New Plantings Today

Today we decided to re-pot the ghost pepper plant because it was root bound.  We bought a huge plastic bucket from Big Lots, drilled holes 3" from the bottom all around the pot, added soil and planted the ghost.  Hopefully this will provide adequate room for the roots to spread!

With a second bucket we bought we drilled the holes, added soil, and I planted 6 Swiss Chard seeds, which I will later thin to 3 plants.

I had 4 8" pots laying around, so I filled them with potting soil and planted Kohl Rabi in each one.  I've never had Kohl Rabi before, but have heard good things about it, and have wanted to try it.  I figured this was the easiest way to do so.

I felt like a murderer as I thinned my seedlings in the main bed.  It saddened my heart to pluck out the tiny babies I've nurtured these last weeks.  However, everything I've read online says you really do need to thin seedlings so they don't have to compete for water and nutrients, so I did it.  The only plants I didn't thin were the Mesclun.  I'm waiting until the greens get a bit bigger before I thin them so I can make a baby greens salad.  It made me feel a bit better for composting the tiny seedlings.  At least I know their nutrients will help provide a good future in the compost.

I've also decided to use the extra blue barrel as a potato grow bin.  We have an ABUNDANCE of pine needles here, so I'll try using them instead of purchasing straw.  They are more acidic, which the potatoes like anyway.  :)

UPDATE 12/2/11:  The transplanted ghost pepper plant seems to be loving it's new environment.  After a couple months of being seemingly dormant, we finally have more buds.  Since we purchased The Ghost last summer we've only gotten 2 peppers from the whole plant.  Hopefully we will get a big yield now.  

ONIONS!

When I went out to put my kitchen scraps in my compost bin this morning I noticed some tiny little onion sprouts peeking through the soil!  I've NEVER been able to get an onion seed to grow, so I'm VERY excited!  (Doing a happy dance while typing.)

I've got BEETS! Plus a garden update.

My family loves beets!  I've tried to grow them a couple times with NO success which is why I was quite surprised when I checked the garden this morning and saw my beets have sprouted!  Here's a photo journey of what's happening in my garden today.

The beets have sprouted in just 1 week!

Bibb Lettuce

Broccoli

Carrots in rows

Carrots

Cauliflower

Grand Rapids lettuce

Mesclun

Radishes all in a row

salad greens

spinach

test lettuce

more test lettuce

and more test lettuce

turnips

Potatoes: To Grow or Not To Grow

I have an extra plastic drum sitting around and haven't figured out exactly what I want to use it for yet.  Originally I wanted to convert it to a third rain barrel, but I haven't even set up my first two yet, so I don't see it as an urgent project.  I've been researching how to grow vegetables in it, but I'm not seeing any hard fast how to information and I'm not confident enough to jump into a project like that without knowing the outcome.  But I did find a great article on the Mother Earth site about growing potatoes in the drum.  Here in Central FL we can only plant potatoes in January and February, so I have a little time to decide if I want to try it or not.

I need to research:
Growing material to fill the drum with.  I've read straw some places and sawdust other places.
Sun or shade.
Potato varieties: Should I grow white, gold, red, blue, baking, fingerling, etc?

Do you have a favorite variety of potato you can't live without or a company you'd recommend getting seed potatoes from?

What to plant for a family of 4

Seed Planting Chart

Type	Spacing	Plant per 4 Persons	Seeds Needed*	Seeds/oz	Seeds/gram
Asparagus	9" to 12"	32 plants	32	1300	46
Bush Beans	4" to 6"	80 to 120 foot row	360	90	3
Beets	4"	60 foot row	180	1000-2750	37-99
Broccoli	24' to 30"	12 to 15 plants	15	5000-9300	174-330
Cabbage	24' to 36"	12 to 15 plants	15	2750-10500	99-370
Carrots	2" to 4"	40 foot row	240	11000-24300	385-850
Cauliflower	18" to 24"	12 to 15 plants	15	5000-9300	174-330
Corn	8" to 12"	140 foot row	210	135-400	5-6
Cucumbers	8" to 36"	6 to 8 plants	8	1000	35
Kohlrabi	6" to 8"	12 to 15 foot row	30	7300-9300	257-330
Leaf Lettuce	12"	20 to 30 foot row	30	26500	935
Mustard	6"	3 to 4 plants	4	13125	462
Green Onions	1" to 2"	10 foot row	120	13000	440
Peas	2"	120 to 160 foot row	960	100	3
Peppers	18" to 24"	6 to 10 plants	10	4300	154
Pumpkins	36" to 48"	3 plants	3	185	6
Radishes	2"	20 foot row	120	2000-4500	70-160
Spinach	12"	10 to 20 foot row	20	1500-4000	50-150
Squash	36" to 48"	3 plants	3	260	10
Tomatoes	24" to 36"	10 to 15 plants	15	10000-11875	350
Turnips	4" to 6"	10 to 15 foot row	45	7800-15300	275-530

