Molamola: I got big heads on them; but, not getting many shoots, maybe I'm just impatient though too? LOL I have noticed though that my cabbages are not as big as last times were. Of course I didn't grow this batch from seed though either like last time, I bought the seedlings maybe that makes a difference?
joy
Fall/Winter plants coming along
Ray: My cauliflower hasn't produced anything yet. I lost most of my broccoli and cauliflower plants; but have a few of each left. My onions are doing well though.
joy
Mola, I am curious if mine will have many side shoots. I read that Green Comet has an abundance while Green Goliath is few and far between. No worries though. Broccoli has been doing great here so far. I have about 12 more heads forming at the moment.
Joy, you are only gonna get one head per plant. It is a bummer but well worth it imo. The heads I've chopped made a very tasty Broccoli Parmesan soup. Cut the stem about 4-5" below the head, it's supposed to help side shoot production. My Cauliflower has been slow, but now are starting to form....can't wait!
Ray: My leaves are browning up on me, the broccoli was great though, I just rinsed mine off and put it in sandwich baggie, or some of it, the rest my sister and I ate with hidden valley ranch, and stuffed baked potatoes with and made a salad with. LOL I love my veggies in the raw. Some of my beets popped up; and I cooked them, after washing them, but they were hard instead of tender.
joy
First Cauliflower of the year and it was a pretty big one. It was a little over 5 lbs.
Another pic...
Ray: Taht is one fine cauliflower, I'd have to frame a pic of that one if it were mine. LOL
joy
It was really a sight to see =). Was great soup, too! Mark made cauliflower soup before Christmas and it was delicious.
He/We has/have Momotaros ready for New Year, too. I miss home already.
Thanks 'Pet :) Glad you enjoyed it! You left me with so much good food I can't thank you enough.
Hope everybody had a great Holiday!
Against everyones advice to not grow tomatoes through the winter here, I had too give it a try. They said "if they survive they won't do well at all". Well, my Momotaros are about 7 feet tall, bushy and have a few dozen tomatoes forming. The plants are definitely showing signs from cold weather but are hanging in there quite well. Here's the first Tomato of the year. Kinda cool it was ready on the first day of 2010. Hoping that is a good sign when it's really tomato time.
Here's some more tomatoes forming....
Picked this last week....
Broccoli is doing great. I have about 12 more heads forming.
Ray: Heck, those winter toms of yours look good enough to be Spring/summer toms to me. LOL
joy
LOL Joy Thank you. Gonna taste them tomorrow. Will report the results :)
I hope you took a photo of your Wintertime BLT for the rest of us to drool on. I missed the vipe-ripe Momotaro by a few days.
I have to re-read the thread if you mentioned the storm in SoCal a few weeks ago...hurricane winds, remember? Tattered the plants.
Ladies and Gents, Mark sure can grow veggies =).
No pics of the BLT....but it was good! Missed them.
No, I didn't post about the crazy storm we had. Was too busy staking and tying my plants back up :) 50 mph winds really did a lot of damage. All my plants were horizontal. Surprised only 2 died....I was really lucky.
Lots of Broccoli coming in now. Time to plant potatoes. Also time to start Tomato and pepper seeds. The list just keeps growing and growing. Up to 25 different varieties now.
Broccoli has done real well for me this year. Brussels Sprouts starting to come in too.
Broccoli Stir Fry! Or at least that's what I want, LOL.
Lee Kum Kee Oyster Sauce at Ralph's and Von's...Soy Vay products are also very good and my fave as of late.
http://www.soyvay.com/index.php?main_page=page&id=5&chapter=0
Hey Ray,
That garden is outstanding!
I'm a bit confused on your timeframe, though, as the post starts with 10/17 and your plants were obviously not seedlings in those first pics. When did you sow seeds initially? Or, did you use seedlings? If seedlings, when did you originally plant out?
I'm trying to formulate the timeframe of your DTM dates on the posts above. Thanks!
Linda
Ok, ok Pet....I will do a beef and broc stir fry. I was gonna wait for you but you keep pushing me :)
Hey Linda, I get seedlings for Fall planting and start from seed for Spring planting. Looking back at my records, I planted Lettuce, Peas and Brussels Sprouts out on 9/18/09. Most of the Broccoli and Cauliflower seedlings were planted on 10/3/09. It seems most of them took about 2-3 weeks longer than the DTM indicated. But they just kept growing, so I let them do their thing :)
Well, almost the last of my winter garden. Time to switch gears to spring planting. This is the last of my Broccoli and Brussel Sprouts. Have about 5 heads of cauliflower forming, along with onions, garlic and carrots still to harvest. But for the most part my winter garden is a wrap.
