash are planted at the house and are doing very well for being ignored this year.

Another crop that is doing very well is the Popcorn. The red is Strawberry Popcorn. It's absolutely beautiful! I picked about 22 ears of it. The white is Japanese Hulless. These are the first three harvested and are about three times the size of the ones I picked last year. They are just starting to get dry and will be harvested within the next couple of weeks. 

Total weighed harvest:47.3 lbs.

Beans:

    Asparagus - 11 oz.

    Chinese Red Noodle - 4 oz.

Eggplant - 78 oz,

Peas - 4 oz

Pepper:

     Hot & Spice - 42.55 oz.

     Sweet - 6.5 oz

Popcorn - Not weighed

Pumpkin, Sugar Baby - 48.3 oz.

Raspberries - 4.3 oz.

Spaghetti Squash - 26.65 oz.

Squash, Butternut - 43.5 oz.

Tomatoes:

     Green - 71.15 oz.

     Red - 416.05

Hop on over to Daphne's Dandelions, our host of Harvest Monday to see what's going on in gardens around the globe!!

Happy Harvest Labor Day Monday.........09/03/2012

Since I have been busy catching up on my preserving this past week, I only went to the plots to harvest yesterday. I really didn't think I would have too many tomatoes. But just in case, I brought all of my containers and some bags too. It's a good thing I did!!! This is everything I harvested yesterday!!!

Some Asparagus & Chinese Noodle Beans and tomatoes..... 

and some more tomatoes.....

and more tomatoes......

and even more tomatoes......

and yes, tomatoes.......

and tomatoes......

and my first little Pumpkin. I think I planted Sugar Pie and a huge Butternut Squash.....

and some more tomatoes......

and some lovely sweet peppers.

The tomato total for the day/week was 75.38 lbs! I guess I'll be laboring on this Labor Day for sure! I hope everyone has had a safe and enjoyable Labor Day Weekend!

Harvest total for the week: 88.95 lbs

Beans:

     Asparagus, Red Seeded - 7.1 oz

     Chinese Red Noodle - 5.6 oz.

Peppers, Sweet - 36 oz.

Squash:

     Butternut - 99.95 oz.

     Pumpkin - 68.55 oz.

Tomatoes - 1206.05 oz., 75.38 lbs.

Hop on over to Daphne's Dandelions, our host of Harvest Monday to see what's going on in Veggie Gardens around the Globe!!

Thursday's Kitchen Cupboard..................8/30/2012

With all the produce coming in, the days have been long. I think I'm keeping up pretty well considering. This past week I have canned Tomatoes and Tomato Puree almost daily. I also made some meals and froze them.

This is the Zucchini & Tomato Bake that Dave posted a few weeks ago here. 

We just love it! I have made several and froze them for use over the winter!! I only made one adjustment to his recipe. I sprinkled some seasoned breadcrumbs in between the layers.

Here are a couple of the Tomato Bakes packaged and ready for the freezer.

I also made several Eggplant Parmigiana and froze them too. They are the thicker packages at the bottom of the pile.

Another time consuming canning project was making the tomato salsa, recipe here. I stayed up late on Tuesday evening and made 8 pints. That's enough to get ME through the year! I will also make some Green Tomato Salsa.

Some other things that were frozen this week were Chinese Red Noodle Beans and Asparagus Beans. I think we have enough of the Chinese Beans frozen. But, we can definitely use some more Asparagus Beans in the freezer.

What's been going in or out of your Kitchen Cupboard lately???

Harvest Monday..............8/26/2012

Just when you think you have the fruit flies under control in the kitchen. You go to the plots to do a little harvesting and..........well

you get this......

and this.....

and this.....

and these....

and of course more Chinese Red Noodle Beans....

and a ton of tomatoes.....

and at the home garden I got these.

