August summer vegetables. Snap beans, lima beans, summer squash.
September ( transplant Broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, collards) started in July. Direct sow turnips, rutabagas, mustard, pak choi etc I make several successions which extend into October.
November ( around Thanksgiving) English peas smooth seeded types Willet Wonder, Alaska.
As of today...
I decided to pull my garlic this morning. Some of those suckers were as determined to stay in the soil as much as I was determined to pull them out! I fell over backwards once, when a stem broke off. I'm okay ^-^
Here's what I harvested - enough for us, the neighbors and co-workers, too. I'll save the largest ones for setting this fall.
I read somewhere that you should not hit onions/garlic together to make the soil fall off as doing so bruises them. I don't know how accurate that is, but as you can see from the photo, I left the dirt on. It will dry and fall off later.
I emptied two of the washing machine tubs.
Here's what was in them...These are either Kennebecs or Yukon Golds. I got em mixed up somehow... Either way, they're being had for dinner today! This is one tub.
Here's the other tub...I believe these are the Yukons. The skins are much lighter and more opaque, thinner...
Wonderful looking garlic and taters!!
Linda, the kennebecs are the more lighter skinned potatoes, so I think the first pic is the yukons and the 2nd one is the Kennebecs.
Gymgirl - Your photos bring back memories of when we grew our own potatoes when I was a child. Those first ones out of the ground were so sweet. My mother said it was because we used raw seaweed as fertilizer. Enjoy yours tonight ^_^
Thanks, Steph! Thanks Honey.
Now. Go read about the snake on our Potatoes thread....
It's taken 90 days from setting seed, but I finally have an "Early Girl" tomato showing color. I did a little happy dance in the garden when I saw it.
I picked enough Fortex beans for half a serving.
This past week I've squished several Japanese beetles and one striped cucumber beetle.
I cut up the tops of the garlic and scattered them around the soybeans. I'm not sure if it was that, or all the rain we've had, but the voles have been quiet the past few nights.
I found something on Amazon called Molemax and am going to order some.
Photo is of vole damage - they eat off the lower leaves
This message was edited Jun 18, 2010 2:46 PM
That doesn't sound very "early". IT seems like its taking forever for the fruit to ripen. We have jillions of cucumber beetles I'm squishing them like crazy. I read that the larva of (I think the cucumber beetle eats the roots of plants. I couldn't figure out why my spinach was wilting and no longer anchored in the ground. Now I know why. Congrads on your harvest.
I've been after squash bugs. Usually I don't see them this early, and I had hoped that my silver mulch would be a deterrent, but I started finding them. I've been picking off the adults a few times a day, and checking leaves for eggs every morning, and that seems to be making a difference. I found that if I water the plant, it makes any squash bugs that are hiding in the soil or under the mulch creep out, and then I can nab them. No eggs for the last few days and only a couple of adults. I drop 'em in a container of water with a squirt of liquid soap to break the surface tension. Some Colorado potato beetles got dropped in there too, off my eggplants. Good luck with the cucumber beetles!
Honeybee, although the 90 days sounds like a long time for anything called "early," I think the days given to maturity for tomotoes and peppers are from transplants, and the recommendation for tomatoes is to start the plants 6 weeks before setting out, which would be 42 days, and I think Early Girl claims to ripen in about 50 days, so I'd say you're right on!
I will be waiting for a ripe tomato for quite some time yet!
;-)
Weedwhacker - I don't think I have the "Early Girl" seed packet anymore, but I did count back from July 4th and set the seed on March 20th according to my notes. Hopefully the squirrels will leave me the first one to ripen!
HoneybeeNC,
I'd like to see a page of your notes. I know how important it is for a gardener to keep records, so they'll know what worked and what didn't. I just haven't found the discipline to do it consistently. Maybe, if I got like Doogie Howser at the end of each day...
Linda
I carry my notebooks with me every time I leave the house, and take copious notes as I go along. I can tell you that we picked 767 snowpeas in the first 6 days - and I don't know why that's a detail I feel that I need to know since I have no idea how many plants are actually in the space in any given year. However, the season is young, and I need to be tracking something! (At least I don't weigh the peas!)
Gymgirl - here's a link to my notes, just click on the "about" tab - I updated it this morning
http://home.rr.com/ncgarden
Sequee - you crack me up! Wouldn't it be quicker to weigh them rather than count them?
Honeybee, when did you plant your garlic and your onions? I planted my garlic in October, and my onions and shallots on 4/10. I'm wondering how to tell when my garlic is ready to pull.
Honey,
How can I start a webpage like yours? Do I have to subscribe to RR?
Linda, just start a blog. It's very easy!
Nuh, uh...
I thought I was the only one with notebooks and notes on stuff that really makes no difference. I have one notebook I take everywhere.
2 peas in a pod.
No, honey - it's not an either or. God help us if I weigh - I will still count. 223 more this evening. ~:-)
How do you keep track with numbers that high? I would lose my place!
I count packages frozen; THAT I can handle!
Gymgirl -- I think a lot of the internet providers let you have a personal web page -- I have Charter and I know they do, although I've never used it. Or you could always use the "garden diary/blog" here on DG.
Gymgirl - I suscribe to RR, so assume you need to have an account with them for a free website. If you have cable access to the internet, your Company might have space available.
greenhouse_gal - onions and leeks were set Feb 21st 2010 which I think was too early. In 2009 they were set April 14th and did much better. As to the garlic, I don't seem to have a note as to when they were set in 2010, but in 2009 they were set Oct 13th. I pull garlic when the tops have turned brown.