And a very finely "wrapped" garden at that!
Congratulations Ray! It was a pleasure being able to follow your success from beginning to end!
Wow! Looks like you are going into the tomato business this spring! Wish you were closer to Santa Ana, so I would know where to get them while I wait for mine! Did you start all of those from seed?
Carol
Ray.
You made a few comments and observations along the way. Any chance you could compile a list of "What Worked" and "What I'd do differently Next time?"
Like, "Plant only 4 broccolis per EB, not 6"
Linda
P.S. Could you also give us a preview of where you are now in preparing for your spring garden?
Carrol, I'm gonna have plenty of spare plants. I work up in Foothill Ranch so Santa Ana isn't very far away. So just let me know. All from seed but picked up 8 plants(Beefsteak and Better Bush) at Armstrongs 2 weeks ago. Not sure why I did, I just couldn't help myself from buying a few. I'm about to start my second tray of seeds this weekend and then a 3rd in about 2 weeks. So yeah, I will have plenty to give away :)
Hey Linda. Thanks for following the progress. As far as what I have learned this past winter.....
- EB really needs to rethink how many Brussel Sprouts to a box. They are monsters and killed each other off. They were very competitive plants. Next year I will only plant 3, and no more than 4 per box. Although they they came up short on expense to harvest ratio. I would have to say they rank up there with Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Peas, Beans and Potatoes as being drastically better tasting than store bought.
- I initially thought Broccoli was gonna do the same thing Brussel Sprouts were doing. But Broccoli are much more accommodating to each other. Their growth was easy to work with 6 in a box. Cauliflower wasn't as easy because the size of the heads were enormous, but 6 in a box worked fine.
- I tried 3 different kinds of fertilizers. 1st one was an organic 4-5-3, 2nd was a 13-13-13 and the 3rd was a 9-18-9. To tell you the truth, all worked great and couldn't tell the difference with production or health like I could with my tomatoes last year.
- Cole crops are definitely heavy feeders and drinkers. Once they began forming heads they would drink the reservoir in a day.
-SPRING PREVIEW-
I told myself I wasn't gonna go big. Who am I kidding? Think I'm gonna at least double the plants I had last year.
Tomatoes I'm gonna be growing...
- Neves Azorean Red
- Virginia Sweets
- Marianna's Peace
- Anna Russian
- Stump of the World
- Paul Robeson
- Brandywine (Sudduth)
- Indian Stripe
- Orange Minsk
- Danko
- Pruden's Purple
- Big Yeller'en
- Vorlon
- Arkansas Traveler
- Caspian Pink
- Moonglow
- Goose Creek
- Wes
- JD's Special C-Tex
- Lucky Cross
- Gary O'Sena
- Aker's West Virginia
- Earl's Faux
- Beefsteak
- Burpee's Supersteak (Hybrid)
- Big Beef (Hybrid)
- Better Bush (Hybrid)
- Brandy Boy (Hybrid)
Peppers I'm gonna grow....
- Biker Billy's Jalapeņo
- Jimmy Nardello
- Giant Aconcagua
- Giant Marconi
- Sweet Banana
- Tabasco
- Pequin
- Aji Dulce#2
- Jaloro
- Purple Jalapeņo
- Super Heavyweight
Potatoes I'm gonna grow...
- Red Pontiac
- Yukon Gold
Squash....
- Sure Thing Zucchini
Cucumber...
- Diva
Corn...
- Ambrosia
- Silver Queen
Will grow some ice box sized melons as well at some point. Will start them with the corn in April or May. So it seems I'm gonna need a bigger deck, yard and house. Time to rent my neighbors yard :)
Oh, another thing I learned this winter. Be prepared for an Aphid orgy on cole crops. They sure are fun to squish though. Miniature bubble wrap :)
Ray much as I like squishing bubble wrap, that is totally gross!
Squish, squish, squish...
I didn't have problem with aphids; but did with the cabbage worms and the frost, I have only one decent head of cabbage left and still 31 degrees out there.
joy