The tomato plants at the plots are still hanging in there. They don't look too good. But, I am picking every good tomato and semi-ripe one I can find. Not only are many of the plants diseased, there are also some issues with nibbling. I suspect tomato hornworms, although I have not seen any.

I realized today that my harvest spreadsheet was not calculating my year to date totals correctly. I fixed it and I have harvested a little more then I previously thought.

Total weighed harvests: 51.8 lbs.
Beans:
     Asparagus Red Seed - 5.95 oz
     Chinese Red Noodle - 23.5 oz.
Cuccumbers - 9.25 oz.
Eggplant:
     Black Beauty - 22.95 oz.
     Lunga Violetta Di Firenze - 22.1 oz.
Peppers:
     Hot & Spice - 8.05 oz.
     Sweet - 24.45
Tomatoes - 712.55 oz. 44.53 lbs

Hop on over to Daphne's Dandelions, our host of Harvest Monday to see what's going on in Veggie Gardens around the Globe!

Harvest Monday................08/20/2012

Since "The Italian" is out of town for a few days, Sophia spent the whole weekend with me. We sure did have a busy weekend!! First, we spent all day Saturday out and about. We shopped, which I really hate. But, it had to be done. I needed some pants for work and of course Sophia needed some things too. Just like any teenager does! We had a great day and then took our neighbor out for dinner. It was the girls night out!

Sunday was a full day of gardening. Before we left for the plots, I checked the two savoy cabbage plants at the home garden I really hadn't looked at them in weeks.

The cabbage on the left is a normal size head of Savoy Cabbage.

The one on the right is the Monster Head....That baby weighed almost 7 lbs!! I really didn't think Savoy cabbage could get that big!

After the great Cabbage Harvest we set off for the plots. That place was like a jungle! Sophia was a big help. She pulled weeds, took a ton of stuff to the compost and of course took a nice nap under the umbrella! When the day was done we had a nice neat garden and a full trunk of produce!

And there was some in the back seat too!

If you ever wondered what 17+ lbs of celery looks like.....

It looks like this!!! Yes, we harvest 17.32 lbs of celery! 

There is no way we need all this celery plus the nearly 4 lbs that was harvest in July. So, Sophia took a couple of bunches and I gave 3 bunches to my mother.There's also some more celery growing in the home garden.

We harvested two nice Sugar Baby Watermelons. 

They weighed in at 15.55 lbs for the two.

We also harvested these two fine beauties.

My first time growing Butternut Squash. These guys weighed in at a little over 10 lbs.

The remaining cabbage at the plots was harvested.

One Savoy, Two each of Tet Noire and Red Acre.

These guys were on the small side.....but, I think we are good in the cabbage department for the year!

The Chinese Red Noodle Beans are really doing well!!

I harvested 4.675 lbs. of them this week alone!

There were also Eggplants, Tomatoes and Peppers harvested this week.

Not pictured are the potatoes I dug last week and didn't get around to weighing until Saturday. 

All in all it we had a great week of harvests!!

Total weighed harvests: 135.34 lbs!!

Beans:

     Dean's Purple Pole Snap - 7.85 oz.

     Chinese Red Noodle - 74.8 oz. 

     Asparagus Red Seed - 8.1 oz

Cabbage:

     Chiefton Savoy - 170.9 oz.

     Red Acre - 61.35 oz.

     Tet Noire - 64,5 oz.

Celery - 277.15 oz.

Eggplant - 42.75 oz.

Peppers:

     Hot & Spice - 15.3 oz

     Sweet - 24.7 oz

Potatoes:

     Yukon Gold - 61 oz

     Purple Viking - 92.3 oz.

     Kennebec - 18.55 oz.

     Red Pontiac - 193.25 oz.

Squash, Butternut - 162 oz.

Tomatoes - 599.75 oz

Watermelon Sugar Baby- 248.85 oz.

Zucchini - 17.6 oz.

Hop on over to Daphne's Dandelions, our host of Harvest Monday and see what's going on in gardens around the globe!!