All I could do Sunday was stand in the window and watch the lettuce bed pool water from the gutter-ess overhang. I finally go to check everything yesterday evening.
The monsoon seemed to have made the lettuce very happy, cause it's almost twice as big as it was. So are the kale seedlings!
I pulled the cover back from the string beans and cream peas bed, and there are pods all over the place. I'll harvest a first batch on the weekend.
Question: I've never grown southern peas before, and am not exactly sure when I should harvest them for the greenie inside. The pods are long and slender, about 8" long. I pulled one and shelled and ate the beans inside. They were delightfully soft-crunchy, but, I think they need more time to get a little bigger, perhaps? The bed was direct seeded the end of April? May? It took them awhile to take off, but then, they zoomed! Supposed to be 65 days...
The beet bed is a mixed bag. I spread those little sprouted tails all over and covered them lightly with some sifted garden soil. It's kinda hard to see them under the plastic cover, but, I think they're all coming up. I'll pull the cover later, cause, even though it poured, the perforated cover did let a whole bunch of rain into the bed. This was a good thing, and kept the seedling whips from getting washed out.
I have broccoli seedlings ready to go in, just as soon as I convince the squirrels to stop burying nuts in the one bed I purposely uncovered so the rain could wet it really well.. oh well..
I'm really thinking of getting a .22 or Daisy with a silencer for my Christmas present...
The three tomato cuttings I planted are growing taller and taller, with blooms, but no fruit set. I think lack of pollinators is the issue, and I just don't have time to do it myself. They're about to make room for the collards and cabbages...they just don't know it yet, LOL!
Hugs!
FALL/WINTER Gardens 2015 Pt 1
get a single shot pellet gun get the kjind that cocks by breaking the barrel. Don't buy a cheap one as close to have muzzle speed of 1400 fps. They have them 1000 fps and lower no good you will be unhappy Linda I know about guns make Shure it will shoot a 22 caliber slug.
I am starting to harvest lots of baby lettuce.
The peppers are finally turning color (it just seems forever) and I found radishes already.
WHITE ICICLE do so well in my garden.
Cabbages are huge. Broccoli are growing fantastic.
Kale seem to grow sooo slow !
Woohoo!! Got my garlic planted ahead of the rain forecasted for tomorrow!!
My garlic is already sprouting ... maybe 2"
Congradulations Stephanie! Given the high temps (except for the last week) that the cool weather crops are doing so well.
I did have to take a muscle relaxer and pain pill after working outside, but it's in the ground! We've still got plenty of time for it to sprout and take off. I'm growing 4 new varieties this year, so it'll be interesting to see how they do. I only had about 6 cloves of elephant garlic to plant since we didn't plant any last year and only had a few volunteers this year.
What varieties are you growing?
Shilla, Siciliano, Maiskij, Pescadero Red, and elephant
The Shilla and Maiskij are labeled as "turban garlic". I'm not even sure what that means! LOL The Pescadero Red is a Creole garlic and the Siciliano is a softneck.
I ordered a warm winter sampler and this is what I got. The bulbs were beautiful, clean, and nice sized. I'm excited to see how they do.
I did have to take a muscle relaxer and pain pill after working outside, but it's in the ground!
Why does that sound so familiar to me??
I peeped at the lettuce and kale bed last night after dark, and they've fairly doubled in size in two days! I believe it's more the cool than the rain.
But, I'll take either one.
Can't see the beet whips, still. Soaking more seeds to throw out tomorrow. In any case, the bed will be fairly crowded.
I so wanna grow some garlic..I'm thinking of getting some organic heads (the non-growth inhibitor varieties, LOL) at Central Market, and just seeing what happens. Nothing beats a wish but a try, ay? If I can keep my eyes open tomorrow, I may build a small raised bed frame, fill it with a bag of Black Kow Composted manure, and sink some cloves in. We'll see...
Hugs!
This message was edited Oct 30, 2015 11:05 AM
I've been having problems with my back, hip muscles, and my IT band since Aug. 12th. I've been off work since then and have been doing decompression treatments and PT. Physical therapy days are rough! I am improving, though, so that's a good thing.
Wont be much longer now until the turnips are about the size that i want. Also the carrot roots are starting to fatten up, also some radishes are bulbing up now, and i have a big pile of parsley ready for when i harvest my carrots, so i can make home made chicken noodle soup with carrots and parsley
you guys sure have been quiet lately ;) lol!
carrots are almost ready!
not home for 20 days and miss my garden
Jmc1987,
Those are just adorbs!
