Saturday, November 26, 2011

Continuing harvest

I filled a container with another week supply of kale and chard from the garden today. I should be able to gather a final week's worth next weekend, then all that will be left is the lettuce under the plastic which I will check in January. It has been an unsually mild autumn.

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Winter is approaching

We had an unseasonably warm and sunny week, but cooler temperatures have returned. The Japanese cherry trees outside my window in Buffalo lost most of their leaves yesterday when the winds picked up.

Monday, October 31, 2011

Experimental garden











We have had a couple of hard frosts now and most everything has wilted including the marigolds and dahlias that brightened our front yard all summer. I covered one of the garden frames which includes a few lettuce and kale plants. the stick in the middle keeps rain from pooling over the frame. I am planning to add an additional layer of plastic before the average daytime temperature dips into the forties and we will see how well these plants fair a la Coleman-style. If they are still alive in mid-to-late January, I will declare victory and harvest them.

Note that the kale and chard in unprotected frames three and six are still looking good in spite of the frosts.





Saturday, October 22, 2011

Last tomatoes




I was surprised to find several tomatoes that had ripened on the vine over the past few weeks, though the plants have been dead for a while. Youngest daughter and I also picked all of the apples from the braeburn.

We haven't had a frost yet but the temperatures have been in the low forties and occasionally thirties at night. The kale and chard are still healthy, though they seem to have stopped growing for the most part. I placed some plastic around the frame that was planted mid-July in the hopes that the extra warmth will allow the lettuce to mature a little more before the really cold weather hits. The weather service is calling for snow on Thursday though temperatures will not drop below freezing.

Monday, October 3, 2011

Final big harvest


Yesterday, I did some much needed maintenance on the garden frames and harvested most of the beets and carrots. I also harvested all of the remaining basil (about 10 cups destemmed and lightly packed) and made some pesto (about 5 half-pint jars). After a cold and rainy weekend, the tomatoes and pepper plants decided that they had had enough and shriveled up and turned brown. There is still a lot of kale remaining to be harvested and the garden frame that was planted with lettuce and kale mid-August may be ready in a couple of weeks if I place some plastic over it to retain heat. The Braeburn apples should be ready in a week or so.

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Late season update



I haven't been able to do much in the garden for the past several weeks due to construction projects, however we have continued harvesting tomatoes, basil, kale and chard. I have been reading Eliot Coleman's "Winter Harvest" and am feeling excited about trying some of his season extension ideas. I found out from a U-pick advertisement in the paper that now is the time to be picking our Gala apples. The Braeburns look like they need to ripen a little longer.

I came across an interesting site created by two innovative young brothers who are exploring low-cost container planting. I will probably incorporate some of their ideas into my gardening next year.

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Late summer report




The nights have turned decidedly cooler, some trees have begun to shed leaves (maple), and the sunlight has become more muted early and late in the day; another season is winding down...

We completed planting frame two with new seedlings last week. Frame five, which was planted late June is finished with lettuce production.

Lately, the woodchuck has been spotted sitting on top of frame three chewing the volunteer tomato plants that are growing out of the frame. I hope that he doesn't try to get inside once the outer delicacies are gone. In the next frame over, where I attached a trellis frame, the yellow pear tomatoes planted _?_ are just beginning to ripen. They are reaching over eight feet in height.

Up front, the container tomato plants are looking sad. The leaves are losing color and developing purple veins. Based on research, this may be due to insufficient feeding. We will try adding some liquid fertilizer to see if that brings their color back.

The basil which was planted with the container tomatoes did fairly well, however it was a bit crowded. Next year I may try planting an entire frame of basil with cherry tomatoes in the back row.

We harvested the three buttercup squash since the plants are mostly dried up. Next year, I will not make "hills", but rather "bowls" that will retain moisture and I will keep the area deeply mulched.

The pepper plants that seemed like they would never fruit are finally flowering and fruiting like mad. I hope the weather will be warm enough to allow them to mature.

The cucumber plants have about given up the ghost after experiencing a difficult season with inadequate drainage in the grow box. We harvested about a dozen nice cucumbers. I think we can do much better next year.

The one surviving Heavenly Blue morning glory plant began blooming this past weekend. The gladiolus bulbs that were planted in early June are also blooming.

