Fall/Winter plants coming along

Ray, check out the California Gardening forum. There is a thread near the top about Armstrong's current sale.
Carol

Hi Carol, I got an email a day or 2 ago from Armstrong's. All plants 30-70% off :) Will check it out as well, thanks.

Wow, I was just at Armstrong 's yesterday and herbs at $2.99 each. Perhaps different specials up north?

I'm growing one French Tarragon indoors in case my FT outside does not come back.

I'll second that California nurseries rock!

Brussels Sprouts are getting pretty big. Some leaves are are almost medium pizza sized. Next planting, I will only be doing 4 Brussels Sprouts, Broc and cauliflower. 6(EB recommendation) is way too many imo. Looks like I'm gonna be doing a lot of leaf trimming this weekend. I sorta screwed the pooch with the peas. I should have tied them individually instead of let them climb the chicken wire on their own. They've grown into an intertwined Pea hedge. Still lots of flowers starting to produce pods but I bet would be more productive if I had trained them individually.

I'm happy to see heads starting to form and grow on my lettuce.....

Ray: Aha, so that is what my heads of lettuce should have looked like, had they not bolted. LOL Great pics, great veggies and good work buddie.
joy

Beeeutiful veggies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Joy, Head Lettuce is new to me. After seeing yours bolt I got a little worried about mine. Luckily, most are forming nice, solid heads now.

Thanks Bob, as are your veggies! Can't wait to hear the taste test results of your tomatoes.


Here's my Momotaro tomatoes. Very healthy but growing slow in the cooler temps...

They don't look like they are growing slow to me, they look like they are gonna be trees soon. Good work.
joy

Babe, your Momotaro plants look fabulous! Mine never looked that good. I bet even a not so productive Momotaro will be a heavy producer in your care. Some have reported Momotaros gave them good yield. Can't wait to see them!

Wow, everything looks so good compared to mine. I gotta do something different! Though I am inclined to blame out baking weather for my small plants. Might drop into the 60's tonight. MIGHT.

Kathy: I just wish the weather here would make up it's mind, it's been hot during the day, and in November? And then cold in a day or two, my poor plants are so confused.
joy

For reference :) Surprised at how big one plant of head lettuce gets. The lettuce tasted better than the hat in case you were wondering...

This message was edited Nov 3, 2009 8:10 PM

All cleaned up....

Chopped and about to be consumed........

Ray: Aha, so that is what is what head lettuce is supposed to look like? Mine is over the fence where some wabbit is probably eating it, it bolted on me. LOL
joy

More lettuce heads harvested today....

All cleaned up...

Wrapped and ready....

Starting to pull some Beets now.....Looks like the whiteflies like beets as well....



This message was edited Nov 9, 2009 4:05 PM

Ray: How do you know when the beets are ready? I know with my radishes they just started surfacing and were huge; but, what about the beets?
joy

Hi, Joy. Mark said...

Either when shoulders show or sooner if you like baby beets (like I do).

Annapet =)

Thanks 'Pet :)

Hi Joy, I was away for a bit so Annapet answered exactly what I was gonna say. I would like to add, other than the DTM, I would think harvesting beets and radishes are similar. Although most tell me to pull them before they get too big. Taste is better when they're small. So I'm gonna start pulling the rest a little earlier than I planned.

Mine seem to be doing okay, my onion tops are getting huge now.
joy

Joy, please post a pic of your onions!

Pics of my onions:

I've got a tabasco pepper plant that was a sale plant -- looked too cute to pass by! But I don't really know what to DO with these little peppers. I'm not into canning or pickling.

I guess I should google a bit and see what's out there, but just out of curiosity, what do you do with yours? And, the peppers on mine are all yellow still. Can I pick them that way or do they need to be red?

We haven't had a freeze yet, but we're down into the mid to high 30s at night now.

Am loving your pics, btw -- even though I think the greenest thing in my garden is me -- green with envy! LOL. You really have a great garden.

Nice onions Joy! I still haven't planted any. Too much going on but someday soon I'll get them going.


Thanks Lisa! :) Tabasco peppers are one of my favorite hot peppers. They're really productive too. I always try to at least have one going at all times. To answer your questions.....

I add my peppers to almost everything. Great for stews and soups. Great for eggs and meat marinades. I also make hot sauce throughout the year. Recently, I have been sun drying my Tabascos, then crush them up for hot pepper flakes. A great addition to top almost any meal.

I've picked them green, yellow, orange and red. I do however prefer to wait until they are at least orangish before I use them. Like all peppers, the taste is night and day when fully matured imo. Since it's getting chilly there, I say pick a few at the stage they are now and see if you like them. I don't know if you are like me and force yourself to eat a few peppers right off the plant since you grew it. But be warned, have a big glass of milk ready. Tabascos can deliver a nice kick. Many times hotter than the hottest Jalapeno.

Thanks again Lisa. Feel free to post pics of your garden too.

Ray: Thanks. I should have enough of them right? LOL
joy

hmmm, chocolate chipotle french macarons...

babe, please save me dried peppers. merci!

LOL Joy! Yeah, you should be good to go with onions for awhile. My onion sets are sprouting in the bag. Guess they're begging to be planted soon.

'Pet, I only have about 15 dried Tabasco and Pequin peppers left. But they're all yours :)


Well, the plants are coming along pretty well. Took a lot of pics today.

Here's Brussels Sprouts. Had 6 in the EB but this giant smothered all but one of his neighbors....

Same thing happened with the box....started with 6 but only 2 remain. Earthbox might want to rethink the amount of Brussels Sprouts they recommend.

And more Brussels Sprouts.....

Snow Peas getting really tall....

Picked some peas today.....

Brussels Sprouts forming...

Broccoli box....

Another Broccoli box....

Broccoli heads forming....