New sowing of carrots

Planted 4 new rows of carrots, this time with radishes sown in each row.  Some books say this is a good row marker, because the carrots take so long to come up.

The original carrots are coming up, but they are still so small it is hard to say how well they will come up.  One thing I definitely noticed is that after the hard rain last week the ground has been "crusted".   Not sure if I should have put straw or grass clippings over the bare soil. I kinda think I should have.  

Hardening off seedlings

The main activity this past week has been hardening off all of the seedlings.  I'm trying to learn from my lesson with the broccoli, basil, and tithonia.  In fact, just today I learned that the first few days even though the plants are outside, they should NOT be put in direct sunlight.   I should start with the plants in shade the first few days.  The idea is to let them get used to the wind and the temperatures first, and then introduce them to the direct sunlight slowly.  The whole process should take 1-2 weeks.    

I have kind of been doing this, but I think by accident.  I put the seedlings out from 6 to dusk for the first few days, and there really isn't much direct sunlight left.  But this weekend I did put everything in the direct sunlight for a few hours.   I did notice that the eggplant leaves got floppy pretty quickly, but they seem to have gone back to normal when I brought them inside.  

I also reseeded the win-win pac choi, which you can see from the piture above.  It is the few spots that are slightly darker in the rightmost bed.  

At this point, all of my original broccoli is gone. The last round of seedlings looks like it is taking, and the three store bought transplants are also going nicely  

Update on the bed

I just wanted to post a few pictures of the bed, well actually, just the headboard.   I have been waiting for the temperature to raise so that I could start staining and finishing the headboard.  That time has finally come.  So far I have two coats of stain, and two coats of wipe on poly.  I have another 4-5 coats of the poly left, and then I'll be able to bring it inside finally.   

Of course, this is just the headbaord, and not even all of it. Next, I will stain and finish the top piece of trim, and the stability rail that connects the two legs.

After that, I will finally be able to cut the sideboards down to size, and the last piece of the foot board.  Nothing fancy with any of those, so this should all go pretty smoothly from here.    

Weekend update

This past weekend Emily sowed about 12 blue lake and about 6 contender bush beans, both in Bed#4.   I sowed one planter of Selma Zesta pole beans, and another one of Rattlesnake pole beans. 

We also bought a 4 pack of broccoli at Ace, as yet another backup for my own plantings.   I transplanted 3 of the 4.

 

Also at Ace, we picked up some Sweet Asylum (lots of little white flowers, stays close to the ground), and a few zinnias.  I put them all in the front bed, and tried to edge the bed like the professionals do (with the angle cut that makes a trench).  It looks pretty nice, and hopefully this will make it easier to mow without messing up the bed. 

 

 

We ate our first two asparagus last week, and there are two more coming up.

This is just to show how tall the garlic has grown already. 

 So I think i might have left the basil outside inthe sun for too long on Sunday.  I'm pretty sure this is what they meant by "sunburned", but I am not sure.  The weather was nice, but after I brought them in, I noticed a chalky color on some of the leaves.   A similar thing happend to the tithonia that as out as well. 

 

April 9th, 2013 - Sowed spinach, peas, kale. Set out more onions. Upgraded drip system in flower bed

Spent a few hours last night in the garden.

I sowed spinach in bed two. One long row closest to bed 1, and one half row, where the lettuce died. I was pretty generous with the seed, hoping that I can get some baby spinach before it bolts. We’ll see.

I scratched up some soil in between each of the “hurting” kale transplants, and sowed a few seeds here and there. It will hopefully act as my backup crop, if the transplants die.

I hoed and raked up the patch by the house, where the watermelon and spaghetti squash are going to go, and sowed all of the snap peas from Craig. I really wasn’t going to do them, but I figure it can’t hurt. I can always rip them up when the melons and squash is ready to go in. I can use the pea shoots, and I maybe I’ll get peas.

I raked up the right side of the herb garden, and planted the last of the onion sets there (and some in bed 3, where the zucchini is going to go). I left room for the basil to go in between the onion rows.

Lastly, I worked on the drip system. I added sprinklers and dippers to the flower bed, and took up most of the drip line. It seems like two sprinklers might be enough for that whole bed which is kinda cool.

I also added two sprinklers to the bed touching the house. I might need a third, but we’ll see. I also removed the drip line from this bed.

 

 

April 8th, 2013 - It was too soon!

So I have basically lost most of my Broccoli and Kale at this point, and the lettuce is long gone. It was definitely too early to plant out those transplants. The low’s got down to 29ish, and maybe a bit lower for a few nights in a row. Another thing I did that most likely made things worse, was water at night, when I got home. I wanted to keep the carrot seeds moist, so i watered every night for about 10 minutes… probably a bad idea.

It was a busy week, and it goes to show you how quickly things can go south if you stop paying attention, even for a week.

Another personal lesson in transplanting: If possible, split the risk in half and only transplant half at a time, giving yourself a week or so to learn from mistakes…

So far nothing from seed has come up. Half of the leeks look really good, half look like they might have too much dirt on them to grow straight up. I have a few containers of leek seedlings left, so in a few weeks, I might be able to re-transplant the holes that lost their leeks.

Another note — Nothing that was sown outside has come up yet. I should probably take the temperature soil now to see if it is obviously below 40 or 50 still…

March 30th, 2013 - The big spring planting!

It was a busy weekend. With the beds prepared the previous week, it was finally time to get stuff in the ground. I did mostly prep work on Friday while the seedlings were being hardened one last day, and then on Saturday, I did most of the planting.

In bed one, I transplanted 9 broccoli seedlings (5 de cicco and 4 calabrese), in 3 rows of 3. In between the rows, I sowed a mix of red and golden beets from Craig. I also sowed 4 rows of carrots. One row of each type (red, purple, baby, large), but I left space for another succession row for each of them. All the way in the back of the row, I transplanted the leeks, using the dibble method. This involves poking a hole in the ground about 6 inches deep with a dibble, which I think is the width of a broomstick. I just used a scrap piece of wood. Then I dropped a tiny leek in each hole, added a few crumbs of dirt, and then filled each hole with water. It will be pretty cool if it actually works. I guess the hope is that the roots take hold like normal in the bottom of the hole, and as the leeks gets bigger, it will grow into the hole, even pushing the hole wider over time.

In bed two, I set out two long rows of onion sets. One third of each row is spaced at 2", so that I can pull every other onion for green onions. The other two thirds of each row is spaced at 4" for optimum size. The directions said to plant it 1 inch deep and not more, so that it can bulb nicely. It did say to fertilize with a 10-20-10 fertilizer at planting, but I have not done that yet. I bought this 0-4-4 stuff that I might try for all of the root veggies. In between the onion rows, I transplanted the kale and the lettuce. 3 days later, the kale is doing fine, but the valentine leaf lettuce is hurting, and is almost entirely gone. I also planted a half row of baby boc choy.

In half of bed four, I planted the bigger boc choy about 10 inches apart in all directions, according to the packet. In the other half, I’m going to plant some blue lake bush beans within the next week

Lastly, in the front of the house, I planted two types of lettuce mixes from Craig. I have no idea if it will work, but it is worth a try. It gets some good morning sun, but then tons of afternoon shade, so I might have to break out the sluggo!

 

 

 

 

March 23rd, 2013 - Prepped Bed 1, 2, and 4

On Saturday and Sunday I turned over the beds. I had no idea how thick the rye/vetch roots would be, but it was rough to dig through them. After using the hoe for a few minutes, I quickly gave up and resorted to the shovel (so I could use my weight. I chopped with the shovel first, and then eventually turned over and broke up the clumps.

A tiller would have been nice, but it was a good workout.

I also dumped the entire compost bin into the beds. I would say I put about 20 gallons of compost (2 tubtrugs) into the newest bed, about the same into bed #2, and another 10 gallons into the first bed.