Monday, August 15, 2011

One last planting

We cleared garden two of all except one cabbage plant and made a new planting of lettuce, spinach and chard. With luck, this will provide us with fresh greens up to and beyond the Winter Holidays. We had such an overabundance of greens this year, I would like to space the plantings out better next year. Perhaps start one frame in early April, one in early May, then one every three weeks through mid August. I commented in year one at Winter Holiday time how there were only 8 weeks left until it would be time to start plants again for Spring. Vegetable gardening can help make the Winter seem not so long. I believe that we are only a year to two away from being able to provide fresh greens year around from our garden. See the work of Eliot Coleman for how this will be accomplished.

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Tomato report


There are many tomatoes ripening now. Since the last post we have harvested four and there are seven more that are ready to be harvested. The cherry tomato production has increased to more than four per day. Some of the tomatoes are showing signs of blossom end rot. According to my research this could be due to insufficient calcium in the soil or erratic watering. I will try adding calcium to the soil next year and perhaps modify the grow boxes for better drainage.

Monday, July 25, 2011

Late-mid summer report



After two or three weeks of intense heat and continued stress from various beetles, the garden is beginning to lose some of its luster. We will clear out the bolting lettuce, preserve a large quantity of kale and chard and make one final fall-oriented planting over the next two weeks. The garden frame that was planted with lettuce and kale mid-June will be ready for harvest soon.

A second crop of strawberries is beginning to ripen. I picked one ripe strawberry last night. One garden frame of strawberry plants provided barely enough fruit for fresh eating (maybe 100 berries). We will have to plant another frame or two next year so that we have enough for preserves (though the thought just came to me that these are first year plants, we may have a larger harvest next year, so just one more frame).

The woodchuck has been feasting on many young squash flowers and fruit, but there are three buttercup and two acorn squash maturing. I will have to protect them better next year. Five more pickling cucumbers were harvested this weekend. We are averaging 2-4 ripe cherry tomatoes per day from three plants. I saw the first almost ripe Roma tomato this morning.

Japanese beetles returned with a vengeance, however, they were concentrated on the wild grape vine that is growing on the Rose of Sharon. I collected another 40 or so. Their most common defense mechanism is to curl up and fall of the leaf they are sitting on, which makes it relatively easy to catch them in a container of rubbing alcohol.

Friday, July 22, 2011

Rose of Sharon




The Rose of Sharon is blooming. Morning glories are appearing in greater numbers. Four pickling cukes have been harvested so far. Cicadas began their constant drone this week. Surprisingly, I haven't seen any Japanese beetles since dispatching the first thirty last weekend.

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

First tomatoes



We ate the first six cherry tomatoes yesterday. They were very sweet. The Paragon tomatoes are beginning to blush so should be ready in another week or two. We also picked two more pickling cucumbers, one of which should have been picked several days ago. It eluded discovery until it was extremely large and turning yellow. The dahlias that we started from seed back in May(?) are flowering.

I decided to try dropping the Japanese beetles in rubbing alcohol. This works well, they expire within seconds. I collected about thirty of them and now the grape, cherry and peach leaves have an opportunity to recover.

I did some research on green pepper plants not setting fruit and found that it could be due to too much nitrogen in the soil, not being pollinated, needing more time... I learned that pepper plants will survive for years if brought inside during the winter and will produce fruit much earlier in subsequent years.

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Our first pickle


We picked our first pickling cucumber last weekend and many more are on the way. Yesterday morning I noticed the first blush on our cherry tomatoes and the first morning glory.

Japanese beetles have been active on the new cherry tree and grape vines. I have been flicking them off, but should probably get serious and start dropping them in a can of something noxious.

Harebells, day lilies, marigolds and spirea have been blooming for the past several weeks. The dahlias that we started from seed in April are getting ready to bloom.

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Further abundance

I am happy to report that our garden provided fresh produce for eight households this past week and there is still plenty available for picking.

This morning my youngest daughter picked some wild blackberries. They are very sweet this year. They reminded me of my grandparents raspberries on Whidbey Island, WA where we would visit when I was growing up.

This is proving to be the best gardening year I have ever experienced. There are so many fruits and vegetables thriving this year and so many to look forward to in subsequent years with the plantings of asparagus, raspberries, strawberries, grapes, apples, peaches, pears, currants and cherries.