I pulled my "Candy Red" onions this morning, most of them were very small. The other onions still have green tops, so I'll wait at least another week before pulling them. Can't wait too long, I need the space for broccoli!
Okay, thanks! My garlic tops are starting to yellow a bit, but obviously they still have a way to go.
So you'll put broccoli in where the onions were, huh? Interesting to hear other people's succession plans and get ideas from them. Last year I planted beets and spinach in the fall and they just never went anywhere, even this spring. I gotta get this thing figured out.
greenhouse_gal - I don't really "plan" the garden, I make it up as I go along! If there's a vacant spot, it doesn't stay that way for long.
My beets never grew well, either, but I left them over-winter and now they are setting seeds! Perhaps the self-sown seeds will do better. They are the red-leaved plants in the photo.
g_g - did you direct seed your fall stuff, or start some indoors?
I'm trying to decide about putting in more Kohlrabi for fall, and was wondering if I should DS or get them started under lights.
They look like eager beavers, those beets! I had one beet plant winter over and maybe I should have let it go to seed, too. But I do have a row of 'em in now, and I'm hoping I'll get something out of them this time.
Janice, I direct-seeded all my stuff; the only thing I grow inside is peppers, eggplant and tomatoes, plus some herbs. Maybe that was the mistake? But I hate to take up house room with flats, and my greenhouse is just too hot for plants at this time of year.
So what would you put in right now? As soon as my pea plants die back completely and I can pull them to harvest the seeds I'll have an empty row.
This message was edited Jun 19, 2010 1:08 PM
Same here, though last year was so blucky out they continued through the summer! I also have to pull up my Chinese cabbage, so I was thinking more cabbage (LOVED the Soloist), more Kohlrabi, and maybe some sprouting broccoli. (Maybe even some root veggies if I direct seed,) If this isn't a good time, then I'll just drop in more Okra seeds. Can't have too much okra!
PS - My cauliflower and brussel sprouts aren't doing squat. Is it too late to expect them to start taking off?
Cukes aren't doing much of anything yet either, but I think the HOT spell we are embarking upon should fix THAT!
Sequee, it's probably too hot for your cauliflower and brussel sprouts...
Here is part of today's harvest...
...eggplant, zucchini, armenian cukes, lots of 'maters, several peppers and my first ever okra! I'm gonna fry it up and see if I even like it - lol.
I've been picking squash bug eggs off my plants for weeks, but guess I missed a few. Moved a leaf to cut a zucchini and these buggers scattered everywhere. I think I got them all - we'll see...
Eggs - in case you don't know what they look like...
Kelly,
That's a bountiful harvest. Congrats!
Thanks for posting the squash bug nymphs and eggs. I have one lone zucchini plant growing in my 24" conversion ePlanter. So far, I have male blooms, but haven't seen a female yet (someone posted what they look like).
I'm probably gonna have to attempt to self-pollinate them, too, although we do have these HUGE black bumblebees? buzzing around. Maybe they'll do the deed. If not, I'll need a pollination tutorial!
Going to venture outside now to take pics of what's NOT growing in my garden right now...
Linda
P.S. I left you something over on that eggplant thread...
This message was edited Jun 19, 2010 4:11 PM
Kelly, I was hoping that my silver mulch would deter squash bugs; I used it last year and had almost no SVBs and very few squash bugs. But this year they seemed to be out in full force, very early. I've been picking them off every day since I saw the first one, and scraping off the eggs, although I have seen only two or three the last couple of days and no eggs. If I water the plants and then come back with my jar of slightly soapy water, the adults seem to surface and I can pick them off and drop them in the jar.
What DID you do with all those babies? I would have been just sick! Last year when they finally struck, toward the end of the season, I pulled the leaves off and gave them to the chickens. They don't seem to like the adults but they ate the younger ones. Very satisfying to watch!
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEW! Those guys just TOTALLY creep me out! They so remind me of a creature I saw on Twilight Zone or Outer Limits or something like that... I could no sooner touch one of them than a tarantula!
They are creepy, and very fast...
I was watering and thought I saw a spider on the underside of the leaf. So, I lifted it and all those nymphs were there. I cut the leaf off, took their picture and proceeded to stomp on them until they were no more;o) They will run if you water and they are there. If I don't have gloves on (and I usually don't unless I'm working with something poisonous like the Daturas) I cringe but squish them anyway. Unless they're big. Then I run screaming like the girl I am for some soapy water - lol.
I usually plant early enough to avoid the SVBs and the squash bugs, but this year we had a warmer winter than normal - we had a total of two days in early December that it got close to 30°. I think that caused the bugs to be out in force earlier than normal. I thought I had gotten all the eggs and besides a couple hornworms and a couple stinkbugs no pest problems until now. I had aphids early on, but the ladybug nymphs were out in full force and took care of that problem in a big hurry.
Kelly - you are my hero! I couldn't hand squish them with gloves made of steel. If I can use an implement to drop them to the ground, I can stomp them - but I canNOT touch them. Icky-pooky, no way. Nuh-uh - can't do it. Can't even think of it. And if I have nightmares tonight I am SO going to discuss it with you tomorrow!!!
Ya'll remember when the guy was on the table in the "Aliens" movie, and his head dropped back and these legs sprung up outta his head like spider legs, and then the head fell off his body and then the whole head ran across the floor like a spider?
No?
Ok. We can discuss this tomorrow...
Night night.
ROTFLOL!!!!!
Sweet dreams Sequee!
I remember than one Linda - hee hee hee... You're gonna give Sequee nightmares for sure!