2011 Garden Overview & Totals ...... Part 1

This was not the best gardening year for any of us...but, I'm not going to complain too much! This year there was a lot of work getting the plots going. It looks like next year is going to be a lot of work too since the Community Garden is moving.

The total weighed harvest from the gardens to date is a little over 720 lbs. Considering the fact that last year I harvested more then 400 lbs. from 230 square feet of actual garden space and this year I harvested 720 lbs. from about 1000 square feet. It was not the best year. OK, that's the end of my complaining!

I will do this post the same as I did it last year, in alphabetical order. This may be a bit lenghty and boring. But, is part of my garden record keeping.

Asian Veggies: I planted three varieties of Asian veggies this year; Pak Choi, Baby Choi & Chinese Tatsoi. The Baby Choi and Tatsoi did better then the Pak Choi. Due to a fluctuation in temperature, the Pak Choi bolted very early. I was extremely pleased with the Baby Choi's production. I presently have all three of these varieties growing in the cold frames and it looks like we will harvesting some soon.

    Pak Choi - 1 lb
    Baby Choi - 7.625 lbs.
    Tatsoi - 1.0625 lbs.
    Total - 9.6875 lbs

Asparagus: Two new asparagus beds were planted at the plots. One bed was planted with Jersey Supreme Hybrid and the other bed with Purple Passion. Both beds did well and are prepped for the winter. Hopefully the moving of these beds will be a success come next year.

Beans:

Pole Beans: I planted two varieties of purple pole beans; Dean's Purple Snap & Blue Coco Snap. These were planted late at the end of June due to the fact that I didn't get a place ready for them at the plots. Then we had the hurricane, which blew the tee-pee down. We did manage to get 3.375 lbs. from them but not enough to freeze any. Next year I am planning to sow them on time and also add two additional varieties, Chinese Red Noodle and Red-Seeded Asparagus. It's going to be a beanless winter :(

Fava Beans: This was the first time that I planted Fava Beans. The variety was Precoce A Grano Violetta. Unfortunately ants got into the plants and we were only able to taste a few. They were absolutley wonderful! I am looking forward to planting some Fava Beans next year.

Lima Beans: The limas were also planted way too late. The variety sown was King of the Garden Pole.
Due to the very late planting and all of the rain at the end of the season. None were harvested.

Dry Beans: The dry beans were planted as a second crop and in empty spaces I had both at the plots and the home garden. Due to the excessive rain late in the season, I feel the harvest was about 50% less then it should have been. We did loose one variety entirely. But, we do have enough stored for some home made baked beans and some soup & chili.

    Great Northern Bush- 3 lbs.
    Jacob's Cattle Bush - 13 oz.
    Coco-Rubico Bush - 6 oz.
    Kidney Bush - 1.5 lbs.
    Trail of Tears Pole - 10 oz.
    Sadie's Horse Runner - None

Broccoli: This was the worst year I have ever had for broccoli. I would say it was a total failure. The spring broccoli bolted due the heat and the fall broccoli has been basically destroyed by the ground hog at the plots. Two varieties were planted; Walthan 29 & Calabrese. I have added some new varieties to the list for next year and also some Broccoli Raab. A few will be planted at the home garden in the spring next year since I'm not sure if the plots will be ready. It was disappointing...but, I have never really had a problem in the past. A total of 1.1875 lbs is all that has been harvested so far this year.

Brussels Sprouts: This is my second attempt at growing brussels sprouts and quite frankly my last for a couple of years. I only harvested a handful last year. This year I thought that I would not have any to harvest. After a recent visit to the plots, it looks like there may be some after all. I planted Long Island & Falstaff. These plants are heavy feeders & take up a lot of room. I am planning to try them again once the soil is established at the plots.