Almost everything was fully composted, except some egg shells, some avocado peels, and there was plenty of straw and roots that were not fully composted.

 

Before:

 After:

 

March 22nd, 2013 - Hardened off two trays

Last weekend (March 23rd and 24th) I hardened out the tray of Broccoli/Kale/Lettuce/Parsley and the tray of leeks. They were outside for about 2 hours on Saturday, and maybe 4 hours on Sunday. On Sunday night it snowed, so it was a good thing I took everything inside.

I decided to leave the broccoli/kale/etc tray upstairs by the window this week. I brought the leeks back downstairs under the lights.

I am definitely going to transplant this broccoli/kale/Lettuce and Parsley this weekend, but I’m not sure about the leeks. I might wait another two weeks on them.

One note — I did notice that the leaves got super soft after I had them outside. I can’t really remember what they felt like before, but I was a little worried that they spend too much time outside.

 

 

March 18th, 2013 - Fertilized some plants

Fertilized the Broccoli and the leeks with fish emulsion. Container said 2T per gallon, so I used 1T per half gallon. The veg gardeners bible said to fertilize at half strength, so hopefully this won’t mess with things.

March 17th, 2013 - Hardened off 3 of the 6 biggest cosmos

Some of cosmos were too tall for the florescent lights, so I tried to harden them off this weekend, to get them ready for transplant next week. I think it is definitely too cold still, because on the second day, by nightfall the leaves looked really droopy. I might just try to grow these inside for a while to see what happens.

March 16th, 2013 - Prepped the back left corner of the garden

I added about 10 gallons of mostly finished compost to the back left corner bed, and prepped it for the carrots and leeks. There were 1 bibb lettuce plants and one chard plant that somehow stayed alive all winter. I took them out of the bed first, turned the bed over (tried to only mess with the top 6 inches), and then added them back in a row.

I think I’ll transplant the leeks, and sow the carrots next weekend.

March 15th, 2013 - Moved the peppers and eggplants downstairs under the lights.

Read that the eggplants can take 3 weeks to germinate, so I’m a little less worried about things now. A few more peppers germinated, so I’m feeling a little better.

March 11th, 2013 - Peppers and Eggplants

I can’t remember where I started my peppers last year, but the germination rate was great. This year I kept them in the dining room at 70 degrees for about 5-6 days, but I started to get antsy that nothing was happening, so I moved them on top of the radiator in the dining room. It certainly get’s warmer, but it fluctuates when the radiator comes on and off, so I’m not sure if I’m helping or hurting.

After a few days on the radiator, two of the Carolina wonders sprouted, and one of the numex is just barely sprotuing, but the rest are not doing much of anything. After looking closely on the bakers creek pages, it says that the peppers and eggplants benifit from light when germinating, something I don’t think I knew. About 2 days ago I dug up each cell to find at least 1 or 2 seeds in the mix, and moved it to the surface of the planting mix. A few of the pepper varieties had just begun to germinate, so hopefully they are close. For good measure, I added two new seeds to each cell. I’m keeping the plastic cap on to keep everything moist, so we’ll see. I’m 90% sure I am just being way too antsy and if I just let it go for a little longer, everything would have come up on its own. But what can I say. Now I have seeds everywhere (on the surface, under the surface, etc), so unless the radiator is doing more harm than good, I should be OK.

Blogger it is

I have been blogging from within Folia for the past month, and although it is has been pretty easy, one of the things I miss is being able to put pictures in between text.  Also, I don't see an easy way to convert from Folia to a book, like last year.  So these next few posts are just going to be pasted from Folia. 

Blogger, Folia, or both?

So it has been a quite few months since my last post to the blog.  For a while, it was because there was no gardening related activity, but for the past month, I have been busy, busy, busy.  Well then whey have I not been updating the blog?  Well, because of this site: www.folia.com, and specifically my profile on this site:  http://myfolia.com/gardener/adidas30

Last year's blog was a success.  I love the book that I printed, and I used it quite a bit when planning out this year's garden.  I love that I'll have that book forever also, as a nice snapshot in time.

The problem with the blog from the beginning, was that everything was manual.  I saw value in keep track of the number of days from the time I planted something, until the time it sprouted, was transplanted, first produced a harvest, etc.  But it quickly got way to complicated to track in blog format. I had to do the calculations each time a new milestone was met, for each veggie.  Also, I found it hard to record all of the detail, without making the blog a big pile of uninteresting metrics.

This is where Folia comes in.  You enter the date in which you sowed the seeds (indoor or outdoor), and then you enter your milestones as they come.  The site sets the counter for each crop and will do all of the calculations for you.

Speaking of new tools, the other site that I have been using is http://gardenplanner.southernexposure.com/, which is really a re-branded version of :http://www.growveg.com/gardenplanner/gardenplanner.html

This site serves a separate but very important purpose for me.  It let's you lay out your garden plan, month by month, and it has been a huge help in terms of planning my garden for the whole summer.

Here is my attempt at converting the month by month diagrams into a youtube video.  The video is pretty bad, but you can get the point.

So all of this brings me to my main question. With these two new tools, do I still need to keep a blog?   For a while I thought no, but now that things are picking up, I am re-considering.  I might use this blog to make general observations, reflections, and updates, while keeping all of the up to the minute updates in Folia.  

I also thought about expanding the blog to include other stuff like my woodworking projects, but I was never 100% behind it.  As with last year's blog, only time will tell.  

  

Sq Ft

I have not posted in a while, mainly because there has not been much gardening activity happening.  But it is also because my file server is down, which means I have not transferred the pictures on my camera to the computer for over a month now.   

I have been doing a lot of garden planning in my head however, and I am actually going to start some seeds this weekend (leek, parsley, cosmos, lettuce, kale, and maybe some others).  

But, the main reason I wanted to post was because I did some SQ FT calculations a few weeks ago, and I wanted to record them before I forget.  So here they are:

Bed 1: 15x4 = 60 sq ft

Bed 2: 15x3.5 = 52.5 sq ft

Bed 3: 11.5x3 = 34.5 sq ft

Bed 4: 7x2.5 = 17.5 sq ft

Herb:  9.5x4.5 = 42.75 sq ft

Main Garden: 114 sq ft

Herb Garden: 42.75 sq ft

Total in the back: 157  sq ft

This does not include:

The flower bed in the back against the wood fence,

The sweet potato pots

The window planters that I am going to use for beas and cucumbers

The flower bed in the front

2013 Seed purchase

Key
(SESE) = Southern Exposure Seed Exchange
(Johnnys) = Johnny's Selected Seeds

Basil
(SESE) - Sweet Genovese Basil

Broccoli
(SESE) - De Cicco
(SESE) - Calabrese (Italian Green Sprouting)

Carrots
(SESE) - Chantenay Red Core
(SESE) - Cosmic Purple Carrots

Cucumber
(SESE) - Straight Eights

Eggplant
(SESE) - Rosa Bianca
(SESE) - Rosita
(SESE) - Ping Tung Long

Flowers
(SESE) - Portulaca, Old Fashioned Moss Rose FLOWER
(SESE) - Short Stuff SUNFLOWER, DWARF
(SESE) - Cosmos, Picotee
(Johnnys) - Forget-Me-Not, Victoria Azure Blue
(Johnnys) - Runner Bean, Scarlet
(Johnnys) - Phlox, Scarlet

Kale
(SESE) - Lacinato (Dinosaur)

Leek
(SESE) - American Flag (Broad London)

Lettuce
(SESE) - Sweet Valentine LETTUCE, ROMAINE

Onions
(SESE) - Yellow Potato Onion (Hill, Mother, or Pregnant Onion)
(SESE) - Egyptian Walking Onion (Tree Onion)