Life has gotten in the way of my fall/winter garden. Not much to report except beans and peas that needed picking a week ago, leggy lettuce, and a kale forest that needs thinning. Oh, and, the beets I transplanted are UP, UP, UP!.
Broccoli seedlings needed transplanting a month ago, and the tomatoes I rooted four months ago need to come down. They've stalled on the line... I hope the broccs crown. They're very forgiving, though...
That's about it.
Only thing I'm actively doing now is hospital visits, childcare, and collecting coffee grinds ahead of the falling leaves I hope to collect as I spot them on the roadside.
HAPPY GARDENING, YA'LL!
Hoping for the best with your 'hospital visits."
For a second I thought you meant coffee grounds as you spot them on the roadside' and I thought. Boy, people must really love their coffee in Houston...
Life has also gotten in the way of my fall/winter garden. I've been off work with back & hip problems. Hubby did a stint in the hospital. Life's just been crazy. I have, however, managed to get my garlic planted! This year, I'm growing Shilla, Siciliano, Pescadero Red (if it ever sprouts!), and Maiskij. I've also planted about 5 or 6 cloves of elephant garlic.
I planted elephant garlic once, and forgot. Then I was mystified by the bulbs when they had grown. They were so mild smelling I didn't think of garlic, and no layers like onions.
LOL, Sallyg!
I'm visiting other people in the hospital. Doing elder care and child care.
Collecting coffee grinds from Starbucks.
Collecting bagged leaves from the neighborhoods I pass through.
Had two cups of Starbucks coffee and 2 cups of my own coffee yesterday...
Yes. We do love our coffee in the South!
It is a little known fact that a true coffee-drinker from Louisiana (must be from Louisiana) will actually go outside in 100°+ heat with a steaming hot cup of coffee, enjoy it to the last drop, and NOT break a sweat, LOL!
I remember as a child, my grandfather would come to town (New Orleans). As soon as the doorbell rang, my mother would run to put on the coffee pot. It would be black and piping hot. If you could see the bottom of the cup through the coffee, it was a WEAK pot of coffee. You had to be able to stand a spoon up in that cup for it to be considered worth raising to your lips, LOL!
If you can see the bottom of the cup thru the coffee its called TEA! lol
I didn't even start a fall garden if Id known the weather was going to stay this warm I would have.
Stephanie, could the soil be too warm for the garlic? Just a thought. The mosquitos are terrible and its November.
I'm stumped on why that one particular variety hasn't sprouted. They get a lot of sun in that part of the garden and I've been watering. We've been having milder temps the past few days. I'll continue to wait. Maybe they just take longer to sprout??
It's this wonky weather. It has been too hot, too long....
I need 120 days to drop more broccoli seeds. Lemme go count how many days I have...
Ok. If I drop broccoli seeds tomorrow, I can pick heads the week of March 11-18, and still have time to move them all out in time to plant some summer stuff in their place.
Pray for me, ya'll!
Heading to the hospital to look in on Big Mama!
Oh, I forgot to mention that my niece and her husband are floating my trip with them to DISNEYLAND!! With the 3-yr-old twins and the 8-yr-old, LOL! They need my help, LOL!
Picked kale, spinach, and mustard today. Of those, mustard is the biggest producer. Also picked about a dozen little green caterpillars off, grr.
another big batch of turnip greens, and starting to finally get some mature radishes.
I've got garlic! One of my 4 varieties hasn't sprouted at all! I'm so bummed. I've contacted the grower to see what's going on. I planted them just about 3 weeks ago. One variety has barely sprouted and I can barely see them when I go out to check on them, but they'll be very visible in a week or so.
I do have to say that i really love fall! :)
looks good there! How do you serve turnips?
we always just love to pan fry them, roots greens and all, in olive oil
I just arrived home today after 2 weeks.
I harvested all my peppers ... lots of them.
Freeze will arrive tonight.
I will pickle all the peppers tomorrow.
I don't think I will need to plant any peppers next year !
Lots of lettuce and kale in the garden.
Also a few heads of broccoli to harvest
are all of those white things Icicle radishes?
yes White Icicle radishes and a few Daycon.
Before I left I did try the pickling recipe below and it was super easy.
yesterday me and my husband ate one entire jar. Super good.
I will use this recipe for all of these peppers !!
Done. I have pickled all the peppers.
No need to plant peppers next year !