chart credit

What I'm Planting - November 2011 - Week 1 Update

This morning I went out to check on things in the garden and water and found some tiny holes (already) in the seed leaves of my broccoli plants.  Last years homemade "garlic, onion, pepper stock" spray was a big flop and I didn't get much of anything out of the ground. For this year I've decided that yield is more important to me than pesticide free is right now, so I gave everything a good misting of Ortho Max Gtarden & Landscape Insect Killer.  The bottle says it kills 100+ Insects and is safe for use on vegetables, fruits, flowers and shrubs.  I was gentle/light on the mist since my plants are so tiny, not even having their true leaves yet.  We shall see how well this works for keeping pests away. 

As far as the garden grows, I am very happy with how things are progressing.  

All of my lettuces are doing wonderfully!  They are beautiful shades of light greens.  I'm afraid I may have crowded them too much, but am not sure when to thin.  I'd like to wait until they get a bit bigger so I can see which will be the stronger plants and then thin the weaklings.  

Spinach finally sprouted a couple days ago.  It's looking healthy and strong and I'm very excited!

My cauliflower seeds have all come up now too.  I almost gave up hope on them, but they made it!

Broccoli looks brilliant (other than those little bite marks).

My carrots are all sprouting!!!    Yes, that required bold because in all my gardening adventures I've never had any luck getting carrots to grow!  I'm hoping for a BIG yield!

The garlic I planted hasn't done anything so far.  Folks say it has to stay in the ground through winter and can't be harvested until Spring next year.  I'm hoping it's just a SLOW grower and I don't get too discouraged and dig it up.  

The Turnips are all popping up finally too!  This was another I thought I may give up on (notice a trend here?) but I'm glad I didn't.  Very nice spacing and sprouting.

My radishes are all sprouting now too!  I don't eat radishes, but LOVE the idea of harvesting in a month or less.  That's my kind of garden turn around.  Who knows, maybe I will learn to love them.  

There is no activity from my beets or onions yet.  Again I am hoping I just need to practice some PATIENCE!  I won't give up just yet.  :)

As a reminder, here's what I planted:

Planted Saturday, 11/19:

• Lettuce (Bibb, Grand Rapids, 3 test varities, mesclun mix)
• Spinach (Bloomsdale Long Standing)
• Cauliflower (Early Snowball A)
• Broccoli (De Cicco)
• Carrots (Danver's #126)

Sunday, 11/20/11 I planted:

• 6 cloves of white garlic (from Publix).  I've heard mixed results using store bought garlic so I want to try this myself to see how it goes.
• Turnips (Purple Top White Globe)

Monday, 11/21/11 I planted:

• Beets (Detroit Dark Red, Morse's Strain)
• Onions (Hybrid Granex Yellow PRR)
• Radishes (Icicle, Short Top)

What I'm Planting - November 2011

As soon as it settled down around here, I raced out to plant my new garden bed!

Saturday, 11/19/11 I planted:

• Lettuce (Bibb, Grand Rapids, 3 test varities, mesclun mix)
• Spinach (Bloomsdale Long Standing)
• Cauliflower (Early Snowball A)
• Broccoli (De Cicco)
• Carrots (Danver's #126)

Sunday, 11/20/11 I planted:

• 6 cloves of white garlic (from Publix).  I've heard mixed results using store bought garlic so I want to try this myself to see how it goes.
• Turnips (Purple Top White Globe)

Monday, 11/21/11 I planted:

• Beets (Detroit Dark Red, Morse's Strain)
• Onions (Hybrid Granex Yellow PRR)
• Radishes (Icicle, Short Top)

I was excited to see the lettuces sprouting after only 2 days!  At 3 days I had broccoli come up, and at 4 days I'm seeing lots of little spinach plants showing themselves.  

Last year I double dug a 4' x 7' bed and amended it with lots of compost and nutrients.  After weeks of watering I saw a few pathetic little sprouts come up, but never got a full harvest from any of the plants (except a few dozen cherry tomatoes).  

For this new bed, Justin Cave (the host of HGTV's "Ground Breakers") brought in a half dump truck of organically amended, healthy soil.  I'm amazed at what a difference this good quality soil has made so far!   

To mark my rows I am using "craft sticks" since I have a ton leftover from a past craft project.  I've used them in the past and do know they will start to rot eventually, but that's okay because as long as I know what I planted where I'll remember what's what when the true leaves come in.  Now if I can just keep little hands from pulling the markers out I'll be all set!  :)