Showing posts with label Zone 9. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Zone 9. Show all posts
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Monday, February 6, 2012
Swiss Chard Harvest
I picked a bunch of my container grown swiss chard for dinner. It weighed in at 6 oz. I stir fried it and put it over rice, served with a side of sweet potato balls. Yum!
Saturday, January 28, 2012
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.
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| The whole garden bed |
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| Swiss Chard |
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| Ghost Pepper Plant. Looks bad because the frost got it, but it's still productive |
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| Radishes ready to harvest? |
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| Turnip peeking through |
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| Onions |
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| Beets |
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| Broccoli |
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| Salad greens (Bottom to top: Bibb lettuce, Grand Rapids Lettuce, Mesclun Mix, Spinach & carrots above) |
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| Carrots intercropped with Bibb lettuce |
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| Carrots |
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| Garlic |
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| Kohlrabi |
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| Sarah's Radish bed |
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| Broccoli |
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| Flat leaf parsley. I'm harvesting quicker than it's growing. Must plant more. |
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| Little Ghost Pepper |
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| Strawberry planter the girls bought me for Christmas |
Friday, January 27, 2012
Back to the land & other ramblings...
After what seemed like an eternity of not planting things, I finally got back to planting yesterday. I had some peat pellets so I soaked them and started seeds of cherry tomatoes, green beans and zucchini in hopes of planting the transplants out in February. I also planted my strawberry roots and will hopefully have some delicious berries to munch on later in the season. I put 6 roots in the hanging strawberry planter and 3 in the garden. I can't wait to see which one produces better.
Today I planted out several of the red onion bulbs I bought. I hope these grow much more rapidly than the onion seeds I started, which after a promising start don't seem to be making much progress in the way of growth these last weeks. I wonder in our crazy weather has anything to do with that. Day to day, this winter has gone from 50 degrees to 80 degrees. My plants must be confused.
In the past I've grown vegetables, but I am always discouraged when the garden doesn't produce as much as I would like it to. At the end of every year I give up and tell myself it's not worth the hassle, I decide to take a year off, and within a couple months I regret my decision. However this year I'm going to stick to it. I'm going to amend this soil until it's beautiful and black. I'm going to practice succession planting (instead of over planting and having months between harvests). I'm reading up on companion planting and will put my knowledge to good use.
I've been on the lookout for the 20 cent seeds from WalMart again. I figure until I know more about what I'm doing I shouldn't invest too much in the garden. And if I want to try a new variety of something, 20 cents is an investment I can make without feeling guilty afterward.
I have located a source of free manure and composted manure, but now I have to figure out how to get it to my house. I don't want to stink up the van with horse poo, being that my kids will be with me and all. And there just isn't room in my husbands sedan to fit what I need.
Items I need:
A way to transport compost and manure
Potatoes to plant
More Pots, Buckets, Bins, etc. (Anything I can plant in.)
A Pitchfork.
A metal rake for leveling the soil.
Next steps in the garden:
Harvest all of the spinach, then pull the plants. For the time and space Spinach requires, the plants are small and not overly productive (and they are getting eaten by something - there are little holes all over the leaves, but no bugs/worms/caterpillars that I can find) so I'll use the space for other crops.
Plant the yellow onion bulbs.
Fertilize existing crops (compost tea foliage spray?)
On a final note, I have been able to harvest about 2 lbs of salad greens so far, which fed my family salads for 5 meals! I've got a couple radishes that look like they may be ready to harvest, but I don't want to jump the gun and yank them out if they aren't ready. Tomorrow I think I'll do it and share my bounty with my Mother.
Have a wonderful day!
Today I planted out several of the red onion bulbs I bought. I hope these grow much more rapidly than the onion seeds I started, which after a promising start don't seem to be making much progress in the way of growth these last weeks. I wonder in our crazy weather has anything to do with that. Day to day, this winter has gone from 50 degrees to 80 degrees. My plants must be confused.
In the past I've grown vegetables, but I am always discouraged when the garden doesn't produce as much as I would like it to. At the end of every year I give up and tell myself it's not worth the hassle, I decide to take a year off, and within a couple months I regret my decision. However this year I'm going to stick to it. I'm going to amend this soil until it's beautiful and black. I'm going to practice succession planting (instead of over planting and having months between harvests). I'm reading up on companion planting and will put my knowledge to good use.
I've been on the lookout for the 20 cent seeds from WalMart again. I figure until I know more about what I'm doing I shouldn't invest too much in the garden. And if I want to try a new variety of something, 20 cents is an investment I can make without feeling guilty afterward.
I have located a source of free manure and composted manure, but now I have to figure out how to get it to my house. I don't want to stink up the van with horse poo, being that my kids will be with me and all. And there just isn't room in my husbands sedan to fit what I need.
Items I need:
A way to transport compost and manure
Potatoes to plant
More Pots, Buckets, Bins, etc. (Anything I can plant in.)
A Pitchfork.
A metal rake for leveling the soil.
Next steps in the garden:
Harvest all of the spinach, then pull the plants. For the time and space Spinach requires, the plants are small and not overly productive (and they are getting eaten by something - there are little holes all over the leaves, but no bugs/worms/caterpillars that I can find) so I'll use the space for other crops.
Plant the yellow onion bulbs.
Fertilize existing crops (compost tea foliage spray?)
On a final note, I have been able to harvest about 2 lbs of salad greens so far, which fed my family salads for 5 meals! I've got a couple radishes that look like they may be ready to harvest, but I don't want to jump the gun and yank them out if they aren't ready. Tomorrow I think I'll do it and share my bounty with my Mother.
Have a wonderful day!
Friday, December 16, 2011
Rambling...
Come Sunday it will be 2 weeks since my last planting. In the past I've over planted, impatiently watched everything grow, harvested too soon, and been upset that I have to start the long process over again once the plants are spent.
This time I'm trying to remember to get out and plant every 2 to 3 weeks. How do I know if I am planting too much of one thing and not enough of another? I guess trial and error is all I have to go on. I am excited to see some seeds I planted popping up here and there, it reminds me of how I felt when I saw my first seeds sprouting. It is also neat to compare the tiny new seedlings to the more established seedlings, serving as a constant reminder that the plants are growing and we will eventually have food on the table.
There is still plenty of space to plant more seeds in the garden. This weekend I hope to plant more of the following:
Come January, I'm looking forward to having many of my plants harvesting to make planting room for:
This time I'm trying to remember to get out and plant every 2 to 3 weeks. How do I know if I am planting too much of one thing and not enough of another? I guess trial and error is all I have to go on. I am excited to see some seeds I planted popping up here and there, it reminds me of how I felt when I saw my first seeds sprouting. It is also neat to compare the tiny new seedlings to the more established seedlings, serving as a constant reminder that the plants are growing and we will eventually have food on the table.
There is still plenty of space to plant more seeds in the garden. This weekend I hope to plant more of the following:
- Beets
- Broccoli
- Carrots (we never seem to have enough of these)
- Cauliflower
- Kohlrabi
- Lettuce
- Onions (bulbing)
- Radishes
Come January, I'm looking forward to having many of my plants harvesting to make planting room for:
- Peppers
- Tomatoes (many varieties)
- Beets
- Broccoli
- Cauliflower
- Carrots
- Kohlrabi
- Lettuce
- English Peas
- Potatoes
- Radishes
- Turnips
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