It must feel really good to have all those jars of tasty peppers.
Found another dozen+ green caterpillars on my kale. Grr. But cooked my first batch of kale, yum!! I hope it speeds up now that we'll have frost killing the bugs.
My fall garden is in full production.
I harvested lots of lettuce, radishes for my husband's salad and the first heads of broccoli.
I keep harvesting Turks Cup's seed pods with the hope to make some jam this year.
Also tons of kale, which I cooked down, squeezed out the excess water and made small balls to freeze and eat later. Right now the tender lettuce need to be eaten as fast as I can.
Happy Thanksgivings
We have had sooo much rain I'm thinking about growing rice. Lol
i think that i recall someone here growing Beauregard sweet potatoes this year? If you hold onto any to save and grow slips from, i think i would like a few, and in exchange i can swap some slips of my Okinawa Purple sweet potatoes, when the spring time comes that is, of course.
That was me that planted Beauregard Sweet Potatoes. Mine are all gone.
I buy slips from Scott Farm in North Carolina. They come the day I want to plant and are very low cost. Don't pay to grow my own.
http://scottfarms.com/index.php
Full time working doesn't help gardening. I just went out in the wet and dark to cut mustard greens, now I have a pot on the stove cooking.
I guess I should say, gardening HELPS full time work, because otherwise I would not have gone outside and enjoyed the crisp fresh air.
Hey, Guys!
It's been awhile!
I got into the yard for the first time in over two and a half weeks yesterday. Also, it was the first full day I spent out of bed since the Friday before Thanksgiving, LOL! I have been way down with a very severe cold and sinus infection. The weather cooperated enough for me to be bundled up a bit, but, comfortable. I determined NOT to overdo it out there, but, there's a LOT to be done!
My first surprises were the stands of kale and Buttercrunch lettuce that're going like gangbusters all by themselves 'cause, I sure haven't helped them along, LOL! Good thing they're planted in a bed under the eaves that provide rainwater runoff, cause I surely haven't been watering anything!
The beans & peas bed is full of pods needing to be picked/harvested for seeds.
There are beets growing along with the Vardaman sweetie volunteers, LOL! I threw some rainwater on them, and covered the bed again. Need to fill in some spaces, or not. The sweeties will overshadow the beets, if they don't make in a hurry, so I'll put transplants into another bed.
My main objective in being out was to throw the clippings from the Thanksgiving collard greens and bags of Starbuck's coffee grinds onto the compost pile. I ended up rebuilding the entire thing (actually moved everything from one Geobin to the one next to it...). I took LOTS of wind breaks, cause I was getting winded, LOL!
After I rebuilt the compost pile, I looked over at the 5 covered Earthboxes (EBs) lined up in a neat row under the hoop, and growing absolutely wonderful WEEDS!!! I quickly weeded those and transplanted some collard seedlings into one EB. Then, I threw out seeds for Detroit Dark Red Beets (1 EB), Giant Nobel Spinach (1 EB), and Bok Choy (2EBs).
Finally, I seeded two flats of Bull's Blood beets, so I can transplant those into empty spaces and into RB #1 where the beans are coming out. I have had Arcadia broccoli seedlings growing in a flat so long they're curling at the stem, but, broccoli seedlings are very forgiving. I hope to transplant them into a raised bed in a few, and give an update on the abuse broccoli doesn't mind taking, LOL!
I still need to take down the tomato vines that finally decided to put out tomatoes! I think this will be my last season growing tomatoes in a raised bed. I'm moving down to those bi-colored, large cherry types I can grow in SmartPots. The ones with the purple shoulders on red tomatoes. My tomato yields are no longer worth the real estate they occupy, LOL!
After the tomato bed is cleared, I may direct sow seeds for more broccolis, or throw out some carrot seeds. Today, a friend offered me some yellow onion transplants, and, those'll go in somewhere, too.
So. That's my hodge-podge garden update for fall/wtr 2016, as of December 2, 2015.
Pic #1 Dwarf Blue Curled Kale
Pic #2 Buttercrunch Lettuce
Pic #3 "Miracle" was a scrawny reject from the plant booth at our church Bazaar. She had about two leaves left and was pot-bound. I promised a choir member I'd grow "Miracle" up, and return her to her adoptive parent. In return, she promised to cook "Miracle" and bring me a plate, LOL!
Hugs!
This message was edited Dec 2, 2015 1:47 PM
hahaha. What you call taking it easy...is a lot! Beautiful greens.