April 30th, 2012

New

Strawberries - Picked up some Quinault strawberries (BonniePlants) at Home Depot.  Put them in the window planters with Miricle grow organic garden soil (which I have heard is not great).  I also heard that they they do much better in the ground, but we don't really have a good space for them in the ground.  For 10 bucks, we figured it was worth a shot.   

Marigolds - I have officially given up on the marigold seeds I sowed last month.  I transplanted the marigolds that we picked up at farmers market last weekend.  I am going to try again with some seeds as well, so hopefully it looks like Bobe and Zade's garden with a thick line of marigolds around the edge.  

Peppers - Picked up a Jalepeno plant (BonniePlants) and Hot chili pepper plant (BonniePlants) from HD, and transplanted them this weekend.   As they grow, I'll have to pull some onions around them.  Also, the poblano and anaheim peppers are doing really well inside.  I added fish emulsion to the potting tray last week to fertilize them.   I should probably have fertilized earlier, but they do look pretty good.  

Dahlias - After talking to Grandpa Gordon, I decided to plant some Dahlia plants.   I bought them from a site he recommended, Lynch Creek Dahlias.   I picked 9 plants with varying heights and flower sizes, and put them in this weekend.  They come as tubers, or dried, bare roots.   You are supposed to plant them 6 inches deep and 18-24" apart.  I planted some of them closer to a foot a part, so I'll have to see if that messes with them.  

Nicotiana, (more) Tithonia, and (more)Aster - Broadcast some seed from each of these guys in the front flower bed.   I have no idea if any of them will get enough light, but there is only one way to find out.  

Updates

Spinach - Sown 47 days ago

Radishes - Sown 35 days ago 

In the middle you can see the stir Fry mix, sown 29 days ago.  All the way on the right you can barely see the red and green mix also sown 29 days ago.   The onions were sown 42 days go.

Snow and Snap peas, sown 42 days ago.  

The biggest of the 6 transplanted Bibb lettuce plants.  Started indoors 2 months ago, transplanted 29 days ago

Bush beans, either sown 35 days ago, or transplanted 15 days ago

Mid-week update -- Tomatoes, Lavender, and Radishes

 New

Tomatoes - On Wednesday I finally got around to transplanting the tomatoes we picked up at the farmers market into containers.   

Gray container - Mortgage Lifter

I read about this one in one of Zade's books, and the description below is from http://store.tomatofest.com/Mortgage_Lifter_Radiator_Charlie_s_p/tf-0324.htm.

Developed by M.C. Byles in the 1930’s, this heirloom tomato remains very much in demand in the Mid-Atlantic states. Mr. Byles, affectionately known as "Radiator Charlie" earned his nickname from the radiator repair business he opened at the foot of a steep hill on which trucks would often overheat. Radiator Charlie, who had no formal education or plant breeding experience, created this legendary tomato by cross-breeding four of the largest tomatoes he was able to find and developed a stable variety after six years of pollination and selection. He then sold his heirloom tomato plants for one dollar each (in the 1940’s) and paid off the six thousand dollar mortgage on his house in six years. It is said that each spring, gardeners drove as far as 200 miles to buy Charlie’s seedling tomatoes. The large, slightly flattened, pink-red fruits that range from 1 pound to more than 3 pounds, are meaty, very flavorful and have few tomato seeds.

After not getting tomatoes for the last 2 years, I figured this time I might as well get a huge one.  Go big or go home, right?

Orange container  - Super 100

This is variety of cherry tomato that Emily's parents like the best.  When we head to their house at the right time, there were at least 60 tomatoes on the plant at one time, and we just ate a handful each time we walked by the plant, multiple times a day.  

Green container (1) - Patio tomato

This is one of the ones we tried last year, and it is short and stubby, but does produce quite a few tomatoes, so I figured it was worth another try...

Green container (2) - Better Boy

I picked this up this weekend and Home Depot, but have not planted it yet.  This one is Bobe and Zade's favorite, and it has grown like crazy the last two years.  Maybe this year we will get to taste it :)

Lavender - We bought two types of lavender at the Farmers Market and transplanted them both into the herb garden

Radishes - Sowed a second set of radishes into the bean patch.  No picture yet, but in the next post I'll show a picture of the radishes that were planted on March 26th.   