Cabbage: The cabbage did OK this year. Three varieties were planted; Chiefton Savoy, Red Acre & Tet Noire. I only planted 3 of each since I wasn't planning to make sauerkraut this year. They all produced small heads and it was enough for the two of us. I even managed to freeze 3 nice portions of Braised Red Cabbage for use over the winter.

    Chiefton Savoy - 3.75 lbs.
    Red Acre - 4.875 lbs
    Tet Noire - 4.25 lbs.

Carrots: The early planting of carrots did well. I planted Chantenay Royal, Parisienne, Danver's Half Long & Scarlet Nantes in the spring with a total harvest of 5.875 lbs. The later sowings did not do well. The seedlings kept dying from the heat. We only have 4 carrots growing right now! Hopefully I will be able to produce more carrots next year since they are a definitel staple for cooking.

Cauliflower: This was another crop that had a difficult time this year. I planted three varieties; Early Snowball, Silver Cup & Igloo. They also had a difficult time with the extreme early heat and the fall crop...well, the ground hog. The total harvest was 2.21875 lbs. Not nearly enough for us. I have always had success with this crop in the past. I will also plant a few in the home garden next spring and may look into some different varieties.

Celery: I always plant Golden Self Blanching Celery. The celery did very well this year. I planted some in the home garden and some at the plots. The home garden celery was harvested first and was absolutely beautiful! I thought that the celery at the plots was going to be a failure and procrastinated in pulling it. I am very happy that I did. It turned around and gave us a nice harvest. I also managed to get 3 small shoots from these plants that are now growing in the cold frames. I also noticed a couple of days ago that there is some celery growing out of the bottom of one of the compost bins! Another note, the celery this year was not nearly as strong as celery I have grown in the past. Total harvest 10.4375 lbs.

Ground Cherries: I recieved some Aunt Mollie's seeds as a free gift from one of the seed companies last year. I planted two in pots on the deck at home. They didn't really seem to ripen as they should. The dang squirrels definitely enjoyed them! I'm not sure if I will try them again next year.

Corn: I planted some Japanese Hulless Popcorn for the first time at the plots in two Three Sisters Plantings. They were planted a bit late and the very small harvest has yet to be tested. I'm planning on planting the popcorn again next year in the same fashion and am adding a variety called Strawberry. I so enjoyed the popcorn that my mother planted and I'm not giving up!

Cucumbers: What a time I had with the cucumbers this year! I usually have way too many and end up pulling most of the vines when the pickles are made. The plan was to sow Japanese Climbing & a Slicing variety in the home garden. The Little Tykes & Gherkins were to be sown at the plots for pickle making. Well the first planting at the plots failed and all I had left was more Gherkin seeds, which turned out to be an actual spiky Gherkin variety. That was not the description of the seeds.  At home, I usually plant the cucumbers where some of the early peas were planted. It usually works well as I won't have to make pickles at the same time the tomato glut comes in. The cucumbers at home didn't do well and died early. This happened to a lot of people in our area. It must have been the weather. We did harvest enough for some pickle making. Later I found some from a local farmer and we are good in the pickle department. Next year I am going to plan a little differently for the cucumbers. There have also been some new varieties added to the list.

    Japanese & Slicing - 7.34375
    Gherkin - 1.47 lbs.

Eggplant: There were four varieties of eggplants planted; Black Beauty, Early Black Egg, Rosa Bianca & Lunga Violetta Di Firenze. Only the Rosa Bianca eggplants were the normal size. The other three varieties were less then half the size they normally are. The harvest was enough to make eggplant caponata and were we also able to freeze some. The total harvest was 17.344 lbs.

Garlic: I don't know what I was thinking when I planted the garlic. I only planted 55 cloves. That's hardly enough for "The Italian". The varieties were Siberian & some Misc. varieties that got mixed up over the years The heads were smaller then normal. Hopefully we will have enough to get through the year since we were still using the stored garlic from the previous year long after this years was harvested. This fall I purchased new garlic for planting and should definitely have enough for use and planting next year.