Pac Choi
(Johnnys) - Mei Qing Choi (F1)
(Johnnys) - Win-Win Choi (F1)

Peppers
(SESE) - Cayenne, Long Red PEPPER, HOT
(SESE) - Carolina Wonder PEPPER, BELL (SWEET)
(SESE) - Joe's Round PEPPER, HOT
(Johnnys) - Numex Twilight (Peppers > Ornamental & Bedding)

Squash
(SESE) - Thelma Sanders Sweet Potato (Acorn) SQUASH, WINTER
(SESE) - Golden Bush Scallop SQUASH, SUMMER
(Johnnys) - Spaghetti Squash - (Winter Squash)
(Johnnys) - Dunja (F1) (OG) -(Summer Squash, Zucchini)

Tomatillo
(SESE) - Purple TOMATILLO

Watermelon
(SESE) - Sugar baby
(SESE) - Crimson Sweet, Virginia Select

2012 Planting Notes, By Time

02/13/12 -> Collards -> Sowed into 20 Jiffy Pellets, 3 to 4 seeds per pellet.   Plant outdoors in 6 to 8 weeks
02/13/12 -> Parsley -> Sowed into 5 Jiffy Pellets, 5 seeds per pellet,  Plant outdoors in 8 to 10 weeks
02/15/12 -> Collards -> 2 or 3 seeds starting to sprout.  Added a little more water
02/16/12 -> Collards -> Moved tray downstairs, 5+ pellets are crowing
02/16/12 -> Parsley -> Moved tray downstairs,  Some pellets are growing
02/19/12 -> Collards -> 50% germination rate so far, 3/4 the way up to the plastic
02/21/12 -> Collards -> Took plastic off.  About 40% of the pods germinated.  Some pods had 3 to 4 seedlings, so I moved them around.  Now have about 70% pods with seedlings
02/22/12 -> collards -> Switched to florescent light
02/24/12 -> collards -> About 3 inches up.  Had to move light up more.  16 out of 20 pellets are going now.  One more just starting.  I wonder if the rest will come
02/24/12 -> Parsley -> 2 seeds germinated!  maybe one more.  Sowed 5 seeds per pellet because the seeds were from last year.  wanted to be sure.   Probably overkill.
02/25/12 -> Flowers-Aster -> Sowed indoors in large jiffy and hoffmans mix; covered, Sow 6 to 8 weeks indoors before last frost.  Cover seed with thin layer of planting medium, Transplant hardened off seedlings in garden when danger of frost has passed, Can sow directly into garden after frost, Spacing 12 to 15 inches, 10 to 14 day germination
02/25/12 -> Flowers-Celosia -> Sowed indoors in large jiffy and hoffmans mix, on top of mix
02/25/12 -> Flowers-Nicotiana -> Sowed indoors in large jiffy and hoffmans mix, on top of mix
02/25/12 -> Flowers-Tithonia -> Sowed indoors in large jiffy and hoffmans mix  covered
02/26/12 -> collards -> second set of leaves coming up on a bunch of them.  First true leaves i think
02/27/12 -> Collards -> snipped some of the tall lanky seedlings where there was a smaller stubbier one in the same pellet
02/27/12 -> parsley -> Third parsley came up
02/29/12 -> Flowers-Aster -> One pod germinated
02/29/12 -> Flowers-Celosia -> A bunch of these guys germinated. Sow indoors 5 to 6 weeks before last frost, Direct sow outdoors after last frost, Needs light to germinate, Germination: 14 days, Scatter evenly over surface. Keep moist and covered in plastic until germination, Transplant hardened off seedlings in garden when danger of frost has passed
02/29/12 -> Flowers-Nicotiana -> Nothing (second from left)
02/29/12 -> Flowers-Tithonia -> One pod germinated
03/01/12 -> Flowers-Aster -> About 6 or so seedlings have sprouted
03/01/12 -> Flowers-Celosia -> Many pods germinated, multiple seedlings in each pod.   About 1/2 inch tall
03/01/12 -> Flowers-Tithonia -> About 6 of the 18 pods have one seedling
03/02/12 -> collards -> About half of the seedlings have first set true leaves
03/03/12 -> Lettuce-Bibb -> Sowed indoors (10 pods)
03/03/12 -> Spinach -> Sowed indoors (15 pods)
03/04/12 -> Parsley -> 2 or 3 seedlings have their first set of true leaves
03/05/12 -> Flowers-Tithonia -> One or two has first set of true leaves
03/09/12 -> Lettuce-Bibb -> Three pods have seedlines.  Very spindley.  Moved downstairs and put under lights. Sow indoors 6 to 8 weeks before last frost
03/09/12 -> spinach -> No seedlings, but moved under lights
03/10/12 -> Basil -> Sowed indoors
03/10/12 -> Collards -> They look pretty good, but the first "fake" leaves are turning yellow on a bunch of them.  I think that this might be normal
03/10/12 -> Garlic -> Removed leaves from the garlic and they look fantastic.  About 12 to 15 inches high maybe and really healthly loking.  Something like 30 heads
03/10/12 -> Peppers -> Sowed indoors
03/11/12 -> Collards -> Potted up 4 collards to 4 inch pots
03/11/12 -> Flowers-Maragolds -> Direct sowed outside making a border around garden beds
03/11/12 -> Parsley -> Potted up two parsley's to 4 inch pots
03/11/12 -> Peas -> Direct sowed outside.  Planted all three types of peas, 1 inch apart, 1/2 to 1 inch deep.  Might have been a little tight, but we will see.
03/11/12 -> Spinach -> Direct sowed outside (About 30 seeds)
03/13/12 -> Basil -> few pods have germinated.  Moved tray downstairs
03/13/12 -> Peppers -> the basil germinated, so moved downstairs under lights
03/13/12 -> Spinach -> put about 15 seeds in slightly wet paper towel and inside a plastic bag.
03/16/12 -> Lettuce-Bibb -> Maybe about 6 pods have germinated at this point
03/16/12 -> Spinach -> About 5 of the 20 seeds germinated, and I planted them outside in the bed.  Not sure if that is too much of a transition for them
03/17/12 -> Garlic -> I think they have grown to about 18 inches now.
03/17/12 -> Spinach -> 2 peat pods germinated and you can see the green
03/18/12 -> Flowers-Tithonia -> One of the tithonia seedlings has some damping off the leaves.
03/18/12 -> Onions -> Direct sowed 80 sets of onions. About 30 in the herb garden, and 50 where the peppers and lettuce will be
03/18/12 -> Spinach -> About 3 more seeds in the paper towel germinated, and this time I put them in some of the peat pellets that were not working.    A few more actually had some germinated seeds in them, so they should break the surface soon
03/19/12 -> Peas -> A few seedlings have broken the surface outside
03/19/12 -> Peppers -> Three seeds finally germinated and broke the surface
03/19/12 -> Spinach -> A few seedlings have broken the surface outside
03/20/12 -> peppers -> one seedling from the second type of peppers, I think poblano
03/21/12 -> Asparagus -> 2 spears arrived today.  One thicker than a pencil.  The other about the size of a pencil.  Pretty cool
03/22/12 -> Asparagus -> About 6 to 8 spears
03/22/12 -> Onions -> Already breaking the surface
03/25/12 -> Asparagus -> About 10 to 12 spears now.  Some bigger than a foot tall
03/25/12 -> Onions -> About 40 already above surface (1 inch)
03/26/12 -> Bushbeans -> Direct sowed about 12 to 15 beans
03/26/12 -> Collards -> Started to harden plants out side.
03/26/12 -> Flowers-Aster -> Started to harden plants out side.
03/26/12 -> Flowers-Celosia -> Started to harden plants out side.
03/26/12 -> Flowers-Tithonia -> Started to harden plants out side.
03/26/12 -> Kale -> Sowed kale
03/26/12 -> Parsley -> Started to harden plants out side.
03/26/12 -> peas -> Second sowing of peas
03/26/12 -> Radishes -> Planted about 20 radishes in the garlic patch
03/26/12 -> Spinach -> Started to harden plants out side.
03/29/12 -> PoleBeans -> Direct sowed about 25 beans in front of house by front door
03/29/12 -> SummerSquash -> Direct sowed 6 seeds in a small mound by front door
03/31/12 -> Collards -> Transplanted 19 collard plants.   Broadcast some new collard seeds in the same bed.
03/31/12 -> Parsley -> Transplanted 5 plants into back of herb garden
04/01/12 -> lettuce-asfm -> Direct sowed one row in the onions and peppers bed
04/01/12 -> Lettuce-Bibb -> Transplanted 7 bib lettuce seedlings.  Broadcast additional seed around transplants
04/01/12 -> Lettuce-RAG -> Direct sowed one row in the onions and peppers bed