April 23rd, 2012

In the main garden:	Garlic, Asparagus, Snow peas, Snap peas, Spinach, Marigolds, Onions, Bush Beans, Radishes, Kale, Collards, Bibb Lettuce, Green and Red lettuce mix, Stir-fry greens mix
In the Herb garden	Rosemary, Thyme, Sage, Parsley, Oregano, Mint, Onions, Basil
In the front	Pole Beans, Summer Squash, Aster, Celosia, Tithonia
Growing indoors	Poblano Peppers, Anaheim Peppers

New

On Sunday, we picked up some tomatoes, lavender, and marigolds at the farmers market.  It has been raining non-stop for the past two days, but once it stops, we will plant to plant the tomatoes in their containers, the lavender in the herb garden, and the marigolds at the edges of the garden beds.  

Updates

Summer squash - After 22 long days, the summer squash finally germinated and broke the surface.   Only one of the 5 or 6 sown seeds, but one is all I need in that spot.   

Planted outdoors:	March 29th
Germination:	April 20th
Germination time:	22 days

Pole Beans - Just like the squash, the pole beans directly sown outside in the front of the house finally sprouted.  So far, of the 15-20 beans that were sown, 4 have come up. 

Planted outdoors:	March 29th
Germination:	April 20th
Germination time:	22 days

April 17th, 2012

New

Basil - Emily transplanted the basil outside last night.  We would have left it inside longer, but some of the leaves had some dark spots on them and it looked like it was spreading.    

Planted indoors:	March 10th
Transplanted:	April 16th
Germination:	3-4 days
Transplant age:	37 days

Updates

Radishes (21 days old) - I finally had time to thin out the radishes.   They are bout 1-2 inches tall now, and they each have two true leaves.   Some bigger than others, as you can see below

Bush Beans (21 days old) - As I mentioned yesterday, the bush beans that were planted in the ground finally came up.  So far, 4 have come up on their own, and we transplanted another 6 last night. 

Planted outdoors:	March 26th
Germination:	April 14th
Germination time:	19 days

Peas (First planting 19 days old, second planting 34 days old) - Both plantings of peas are doing great.   The first planting is climbing up the chicken wire, and the second planting is not far behind.   Still very sparse on one side of the second planting, so I might fill that in with the third planting soon. 

Spinach (36 days old) - No real update, but wanted to upload a picture to keep track of the progress

Kale (19 days old)- Same thing with the Kale.  No real update, but they are doing really well

The bush beans are finally starting to come up...

Took 19 days, but 3 of the 12 beans that were directly sowed on March 26th finally came up this weekend.  I was away all weekend, and I'm kind of feeling the "a watched pot never boils" feeling, but I'll still take it.

I'll put together a weekly update post with a picture tomorrow, but I wanted to record the good news.  The beans that I sowed in jiffy pellets indoors germinated also, and two of them were getting so tall that I put them in the ground last night when I got home, right around midnight.  The rest of them are ready to go in at any point, and so is the basil.  

April 10th, 2012

In the main garden:	Garlic, Asparagus, Snow peas, Snap peas, Spinach, Marigolds, Onions, Bush Beans, Radishes, Kale, Collards, Bibb Lettuce, Green and Red lettuce mix, Stir-fry greens mix
In the Herb garden	Rosemary, Thyme, Sage, Parsley, Oregano, Mint, Onions
In the front	Pole Beans, Summer Squash, Aster, Celosia, Tithonia
Growing indoors	Poblano Peppers, Anaheim Peppers, Basil

New

• Lettuce Mix and Stir-fry mix - I forgot to add this last week, but this was new on the 1st.  In between the onion rows, we planted two rows of greens.  We picked up these mixes from ACE Hardware last year, and both did really well.   Last year we planted them in two 2' x 4' patches, but this year I thought it would work well in between the rows of onions.  We have 3 rows of onions, which leaves 4 rows for lettuce in between and outside the onion rows.  I only planted two rows (one of each mix) to start.  The lesson we learned from last year was to always leave room for a second planting.  By the time the first planting is wrapping up, the second planting is in full swing.  By the time the second planting is winding down,  the third planting into the original space is almost ready.   If you use all the space at once, it is not always possible to get enough light in between the plants from the first planting.  



Planted: April 1st

Broke Ground: April 9th

Germination: 8 days

• Border - I added some scrap mdf and wood to the right of the right bed, to help keep the grass and weeds from encroaching into that bed.  The straw in the paths has been doing a good job so far, but that far right side has been losing ground.  Hopefully this will help.

Updates

• Radishes - One week after sowing, the radishes have broken ground.  They had a really good germination rate.  I sprinkled about 3-5 tiny seeds in each pocket (in between the garlic) and that many came up in most places.  By now, each of the two leaves are about the size of a quarter.   
  

  Planted: March 26th

  Broke Ground: April 2nd0

  Germination: 7 days
• Kale - The next day, the Kale started popping up everywhere as well.  I sprinkled the seed by hand, so it has clustered in some areas, but we will thin it out eventually.  Right now, they are tiny. 

