A Walk Through My Garden (Week 10)

Today marks the 10 week mark since I planted my first seeds.  The garden sure has changed!  Here is a virtual walk through my garden. 

The whole garden bed

Swiss Chard

Ghost Pepper Plant.  Looks bad because the frost got it, but it's still productive

Radishes ready to harvest?

Turnip peeking through

Onions

Beets

Broccoli

Salad greens (Bottom to top: Bibb lettuce, Grand Rapids Lettuce, Mesclun Mix, Spinach & carrots above)

Carrots intercropped with Bibb lettuce

Carrots

Garlic

Kohlrabi

Sarah's Radish bed

Broccoli

Flat leaf parsley.  I'm harvesting quicker than it's growing.  Must plant more.

Little Ghost Pepper

Strawberry planter the girls bought me for Christmas

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

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!  :)

Growing Dried Beans

Today I have planted Dark Red Kidney Beans, Pinto Beans and Black Eyed Peas in the front bed.  I didn't do too much to prep the soil.  Just removed the grass and roots.  We'll see how well these beans do.  I hope they do better than the sunflowers I tried to plant in there a few weeks ago.  Of the 20 or so sunflower seeds I planted only ONE came up.  :(

What I want to grow

Here's a list of all the foods I'd like to eventually grow for my family:

Apples
Bananas
Mangos
Peaches
Pears
Oranges
Cashews
Pecans
Sunflowers (for seeds)
Lettuces
Celery
Broccoli
Cabbage
Swiss Chard
Potatoes (white and sweet)
Green beans
Pinto Beans
Black Beans
Garbanzo beans
Cantaloupe
Corn
Cucumbers (my dd and dh eat them, I pickle them)
Peppers (for mom and dh)
Pumpkins
Spaghetti Squash
Tomatoes
Watermellon
Beets
Brussels Sprouts
Carrots
Cauliflower
Kale
Onions (bunching and bulb)
Peas
Radishes (for mom)
Spinach
Corn
Asparagus (I read you can't grow it in FL, but I'll research that more soon)
Herbs of all kinds

If I can get to a point where I can grow all of the above I think we'd be WELL on the path to our dream homestead.!