04/02/12 -> Radishes -> First sign of seedlings.
04/03/12 -> Kale -> First sign of seedlings.  Lots of them!
04/06/12 -> BushBeans -> Sowed seeds in 7 jiffy pellets and 1 4 inch container, all inside
04/06/12 -> PoleBeans -> Sowed 4 seeds in 3 4 inch containers (100% seed starting soil)
04/07/12 -> Peas -> Some peas from second direct sowing have broken surface
04/08/12 -> Peas -> Some peas from first sowing are 6 inches tall.  Installed chicken wire and steaks to help them climb
04/09/12 -> Collards -> Seedlings have broken the surface. Sowed 5 seeds per pellet because the seeds were from last year.  wanted to be sure.   Probably overkill.
04/09/12 -> lettuce-asfm -> Seedlings broke the surface
04/09/12 -> Lettuce-RAG -> Seedlings broke the surface
04/09/12 -> Peas -> A bunch more peas from second sowing popped up. 20 to 30 of each
04/11/12 -> bushbeans -> The bush beans in the jiffy pellets already broke the surface
04/14/12 -> BushBeans -> 3 directly sowed seeds finally germinated and sprouted
04/16/12 -> Basil -> Transplanted basil into herb garden, and a pot
04/16/12 -> Bushbeans -> Transplanted the 6 to 7 jiffy pellet seedlings
04/16/12 -> Radishes -> Trimmed radishes to 1 per spot
04/20/12 -> PoleBeans -> The ones in the front of the house, directly sown, finally sprouted (2)
04/20/12 -> SummerSquash -> 1 seed sprouted
04/24/12 -> Flowers-Aster -> Directly sowed about 20 aster seeds in the flower bed
04/24/12 -> Flowers-Nicotiana -> Directly broadcast nicotinia in the middle of the flower bed
04/24/12 -> Flowers-Tithonia -> Directly sowed about 15 tithonia seeds  in new flower bed
04/24/12 -> Lavender -> Transplanted two lavender plants from farmers market into herb garden
04/24/12 -> Radishes -> Directly sowed radishes around bean plants to help block out weeds
04/24/12 -> Tomatoes -> Transplanted Patio, Mortgage lifter, and super 100 tomatoes in containers
04/30/12 -> Peas -> Direct sowed about 50 more peas
04/30/12 -> Tomatoes -> Planted the Better boy in the small green pot with top soil, hummus, and organic garden soil.  I hope the manure does not burn the plant.  We'll see.
05/01/12 -> Radishes -> The second planting by the beans has broken the surface
05/02/12 -> BushBeans -> Plated more Bush beans in the same patch
05/02/12 -> Lettuce-Bibb -> Sowed a bunch of new seed in the same patch.  The stuff that was broadcast when the transplants went in is about 1 inch tall now and looking good.
05/02/12 -> Summersquash -> Transplanted some crookneck summer squash in the front.
05/05/12 -> Perennials -> Transplanted most of the perennials from Em's parents
05/05/12 -> PoleBeans -> About 10 of the seedlings from the last sowing came up in the front.  Finally. I guess the ground temp was finally warm enough.   Of the two that came up the first time, 1 is about 5 inches, and doing well. The other got mostly eaten up.
05/06/12 -> Collards -> Spaced out some collard seedlings that were growing too close to the transplanted ones.
05/06/12 -> Spinach -> Spaced out by moving spinach plants that were too close together.
05/06/12 -> summersquash -> Three of the straight neck seedlings that i planted last week sprouted
05/12/12 -> PoleBeans -> Planted another round of 10 to 15 pole beans
05/12/12 -> SummerSquash -> Sowed another round in front of house
05/13/12 -> peas -> First peas have started!!!  Maybe about 10 or so. Looks like it is mostly snap peas.  Not sure.
05/13/12 -> Peppers -> Transplanted 12 pepper plants into lettuce patch and onion patch
05/15/12 -> Onions -> Harvested first set of onions
05/16/12 -> BushBeans -> Sowed an additional 6 to 7 beans
05/16/12 -> Cilantro -> Sowed in two places in herb garden
05/16/12 -> Dill -> Sowed in one long strip on north side of herb garden
05/16/12 -> lettuce-asfm -> Sowed in onion bed
05/16/12 -> Lettuce-RAG -> Sowed in onion bed
05/16/12 -> Radishes -> Sowed on north side of middle bed in single line
05/16/12 -> wintersquash -> Sowed outdoors in 4 places along fence.
05/17/12 -> Flowers-Dahlias -> 6 plants are up, but they were getting eaten by squirrels.  Created mesh cages around them.
05/17/12 -> PoleBeans -> 5/12 Pole beans have germinated
05/17/12 -> Summersquash -> 5/12 summer squash germinated
05/20/12 -> polebeans -> eaten again
05/20/12 -> summersquash -> eaten again
05/23/12 -> wintersquash -> Noticed the winter squash coming up in 2 of the 4 spots I planted it
05/24/12 -> Cucumber -> Sowed 15 marketmore and 15 poinset
05/24/12 -> PoleBeans -> Sowed 15 deans purple beans
05/24/12 -> Summersquash -> Sowed another 10 seeds
05/28/12 -> Cucumber -> germinated
05/28/12 -> PoleBeans -> germinated
05/29/12 -> SummerSquash -> Germinated
05/31/12 -> BushBeans -> Picked 1 dozen bush beans
05/31/12 -> peas -> picked 20+ peas
05/31/12 -> SweetPotatoes -> Slips arrived today. Transplanted 11 slips.  Heel'd another 6 or 7
05/31/12 -> Tomatoes -> Found a tomato growing within the peas.  Transplanted it to a thin black plastic pot from em's parents.  Should be a fun experiment
06/03/12 -> Flowers-Dahlias -> Found one more Dahlia from the initial group that broke the surface.   Added sluggo and within 2 days I see new little leaves growing from the part that got eaten.
06/03/12 -> Flowers-Dahlias -> Planted the 4 new dahlias
06/04/12 -> Peppers -> Planted another 4 peppers into the side bed, just to see how they would do
06/10/12 -> tomatoes -> all four plants have green tomatoes on them
06/11/12 -> collards -> harvested first BIG batch of collards.  Blanched and froze them
06/13/12 -> Lettuce-Bibb -> There is tons of bibb lettuce.  We can't keep up!
06/13/12 -> peas -> picked last of the peas.
06/14/12 -> Bushbeans -> picked a colanders worth of beans.  ate half and saved half
06/16/12 -> Garlic -> Pulled a head of garlic and it looks good. Drying it in the shed, and turned off sprayers in garlic patch
06/16/12 -> Lettuce-Bibb -> picked some more
06/16/12 -> peas -> Pulled down the peas
06/17/12 -> Bushbeans -> Picked as many beans that were big enough, and blanched and froze a patch
06/17/12 -> cucumber -> direct sowed about 15 seeds each of marketmore and poinsett where the peas were.  There are about 2 or 3 cucumbers left in the front of the 20+ that started.
06/17/12 -> mint -> cut down a bunch of mint and dried it
06/17/12 -> SweetPotatoes -> Have definitely taken.  New leaves on all slips and they are doing well.
06/17/12 -> Tomatoes -> Built tomato cage (still need to finish door).  Still no red tomatoes, but it shouldn't be long
06/19/12 -> basil -> Sowed in seed starter
06/19/12 -> brusselssprouts -> Sowed in seed starter
06/19/12 -> Flowers-Maragolds -> Sowed in seed starter
06/24/12 -> basil -> Seedlings were up when we came home
06/24/12 -> brusselssprouts -> Seedlings were up when we came home
06/24/12 -> Flowers-Maragolds -> Seedlings were up when we came home
06/25/12 -> garlic -> harvested 34 heads of garlic
06/27/12 -> polebeans -> are about 4 to 5 feet tall at this point. no pods yet
06/30/12 -> Bushbeans -> picked a double handful of bush beans for the party
07/02/12 -> basil -> sowed basil in seed starter
07/02/12 -> brusselssprouts -> sowed in 4 4 inch containers
07/02/12 -> BushBeans2 -> Sowed about 12 bush beans
07/02/12 -> cilantro -> sowed in seed starter
07/02/12 -> dill -> sowed in herb garden and also in seed starter
07/02/12 -> kale -> Emily picked a bunch more kale for dinner
07/03/12 -> Collards -> Emily picked a whole bunch of collards for dinner
07/03/12 -> strawberries -> now that the strawberries have been moved into the tomato cage, they are finally getting ripe. We ate about 4 or 5 today. They are small, and tart, but at least they are something.