    Garlic Scapes - 10 oz.
    Garlic Heads - 5.125 lbs.

That's it for Part 1. Part 2 to follow and it will begin at Greens.

Potatoes and the Plots

The past week and a half has brought a lot of changes to the garden at the plots. Some veggies have ended and some are just beginning.

Yesterday I went over there to do some much needed watering and pull the last pea vines. Plans always seem to change and I decided that I better dig the red potatoes and maybe cut back the Kennebecs. As I was digging the reds, I found some that had been partially eaten. After finding that, I decided to dig all of the potatoes. I am really happy that I did!

Here are the partially eaten potatoes that I salvaged and brought home. It looks like a critter has been eating them...but, I found no evidence of moles or voles. After washing and cutting away the nibbled portions I ended up with 5 lbs of potatoes. I am going to make these into Scalloped Potatoes and freeze them for use over the winter. I cannot can them since I don't have a pressure canner, like some people Erin!

The undamaged Kennebecs weighed a little over 18 lbs and they are a good size.

The undamaged Sagre reds weighed 8lbs.

With all the potato problems both here at the home garden and at the plots, we ended up with just over 40lbs of potatoes this year. I'm not complaining one bit! That will be plenty of potatoes for "The Italian" and I to get through the winter. Although we love potatoes, we don't eat a lot of them.

Now for a short tour with lots of pics of some of what is going on over at the plots. I took these pics at 6:30 this morning and the sun was giving me a bit of a problem.

The purple pole beans are finally growing. I think it's going to be awhile before we have any beans. I was really late getting them planted. Tomato Alley in the background. The plants are doing pretty well and I picked the first two ripe tomatoes yesterday, a Belgian Beauty and a CP seed from Thomas.

Bed #2.

I built a couple of trellises last week for the squash in the Three Sisters planting in this bed. In the middle of the bed there are some dry beans. At the end of the bed is where the potatoes were planted. I think that I am going to cover that area for a couple of weeks to kill any nasties and then heavily amend the soil with composted manure. That will give me a good space for the Fall Broccoli and Cauliflower.

The first pumpkin in a sling

The first zucchini plant is producing. We will be picking the 3rd one from this plant tomorrow. There is also another younger plant behind it.

The second Three Sisters planting in bed #4. I did not trellis these squash.

There are several Long Island Cheese Squash on the plant in the front of the bed. Thanks Mimi for the seeds!

Cantaloupe are doing well so far. There is a small one at the bottom to the left if you enlarge the picture.

Here is part of bed #1. The cabbage is doing well and the Brussels Sprouts along the back seem to be holding their own. I am not holding my breath about the remaining cauliflower though. Time will tell if anything comes from those plants. There are also dry beans planted in the empty spaces between the remaining plants.

A couple of other notes for my records. The Heritage Raspberries that were there are now producing some new little berries on the new growth. I thought that they were done...but, I guess that I was wrong. The blackberries are coming on like gang busters. The celery is doing better, we have a lot of little eggplants and the peppers are out of control! That's it for now. I have a long day of canning and freezing ahead of me...so I better get to work!

The Plots on May 13

This morning I finished turning Bed #3 (Tomato Alley) over again and removing some weeds. This bed does not seem to have the weed problem that I have in Beds #1 & 6. I am planning to plant the tomatoes there tomorrow. The weather is supposed to be over cast and not as hot as we have had this past week. It should be perfect weather for planting the tomatoes.

Tomato Alley almost ready for planting. The dark spots are some manure that I had left in a bucket. This will be spread around a bit more before I put the tomatoes in.

Savoy Cabbage...looking good! The white powder you see in many of the pics is diatomaceous earth. I really need to get some BT tomorrow for the plots.

I'm not sure which variety of purple cabbage this is. I didn't take notice when I took the picture.

A few of the Calabrese Broccoli are forming some heads!!!