  Planted: March 26th Broke Ground: April 3nd Germination: 8 days

  
  
• Peas - The second planting of peas also broke the surface.   One or two popped up on the 7th, and by last night (the 9th), about 10 of the 40-50 peas I planted can be seen.  One interesting note is that I think one of the snap pea types keeps failing. I am pretty sure it is a the suger snap peas.   The amish snap peas seem to be doing well, as do the snow peas.  Even with all the record keeping I am doing, I keep making the mistake that I will remember where I plant something without labeling it, and every time I don't label, I forget immediately which type is where.   
  
  

  Planted: March 26th

  Broke Ground: April 7th

  Germination: 12 days

  
  
• Collards - The transplants seem to be doing well, although they have not started to grow.  Yesterday, some of the seeds that were sowed outdoors finally germinated and broke the surface.
  
  

  Planted: March 31st

  Broke Ground: April 9th

  Germination: 9 days




Beans - The bush beans, pole beans, and the summer squash have all not yet come up.   It has been 15 days for the bush beans, and 12 days for the pole beans and the squash.  My guess is that the soil temp is just still too cool for them, but I don't know if they will come up, or not.  

I started to lose faith, so on the 6th, I sowed some bush beans and pole beans indoors.  The bush beans went into jiffy pellets, and the pole beans went into 4 inch containers.   Four days later, 3 of the 7 jiffy pellets are already germinating and pushing up through the surface.    They say it is not recommended to start beans indoors, but it worked just fine last year, so I'm sticking with my backup plan!

April 1st, 2012

In the main garden
Garlic, Asparagus, Snow peas, Snap peas, Spinach, Marigolds, Onions, Bush Beans, Radishes, Kale, Collards, Bibb Lettuce 

In the Herb garden
Rosemary, Thyme, Sage, Parsley, Oregano, Mint, Onions

In the front
Pole Beans, Summer Squash, Aster, Celosia, Tithonia

Growing indoors

Poblano Peppers, Anaheim Peppers, Basil

New This week 

• Pole Beans - On Thursday (3/29), I planted about 25 pole beans in the front of the house, to the right of the front door.  Not sure they will get enough sun, but it would be a great place for them to climb, so I hope it works.  
• Summer Squash - Also on the 29th, I planted some summer squash right next to the pole beans.  There have been Hosta's growing in this spot since we moved in, but we are hoping that we can use that same space for something edible.

• Note:  We tried a zucchini plant the first year we moved in, and it was huge, and seemingly healthy looking, but something (squirrels) kept eating the zucchini when they were about 1 inch long.   Hopefully we have better luck this year.  

• Collards - Transplanted about 15 seedlings that we grew from seed.  

1. First I patted down the transplants so that the roots would make good contact to the soil.  
2. Then  I loosened up the top 1/2 inch of soil and broadcast some new seed in the bed.  
3. Then I moved the soil around just enough to let the seeds drop.
4.  Finally I patted it all down again and watered the whole area.

• Bibb Lettuce - Transplanted about 6 seedlings that we grew from seed.  Unlike the collards that were very firm and sturdy, the Bibb lettuce is very floppy and I wonder if it is going to survive the transplant.   I followed the same transplanting technique as listed above, including broadcasting some new seed over the area


• Spinach - The spinach that was directly sowed is doing really well, but we had some seedlings growing inside, so I transplanted about 6 seedlings that we grew from seed.


•  Parsley - Transplanted 5 seedlings into the herb garden.  The two parsley plants from last year are still going strong, but my guess is that they will start to decline very soon.   Hopefully these new guys will be ready by then.  
  
  
• Annual Flowers (Tithonia,  Aster, Celoisa) - Transplanted about 18-24 of each of these flowers into two beds in the front.  The Tithonia (Mexican Sunflower) started to dampen off, which to my knowledge means it grew some kind of fungus on it's leaves that made them dry and wilty.   The other two flowers were doing just great.   Hopefully they add a lot to the front yard.  

Updates 

• Brussels Sprouts - This week we finally pulled the Brussels sprouts.  They kept growing and were between 4-5 feet tall.   Before we pulled them, at Emily's mom's request I checked online to see if the leaves were edible.   Actually, they are, which makes sense since they look just like collard green leaves.   So we ate Brussels sprouts leaves with garlic, raisins (to make it less bitter), salt and olive oil.  We were both pretty impressed actually, so if you ever have the opportunity to buy them or cook your own BS leaves, I recommend it.  Obviously, the reason you don't see them much is because the sprouts are still way better, and by eating the leaves, you are hurting your sprouts.