07/04/12 -> Summersquash -> the summer squash is flowering now, but no little squashes yet
07/06/12 -> garlic -> Braided the garlic
07/08/12 -> Bushbeans -> picked a batch of greenbeans
07/08/12 -> lettuce-asfm -> picked the second cutting from the original planting.  Enough for 4 people
07/14/12 -> tomatoes -> ate first tomatoes, about 5 all in all.   3 mortgage lifters, 1 patio and 2 better boy
07/17/12 -> tomatoes -> harvested another few mortgage lifters
07/20/12 -> tomatoes -> harvested a bunch of patio's.  took some camping, and used some in a soup
07/22/12 -> kale -> Harvested all leaves (whiteflys)
07/23/12 -> collards -> harvested some collards for dinner
08/05/12 -> tomatoes -> In the last week, we had about 40+ cherry tomatoes ripen. Definitely the peak
08/06/12 -> peppers -> picked the second Anaheim pepper, way more spicy than I thought it would be.  There are about 10 Anaheim peppers ready to be picked at this point.  I think they are just now starting to turn redder and maybe getting quite a bit hot.  One plant has 5 to 6 peppers, while most of the others have 1 to 3
08/06/12 -> wintersquash -> The biggest butternut is the size of a quart gatorade bottle.  The second biggest (on the same stem) got to the size of half of a fist, but it is starting to shrivel up and die for some reason.
08/07/12 -> basil -> transplanted 5 basil seedlings into herb garden
08/07/12 -> bushbeans2 -> sowed another 6 blue lake beans.  Also, the last batch that was planted is at the right height and flowering.  Just waiting on the beans
08/07/12 -> cucumber -> Sprayed with garlic spray and neem oil to combat the white flies and squash vine borers.
08/07/12 -> kale -> Sprayed with garlic spray and neem oil to combat the white flies and squash vine borers.
08/07/12 -> summersquash -> Sprayed with garlic spray and neem oil to combat the white flies and squash vine borers.
08/07/12 -> wintersquash -> Sprayed with garlic spray and neem oil to combat the white flies and squash vine borers.
08/12/12 -> bushbeans2 -> The last batch of blue lake beans sprouted, however one of of the two got eaten
08/12/12 -> collards -> harvested a really big batch of the collard greens.  they were getting more and more damaged by the harlequin bug
08/12/12 -> cucumber -> noticed first 3 pickle sized cucumbers
08/12/12 -> SweetPotatoes -> harvested another big batch of sweet potato leaves.  used half in a stir fry, and froze half
08/14/12 -> cucumber -> picked the first cucumber today.  Tasted great.
08/17/12 -> Garden -> used the wet, mushy compost from the tumbler and just lumped it on and around the base of the peppers and the squash plants.   hopefully it is not to strong.
08/17/12 -> Lettuce-Bibb -> sowed a bunch of bibb lettuce in the herb garden
08/17/12 -> peas -> sowed a bunch of peas by bed against the back of the house.
08/17/12 -> radishes -> sowed a bunch or radishes in the herb garden
08/19/12 -> radishes -> already started to sprout
08/21/12 -> tomatoes -> picked and ate three more mortgage lifters. They were really good.  one more left
08/27/12 -> cucumber -> picked another 3 cucumbers in the last few days. About 5 of them are ready to be picked now
09/08/12 -> collards -> Sowed all 4 in seed trays and wrapped in a white garbage bag to help it germinate.  hopefully it works.
09/08/12 -> spinach -> Sowed all 4 in seed trays and wrapped in a white garbage bag to help it germinate.  hopefully it works.
09/08/12 -> swiss chard -> Sowed all 4 in seed trays and wrapped in a white garbage bag to help it germinate.  hopefully it works.
09/08/12 -> watercress -> Sowed all 4 in seed trays and wrapped in a white garbage bag to help it germinate.  hopefully it works.
09/09/12 -> collards -> Pulled collards.  Just too many harlequin bugs.
09/09/12 -> Covercrops -> sowed #hairy vetch, #winter rye, and #peas in the collard patch
09/09/12 -> kale -> pulled the kale.  Not sure if it was one of my sprays or not, but the new leaves were "burned" at the tips.   not sure what caused it.   but it didnt look good.
09/13/12 -> covercrops ->  sowed another patch of #winter rye and #hairy vetch  in place of the collards
09/16/12 -> wintersquash -> harvested 3 squashes
09/19/12 -> spinach -> germinated some seeds indoors
09/20/12 -> Flowers-Dahlias -> pruned the middle of some dahlias. I read that it helps support bushier growth.
09/20/12 -> radishes -> ate first radish (double the size of a marble).  Still very spicy!  Not like in a salad.  Not as spicy as the white radish tough!
09/20/12 -> radishes -> sowed some additional seeds outdoors.
09/22/12 -> cucumber -> pulled the cucumbers.  The only ones that were left were yellowish or really pale.
09/23/12 -> spinach -> sowed the first 15 seeds that had germinated inside on the paper towel
09/24/12 -> SweetPotatoes -> turned off sprinkler heads.  I read that you are supposed to not water for the last 3 to 4 weeks to prevent splitting
09/26/12 -> peas -> sowed about 30 peas into the collards patch.  There are already about 15 pea shoots in the patch, about 3 inches tall
09/26/12 -> spinach -> I *think* i saw one of the seeds sowed on the 23rd germinate
09/26/12 -> spinach -> sowed another 15 seeds that had germinated.
09/26/12 -> SweetPotatoes -> pulled one of the sweet potato tubers.  It was the size of a fingerling potato.
10/04/12 -> SweetPotatoes -> pulled another sweet potato from the bed, this one normal sweet potato size.
10/07/12 -> spinach -> first true leaves on first planting of spinach
10/10/12 -> swiss chard -> transplanted swiss chard into garden.  Sow indoors before last frost; Cover seed with thin layer of planting medium
10/11/12 -> Peppers -> Hot pepper harvest,  14 poblano, 30 Anaheim
10/14/12 -> Garden -> Dug new bed
10/14/12 -> tomatoes -> took down tomato plants, and removed the tomato cage.   Got about 7 green tomatoes
10/26/12 -> SweetPotatoes ->  Harvested all of the sweet potatoes. About 3 giant ones, about 12 medium ones, and about 15 smaller guys.
10/28/12 -> collards -> transplanted collards and watercress in the newest bed. I think it is way too late, but we'll see.
10/28/12 -> covercrops -> sowed a cover crop mix of #winter rye, #hairy vetch, #peas at the end of the garlic bed, and over the fall collard/watercress bed
10/28/12 -> garlic -> Sowed about 65 heads of garlic
10/28/12 -> watercress -> transplanted collards and watercress in the newest bed. I think it is way too late, but we'll see.
11/05/12 -> garden -> First night it got down to close to freezing.  I don't think it actually froze, but it was close.
11/05/12 -> peppers -> harvested about 50 peppers
11/10/12 -> covercrops ->  The last planing of cover crops finally broke the surface and is about 1 inch tall.
11/10/12 -> peppers -> Took down the pepper plants besides the jalapeno.
11/14/12 -> spinach -> The spinach is getting close to baby spinach leaf size, but only 3 of the 10+ plants took off.   Not going to be what I hoped for.
11/14/12 -> swiss chard -> The swiss chard keeps getting eaten.  Funny how that never happened during the spring.
11/25/12 -> Asparagus -> Cut down asparagus stalks, spread leaves over base and put ferns over leaves for winter
11/25/12 -> Garden -> Moved small rose bush from the back to the corner of the sunroom in the front yard
11/25/12 -> garden -> Mulched the second batch of leaves with Ken's lawnmower.  Worked really well!
11/25/12 -> garlic -> Mulched garlic with shredded leaves
11/26/12 -> Flowers-Dahlias -> killed by hard freeze
11/26/12 -> Garden -> Hard Freeze; Dahlias and Jalepeno killed
11/26/12 -> Peppers -> Jalapeno killed by hard freeze