The Weedy Pot Garden

I took the all of the pots off of the Broccoli, Cabbage & Brussels Sprouts. I left the pots on the cauliflower since they were planted much later. I will remove them when the plants get bigger.

The potatoes are coming up really well. The Caribe reds on the left are smaller then the Kennebecs on the right. Yesterday I had quite a few Colorado Potato Beetles around the plants, today nothing. Yesterday, I also removed some orangish eggs from the underside of many of the leaves. Every single beetle got squished...EG would be very proud of me! I really need that BT for the potato plants. Next year I am going to plant all of the potatoes at home and plant the garlic at the plots. That will help with the beetle problem.

Some insect has been nibbling on the the Oregon Giant & Mammoth Melting Snow Peas in Bed #2.

The eggplant and peppers are doing well. They have a little wind damage...but that is expected there. They should be toughened up now.

These are the Carouby de Maussane Snow Peas. They are doing much better then the other Snow Peas. The Sugar Magnolia Purple Snap Vine Peas and Little Marvel Peas seem to be untouched so far.

You can now see The Little Marvels coming up all along the edge of  Bed #5 where I also have the Bell Peppers & Kohlrabi planted.

My neighbor who gave me the Calla Lily bulbs is going to bring me some compost....he is such a nice guy! Another neighbor brought me some really nice containers for carrying water. They are going to be needed since we may not be able to have any type of water catching system. There is a big meeting at the plots on Monday evening regarding some "New Rules"....it's going to be interesting! We are still going to bring a few 55 gallon drums to the plots. Some of the guys have pumps and go to the creek and fill barrels on the back of their trucks. They will fill your barrels with water if you ask. What a nice community of people at the gardens!

Long Day at the Plots & Plant Identification

I was the plots nearly all day today. First thing this morning I went over to uncover the eggplant and peppers. They were all fine and happy. Then I went home for a bit and went back to do some much needed weeding and tidying up.

The first bed that I worked on was Bed #2. This bed has potatoes at the one end and some snow peas on the side.

I dug out some small thistles, loosen the soil in the entire bed and pulled the big weeds in the paths. Since everyone at the plots complains about potato beetles, I decided to throw some pieces of dried up garlic around the potatoes. It may help and it may not, but it certainly won't hurt. I have only seen a couple which were killed immediately....squish. As you can see the Kennebecs are coming up much quicker and are much bigger then the Sagres.

Then I started on Bed #1 a/k/a The Weedy Pot Bed. I removed each and every pot weeded, loosen the soil and also put a piece of garlic near each plant.

This bed took a bit of time since it is the weedy garden.

All of the cauliflower that were planted are doing well. The cabbage, brussels sprouts and broccoli are really growing nicely. I also put pieces of garlic in this bed to deter insects.

Next I worked on the Purple Passion asparagus bed.

I removed a few weeds and leveled out the bed. Later I planted some parsley in the front of this bed. Parsley is supposed to be a great companion plant for asparagus. No pics though...I'll tell you why later.

The next area to be tackled was Berry Alley. You would not believe all the runners from the blackberry & raspberries bushes. There was also a lot of thistle to be removed back there.

The berries are definitely filling out.

The new Heritage Raspberries that I planted are also doing well.

When I was working behind the blackberries I found this growing up between the posts and stakes I have back there.

Is this just a nasty weed or could it be a variety of rhubarb? The stalks that are white were under the posts. It's not like I've never nursed along a weed before or pulled a perfectly good plant.

Next I loosened up the soil at the end of the strawberry bed where the Fava Beans were planted.

The beans are all popping up!

Then I started on the strawberry bed. By this time I was getting a bit tired.

There are some areas in the strawberry bed that have weeds under the straw and some don't. This bed is along the side as is the Pot Garden. The weeds in both the beds are due to the neighboring plots. I decided to stop working on the bed since there were a couple of other things that I really needed to get to before I left to go home.

A few small radicchio plants had to go in.