2012 Plant Summary, By Plant

General Notes

02/19/12 -> Dug a third bed for sweet potatoes
05/05/12 -> Transplanted most of the perennials from Em's parents
08/17/12 -> Used the overly wet compost from the tumbler and just lumped it on and around the base of the peppers and the squash plants.   hopefully it is not to strong.
10/14/12 -> Dug a fourth bed
11/05/12 -> First night it got down to close to freezing.  I don't think it actually froze, but it was close.
11/25/12 -> Moved small rose bush from the back to the corner of the sun room in the front yard
11/25/12 -> Mulched the second batch of leaves with Ken's lawnmower.  Worked really well!
11/26/12 -> Hard Freeze; Dahlias and Jalapeno killed

Fruits and Vegetables

Asparagus

03/21/12 ->  2 spears arrived today.  One thicker than a pencil.  The other about the size of a pencil.  Pretty cool.
03/22/12 ->  About 6 to 8 spears
03/25/12 ->  About 10 to 12 spears now.  Some bigger than a foot tall
11/25/12 ->  Cut down asparagus stalks, spread leaves over base and put ferns over leaves for winter

Brussels Sprouts
06/19/12 -> Sowed in seed starter
06/24/12 -> Seedlings were up when we came home
07/02/12 -> sowed in 4 4 inch containers

Beans, Bush

03/26/12 -> Direct sowed about 12 to 15 beans

04/06/12 -> Sowed seeds in 7 jiffy pellets and 1 4 inch container, all inside

04/11/12 -> The bush beans in the jiffy pellets already broke the surface

04/14/12 -> 3 directly sowed seeds finally germinated and sprouted

04/16/12 -> Transplanted the 6 to 7 jiffy pellet seedlings

05/02/12 -> Plated more Bush beans in the same patch

05/16/12 -> Sowed an additional 6 to 7 beans

05/31/12 -> Picked 1 dozen bush beans

06/14/12 -> picked a colanders worth of beans.  ate half and saved half

06/17/12 -> Picked as many beans that were big enough, and blanched and froze a patch

06/30/12 -> picked a double handful of bush beans for the party

07/08/12 -> picked a batch of green beans

07/02/12 -> Sowed about 12 bush beans

08/07/12 -> sowed another 6 blue lake beans.  Also, the last batch that was planted is at the right height and flowering.  Just waiting on the beans

08/12/12 -> The last batch of blue lake beans sprouted, however one of of the two got eaten
10/15/12 -> Pulled the last of the bush beans.

Beans, Pole

03/29/12 -> Direct sowed about 25 beans in front of house by front door

04/06/12 -> Sowed 4 seeds in 3 4 inch containers (100% seed starting soil)

04/20/12 -> The ones in the front of the house, directly sown, finally sprouted (2)

05/05/12 -> About 10 of the seedlings from the last sowing came up in the front.  Finally. I guess the ground temp was finally warm enough.   Of the two that came up the first time, 1 is about 5 inches, and doing well. The other got mostly eaten up.

05/12/12 -> Planted another round of 10 to 15 pole beans

05/17/12 -> 5 of them 12 Pole beans have germinated

05/20/12 -> eaten again

05/24/12 -> Sowed 15 deans purple beans

05/28/12 -> germinated

06/27/12 -> are about 4 to 5 feet tall at this point. no pods yet
10/05/12  -> Took the last of the pole beans down in the front.  Enough to pick off of, but never enough for a meal 

Collards

02/13/12 -> Sowed into 20 Jiffy Pellets, 3 to 4 seeds per pellet.   Plant outdoors in 6 to 8 weeks

02/15/12 -> 2 or 3 seeds starting to sprout.  Added a little more water

02/16/12 -> Moved tray downstairs, 5+ pellets are crowing

02/19/12 -> 50% germination rate so far, 3/4 the way up to the plastic

02/21/12 -> Took plastic off.  About 40% of the pods germinated.  Some pods had 3 to 4 seedlings, so I moved them around.  Now have about 70% pods with seedlings

02/22/12 -> Switched to florescent light

02/24/12 -> About 3 inches up.  Had to move light up more.  16 out of 20 pellets are going now.  One more just starting.  I wonder if the rest will come

02/26/12 -> second set of leaves coming up on a bunch of them.  First true leaves i think

02/27/12 -> snipped some of the tall lanky seedlings where there was a smaller stubbier one in the same pellet

03/02/12 -> About half of the seedlings have first set true leaves

03/10/12 -> They look pretty good, but the first "fake" leaves are turning yellow on a bunch of them.  I think that this might be normal

03/11/12 -> Potted up 4 collards to 4 inch pots

03/26/12 -> Started to harden plants out side.

03/31/12 -> Transplanted 19 collard plants.   Broadcast some new collard seeds in the same bed.

04/09/12 -> Seedlings have broken the surface. Sowed 5 seeds per pellet because the seeds were from last year.  wanted to be sure.   Probably overkill.

05/06/12 -> Spaced out some collard seedlings that were growing too close to the transplanted ones.

06/11/12 -> harvested first BIG batch of collards.  Blanched and froze them

07/03/12 -> Emily picked a whole bunch of collards for dinner

07/23/12 -> harvested some collards for dinner

08/12/12 -> harvested a really big batch of the collard greens.  they were getting more and more damaged by the harlequin bug

09/08/12 -> Sowed all 4 in seed trays and wrapped in a white garbage bag to help it germinate.  hopefully it works.

09/09/12 -> Pulled collards.  Just too many harlequin bugs.

10/28/12 -> transplanted collards and watercress in the newest bed. I think it is way too late, but we'll see.

Cover Crops

09/09/12 -> sowed #hairy vetch, #winter rye, and #peas in the collard patch

09/13/12 -> sowed another patch of #winter rye and #hairy vetch  in place of the collards

10/28/12 -> sowed a cover crop mix of #winter rye, #hairy vetch, #peas at the end of the garlic bed, and over the fall collard/watercress bed

11/10/12 -> The last planing of cover crops finally broke the surface and is about 1 inch tall.

Cucumber

05/24/12 -> Sowed 15 marketmore and 15 poinset

05/28/12 -> germinated

06/17/12 -> direct sowed about 15 seeds each of marketmore and poinsett where the peas were.  There are about 2 or 3 cucumbers left in the front of the 20+ that started.

08/07/12 -> Sprayed with garlic spray and neem oil to combat the white flies and squash vine borers.

08/12/12 -> noticed first 3 pickle sized cucumbers

08/14/12 -> picked the first cucumber today.  Tasted great.

08/27/12 -> picked another 3 cucumbers in the last few days. About 5 of them are ready to be picked now

09/22/12 -> pulled the cucumbers.  The only ones that were left were yellowish or really pale.

Garlic

03/10/12 -> Removed leaves from the garlic and they look fantastic.  About 12 to 15 inches high maybe and really healthy looking.  Something like 30 heads

03/17/12 -> I think they have grown to about 18 inches now.

06/16/12 -> Pulled a head of garlic and it looks good. Drying it in the shed, and turned off sprayers in garlic patch

06/25/12 -> harvested 34 heads of garlic

07/06/12 -> Braided the garlic

10/28/12 -> Sowed about 65 heads of garlic

11/25/12 -> Mulched garlic with shredded leaves

Kale

03/26/12 -> Sowed kale

04/03/12 -> First sign of seedlings.  Lots of them!

07/02/12 -> Emily picked a bunch more kale for dinner

07/22/12 -> Harvested all leaves (whiteflys)

08/07/12 -> Sprayed with garlic spray and neem oil to combat the white flies and squash vine borers.

09/09/12 -> pulled the kale.  Not sure if it was one of my sprays or not, but the new leaves were "burned" at the tips.   not sure what caused it.   but it didnt look good.

Lettuce, Asian Stir-fry Mix

04/01/12 -> Direct sowed one row in the onions and peppers bed

04/09/12 -> Seedlings broke the surface

05/16/12 -> Sowed in onion bed

07/08/12 -> picked the second cutting from the original planting.  Enough for 4 people

Lettuce, Bibb

03/03/12 -> Sowed indoors (10 pods)

03/09/12 -> Three pods have seedlines.  Very spindley.  Moved downstairs and put under lights. Sow indoors 6 to 8 weeks before last frost 

03/16/12 -> Maybe about 6 pods have germinated at this point

04/01/12 -> Transplanted 7 bib lettuce seedlings.  Broadcast additional seed around transplants

05/02/12 -> Sowed a bunch of new seed in the same patch.  The stuff that was broadcast when the transplants went in is about 1 inch tall now and looking good.

06/13/12 -> There is tons of bibb lettuce.  We can't keep up!

06/16/12 -> picked some more

08/17/12 -> sowed a bunch of bibb lettuce in the herb garden

Lettuce, Red and Green Mix

04/01/12 -> Direct sowed one row in the onions and peppers bed

04/09/12 -> Seedlings broke the surface

05/16/12 -> Sowed in onion bed

Onions

03/18/12 -> Direct sowed 80 sets of onions. About 30 in the herb garden, and 50 where the peppers and lettuce will be

03/22/12 -> Already breaking the surface

03/25/12 -> About 40 already above surface (1 inch)

05/15/12 -> Harvested first set of onions
07/12/12 -> Pulled the rest of the onions (70 in all)

Peas

03/11/12 -> Direct sowed outside.  Planted all three types of peas, 1 inch apart, 1/2 to 1 inch deep.  Might have been a little tight, but we will see.

03/19/12 -> A few seedlings have broken the surface outside

03/26/12 -> Second sowing of peas

04/07/12 -> Some peas from second direct sowing have broken surface

04/08/12 -> Some peas from first sowing are 6 inches tall.  Installed chicken wire and steaks to help them climb

04/09/12 -> A bunch more peas from second sowing popped up. 20 to 30 of each

04/30/12 -> Direct sowed about 50 more peas

05/13/12 -> First peas have started!!!  Maybe about 10 or so. Looks like it is mostly snap peas.  Not sure.

05/31/12 -> picked 20+ peas

06/13/12 -> picked last of the peas.

06/16/12 -> Pulled down the peas

08/17/12 -> sowed a bunch of peas by bed against the back of the house.

09/26/12 -> sowed about 30 peas into the collards patch.  There are already about 15 pea shoots in the patch, about 3 inches tall

Peppers 

03/10/12 -> Sowed indoors

03/13/12 -> the basil germinated, so moved downstairs under lights

03/19/12 -> Three seeds finally germinated and broke the surface

03/20/12 -> one seedling from the second type of peppers, I think poblano

05/13/12 -> Transplanted 12 pepper plants into lettuce patch and onion patch

06/04/12 -> Planted another 4 peppers into the side bed, just to see how they would do

08/06/12 -> picked the second Anaheim pepper, way more spicy than I thought it would be.  There are about 10 Anaheim peppers ready to be picked at this point.  I think they are just now starting to turn redder and maybe getting quite a bit hot.  One plant has 5 to 6 peppers, while most of the others have 1 to 3

10/11/12 -> Hot pepper harvest,  14 poblano, 30 Anaheim

11/05/12 -> harvested about 50 peppers

11/10/12 -> Took down the pepper plants besides the jalapeno.

11/26/12 -> Jalapeno killed by hard freeze

Radishes

03/26/12 -> Planted about 20 radishes in the garlic patch

04/02/12 -> First sign of seedlings.

04/16/12 -> Trimmed radishes to 1 per spot

04/24/12 -> Directly sowed radishes around bean plants to help block out weeds

05/01/12 -> The second planting by the beans has broken the surface

05/16/12 -> Sowed on north side of middle bed in single line
06/27/12 -> Pulled all radishes.  They all bolted

08/17/12 -> sowed a bunch or RED radishes in the herb garden

08/19/12 -> already started to sprout

09/20/12 -> ate first RED radish (double the size of a marble).  Still very spicy!  Not like in a salad.  Not as spicy as the white radish tough!

09/20/12 -> sowed some additional seeds outdoors.

Spinach

03/03/12 -> Sowed indoors (15 pods)

03/09/12 -> No seedlings, but moved under lights

03/11/12 -> Direct sowed outside (About 30 seeds)

03/13/12 -> put about 15 seeds in slightly wet paper towel and inside a plastic bag.

03/16/12 -> About 5 of the 20 seeds germinated, and I planted them outside in the bed.  Not sure if that is too much of a transition for them

03/17/12 -> 2 peat pods germinated and you can see the green

03/18/12 -> About 3 more seeds in the paper towel germinated, and this time I put them in some of the peat pellets that were not working.    A few more actually had some germinated seeds in them, so they should break the surface soon

03/19/12 -> A few seedlings have broken the surface outside

03/26/12 -> Started to harden plants out side.

05/06/12 -> Spaced out by moving spinach plants that were too close together.

09/08/12 -> Sowed all 4 in seed trays and wrapped in a white garbage bag to help it germinate.  hopefully it works.

09/19/12 -> germinated some seeds indoors

09/23/12 -> sowed the first 15 seeds that had germinated inside on the paper towel

09/26/12 -> I *think* i saw one of the seeds sowed on the 23rd germinate

09/26/12 -> sowed another 15 seeds that had germinated.

10/07/12 -> first true leaves on first planting of spinach

11/14/12 -> The spinach is getting close to baby spinach leaf size, but only 3 of the 10+ plants took off.   Not going to be what I hoped for.

Squash, Summer

03/29/12 -> Direct sowed 6 seeds in a small mound by front door

04/20/12 -> 1 seed sprouted

05/02/12 -> Transplanted some crookneck summer squash in the front.