Then I really needed to get to the other asparagus bed.

While I was working on the Jersey Supreme Asparagus bed. I undercovered ants!! They were bitting me and I really had to potty!!! So I packed it up and headed out. I really had intended to take some pictures of the eggplants, peppers and parsley....but there was no way!!

The Plots at the end of April

Although our weather has not been cooperating, the planting at the plots is up to date. I have to say that I am pleasantly surprised how well everything is growing over there.

The weather finally cooperated on a day when "The Italian" was home and the final two beds were framed out this past week! Hopefully we will be able to get the rain barrel system and shelter set-up this coming week.

Bed #1 (The Pot Garden) is completely planted. I finally put in 30 cauliflower plants yesterday and filled any extra space with more onion sets. This bed is full of Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Onions & some Pak Choi. This is the weediest bed that I have there. If you remember, the plot to the right was full of 7' high weeds.

             

Broccoli & Cabbage

I did loose a couple of broccoli plants, but overall everything is growing wonderful!

The Snow Peas are coming up OK. The English Peas (Little Marvel) are very sporatic in germinating. I think that a lot of them rotted from all of the rain. I also feel that some much needed organic matter in the beds would make it easier for them to grow.

All of the Kohlrabi is growing great! I planted some Celery at the end of this bed and in another bed yesterday.

Both varieties of Asparagus are coming up. This is the Jersey Supreme. I couldn't get a good picture of the Purple Passion due to the sun and location of the bed.

Many of the strawberry plants have flowers on them!!

The potatoes are coming up quicker at the plots then here at home.

The Raspberries and Blackberries are growing like crazy over there! Now I need to get working on the paths, compost bins and amend the soil in Beds 3 & 4 to get them ready for the warm weather veggies.

Harvest Monday.......4/18/2011

After spending over 4 hours in the basement yesterday playing with my seedlings, I decided to face the fierce winds and go outside! First I re-arranged the greenhouse/"Garden Helper's" new playhouse. I moved the toys around and set-up the shelves for the warm weather crops.

While I was out there I noticed that the cold frame crops needed some immediate harvesting. Boy, that was fun in 50mph wind gusts! I harvested the last of the overwintered Arugula and then pulled the plants. I really wanted to add a little compost to the cold frames and do some planting...but, that was totally out of the question with the high winds. I was pleasently surprised with how much I harvested!

Arugula, Lettuce, Collards, Kale & Chard

This is what I harvested on Sunday!



Total Harvest this week: 2.6875 lbs

Arugula - 5 oz.

Brussels Sprouts - 4 oz.

Chard - 10 oz.

Collards - 4 oz.

Kale - 4 oz.

Lettuce - 1lb.

Stop by Daphne's Dandelions our host of Harvest Monday to see what veggie gardeners are up to around the globe!

Home Gardens Mid-April....A Pictorial

Everything here at the house is moving along slowly but surely. Boy what a difference from last year!

Left Cold Frame, overwintered carrots are finally growing and some spinach & pak choi has been sown

Right Cold Frame, the arugula is about finished, some spinach has been sown here too. I will sow more when I pull the arugula plants

The peas are finally coming up

I planted some pak choi in empty spaces in the garlic bed

Some color in the perennial beds & herb garden

Carrots have been sown in between the cloches. More carrots will be sown today in 4 large pots.

There are some good brussels sprouts on this plant. I will cut them off today and finally pull the plant. This year I started them earlier.

Lilacs are filling out. Last year they were in bloom at this time, a month earlier then normal.

Oregano is coming up nicely

The chives are also pretty big and we have been using them for cooking

Spring flowers are blooming in the perennial beds

Four flats of cold crops & some herbs have been hardening off under the bench on the back porch and most will be planted at the plots this weekend

The early tomatoes at 8 weeks old. They have been spending most of the time outside and will be planted in the cloches this weekend. Last year they were in the cloches about 10 days earlier.