05/06/12 -> Three of the straight neck seedlings that i planted last week sprouted

05/12/12 -> Sowed another round in front of house

05/17/12 -> 5/12 summer squash germinated

05/20/12 -> eaten again

05/24/12 -> Sowed another 10 seeds

05/29/12 -> Germinated

07/04/12 -> the summer squash is flowering now, but no little squashes yet

08/07/12 -> Sprayed with garlic spray and neem oil to combat the white flies and squash vine borers.
10/15/12 -> The second plant also got cut by vine borers.  

Squash, Winter

08/07/12 -> Sprayed with garlic spray and neem oil to combat the white flies and squash vine borers.

05/16/12 -> Sowed outdoors in 4 places along fence.

05/23/12 -> Noticed the winter squash coming up in 2 of the 4 spots I planted it

08/06/12 -> The biggest butternut is the size of a quart Gatorade bottle.  The second biggest (on the same stem) got to the size of half of a fist, but it is starting to shrivel up and die for some reason.

09/16/12 -> harvested the last 3 butternuts squashes
09/24/12 -> harvested the two acorn squashes

Sweet Potatoes

05/31/12 -> Slips arrived today. Transplanted 11 slips.  Heel'd another 6 or 7

06/17/12 -> Have definitely taken.  New leaves on all slips and they are doing well.

09/24/12 -> turned off sprinkler heads.  I read that you are supposed to not water for the last 3 to 4 weeks to prevent splitting

09/26/12 -> pulled one of the sweet potato tubers.  It was the size of a fingerling potato.

10/26/12 ->  Harvested all of the sweet potatoes. About 3 giant ones, about 12 medium ones, and about 15 smaller guys.

08/12/12 -> harvested another big batch of sweet potato leaves.  used half in a stir fry, and froze half

10/04/12 -> pulled another sweet potato from the bed, this one normal sweet potato size.
10/28/12 -> Harvested the sweet potatoes.  

Swiss Chard

09/08/12 -> Sowed all 4 in seed trays and wrapped in a white garbage bag to help it germinate.  hopefully it works.

10/10/12 -> transplanted Swiss chard into garden.  Sow indoors before last frost; Cover seed with thin layer of planting medium

11/14/12 -> The Swiss chard keeps getting eaten.  Funny how that never happened during the spring.

Tomatoes

04/24/12 -> Transplanted Patio, Mortgage lifter, and super 100 tomatoes in containers

04/30/12 -> Planted the Better boy in the small green pot with top soil, hummus, and organic garden soil.  I hope the manure does not burn the plant.  We'll see.

05/31/12 -> Found a tomato growing within the peas.  Transplanted it to a thin black plastic pot from em's parents.  Should be a fun experiment

06/10/12 -> all four plants have green tomatoes on them

06/17/12 -> Built tomato cage (still need to finish door).  Still no red tomatoes, but it shouldn't be long

07/14/12 -> ate first tomatoes, about 5 all in all.   3 mortgage lifters, 1 patio and 2 better boy

07/17/12 -> harvested another few mortgage lifters

07/20/12 -> harvested a bunch of patio's.  took some camping, and used some in a soup

08/05/12 -> In the last week, we had about 40+ cherry tomatoes ripen. Definitely the peak

08/21/12 -> picked and ate three more mortgage lifters. They were really good.  one more left

10/14/12 -> took down tomato plants, and removed the tomato cage.   Got about 7 green tomatoes

Flowers

Aster

02/25/12 -> Sowed indoors in large jiffy and hoffmans mix; covered, Sow 6 to 8 weeks indoors before last frost.  Cover seed with thin layer of planting medium, Transplant hardened off seedlings in garden when danger of frost has passed, Can sow directly into garden after frost, Spacing 12 to 15 inches, 10 to 14 day germination

02/29/12 -> One pod germinated

03/01/12 -> About 6 or so seedlings have sprouted

03/26/12 -> Started to harden plants out side.

04/24/12 -> Directly sowed about 20 aster seeds in the flower bed
09/24/12 -> Pulled the last of the aster from the front bed

Celosia

02/25/12 -> Sowed indoors in large jiffy and hoffmans mix, on top of mix

02/29/12 -> A bunch of these guys germinated. Sow indoors 5 to 6 weeks before last frost, Direct sow outdoors after last frost, Needs light to germinate, Germination: 14 days, Scatter evenly over surface. Keep moist and covered in plastic until germination, Transplant hardened off seedlings in garden when danger of frost has passed

03/01/12 -> Many pods germinated, multiple seedlings in each pod.   About 1/2 inch tall

03/26/12 -> Started to harden plants out side.

Dahlia

05/17/12 -> 6 plants are up, but they were getting eaten by squirrels.  Created mesh cages around them.

06/03/12 -> Found one more Dahlia from the initial group that broke the surface.   Added sluggo and within 2 days I see new little leaves growing from the part that got eaten.

06/03/12 -> Planted the 4 new dahlias

09/20/12 -> pruned the middle of some dahlias. I read that it helps support bushier growth.

11/26/12 -> killed by hard freeze

Marigold

03/11/12 -> Direct sowed outside making a border around garden beds

06/19/12 -> Sowed in seed starter

06/24/12 -> Seedlings were up when we came home
10/15/12 -> Pulled the marigold bush that was left in the main garden

Nicotiana

02/25/12 -> Sowed indoors in large jiffy and hoffmans mix, on top of mix

02/29/12 -> Nothing (second from left)

04/24/12 -> Directly broadcast nicotinia in the middle of the flower bed

Tithonia

02/25/12 -> Sowed indoors in large jiffy and hoffmans mix  covered

02/29/12 -> One pod germinated

03/01/12 -> About 6 of the 18 pods have one seedling

03/05/12 -> One or two has first set of true leaves

03/18/12 -> One of the tithonia seedlings has some damping off the leaves.

03/26/12 -> Started to harden plants out side.

04/24/12 -> Directly sowed about 15 tithonia seeds  in new flower bed

Herbs

Basil
03/10/12 -> Sowed indoors
03/13/12 -> few pods have germinated.  Moved tray downstairs
04/16/12 -> Transplanted basil into herb garden, and a pot
06/19/12 -> Sowed in seed starter
06/24/12 -> Seedlings were up when we came home
07/02/12 -> sowed basil in seed starter
08/07/12 -> transplanted 5 basil seedlings into herb garden
11/14/12 -> Pulled the last of the basil. Got all splotchy with brown spots...


Cilantro

05/16/12 -> Sowed in two places in herb garden

07/02/12 -> sowed in seed starter

Dill

05/16/12 -> Sowed in one long strip on north side of herb garden

07/02/12 -> sowed in herb garden and also in seed starter

Lavender

04/24/12 -> Transplanted two lavender plants from farmers market into herb garden

Mint

06/17/12 -> Cut down a bunch of mint and dried it

Parsley

02/13/12 -> Sowed into 5 Jiffy Pellets, 5 seeds per pellet,  Plant outdoors in 8 to 10 weeks 

02/16/12 -> Moved tray downstairs,  Some pellets are growing

02/24/12 -> 2 seeds germinated!  maybe one more.  Sowed 5 seeds per pellet because the seeds were from last year.  wanted to be sure.   Probably overkill.

02/27/12 -> Third parsley came up

03/04/12 -> 2 or 3 seedlings have their first set of true leaves

03/11/12 ->Potted up two parsley's to 4 inch pots

03/26/12 -> Started to harden plants out side.

03/31/12 -> Transplanted 5 plants into back of herb garden

Watercress

09/08/12 -> Sowed all 4 in seed trays and wrapped in a white garbage bag to help it germinate.  hopefully it works.

10/28/12 -> transplanted collards and watercress in the newest bed. I think it is way too late, but we'll see.