If you have been thinking of gaining some independence by growing your own food and do not have a lot of experience, I urge you to start now. It has taken me three years to begin to feel confident in my ability to grow enough food to provide for my family. There is much to learn that can only be learned through trial and error. One can begin in the kitchen by growing micro-greens or by starting a single raised bed outside.

I heard the buzz of the first cicada on the 4th. It won't be long before their sound dominates the background and heralds the end of summer.


Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Abundance

We made our fifth harvest this past weekend from a single row of four squares in garden four (about 24 quarts). There is an abundance of kale, chard and lettuce ready to harvest. We have been making pesto, green smoothies, and fresh salads.

The new garden frame that was planted last week is growing well. It should be coming into production in August.

A trellis was created for the winter squash, but I realized when I went to drape the vines on the trellis that squash put out new roots every couple feet of vine. I guess that makes them more resilient in case part of a plant is damaged. I saw one buttercup squash fruit that is a little larger than a baseball.

The tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers in the front are all looking healthy and reaching for the top of the enclosures. Everywhere I look are flowers and developing fruit.

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Strawberries, grapes, catawba, fireflies





We have begun harvesting strawberries in earnest. After a couple of two or three strawberry days, we harvested seventeen on Sunday.

This past weekend, two more seedless grapes were planted, one red (Canadice) and one white (Himrod). Youngest made one of the best Basil/Arugula pestos I have ever tasted. I will post the recipe once she finishes with finals and sends it to me. I was pleasantly surprised to discover another catawba tree in the backyard and this one is flowering, so beautiful. The flowers are orchid-like and waft a wonderful scent.

The container gardens are quickly filling and in some cases spilling out of the protective frames. There are quite a few tomato fruits beginning to appear.

Fireflies are abundant this year. I haven't seen so many since I was a kid growing up in Maryland. Squash have been flowering for about a week. Gardens three and four are at their peak. One more garden frame was started from seed yesterday with four varieties of carrot, two varieties of beet, four varieties of lettuce and two varieties of kale.

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Asparagus maintenance and strawberry report

This morning, I filled the asparagus beds with more Bumper Crop and weeded. All twenty-five asparagus roots have now put up green shoots, most are in the fern stage. There are two strawberries that look completely ripe.

I have seen many suggest that strawberries should not be allowed to flower the year they are planted in order to promote abundant harvest the following year, however we are receiving an abundant crop this first year, as many as 10 berries per plant (10x52 ~ 500 strawberries in a 4'x 4' frame).

Monday, June 13, 2011

Fourth harvest and Mid-June Update



This morning I harvested lettuce (salad bowl, oak leaf, romaine), chard, kale, arugula, and spinach. The spinach and one of the chard plants were headed to seed as a result of the warm temperatures we experienced last week. This harvest filled two 18 quart containers and will give us plenty for fresh eating and making pesto and kale chips over the next week. A conservative estimate at this point would be that we are saving $15-$20 per week by growing our own fresh greens and preserving some in the form of pesto.

This was the first weekend that I did not do anything significant related to the garden, though if I had more time I would have built another garden frame and planted it with beets, carrots and greens. My plan is to start a new garden frame mid-June, end-of-June and mid-July. My experience has been that after that point the shortening days and lower temperatures of Autumn do not give the plants much opportunity to mature.

Youngest daughter reported "very, very baby" tomatoes appearing in the container gardens. We have been enjoying fresh picked basil from that location as well.

The irises have just finished flowering and the peonies will not be far behind. Dames rocket is mostly finished flowering. The morning glories are just beginning to lift their leaves above the undergrowth and reach for the trellis. Soon the pretty white flowers of the snakeroot will begin to appear. The apples are almost the size of golf balls. Strawberries are beginning to ripen.

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Grow boxes





The_homemade grow boxes are doing great. The tomatoes have especially taken off and the cucumbers and peppers have made definite progress. The bottom watering concept definitely takes the guess work out of watering. We just look down the fill pipe to see whether water is needed. We started picking fresh basil last week. Our marigolds have begun flowering but the peonies are more picturesque.

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Third Harvest


Our third harvest of lettuce, chard and kale loosely filled an 18 quart container. This is from cuttings of 8 lettuce plants.

Youngest daughter and I finished planting the fruit today. We planted two peach trees and two grape vines.

Yesterday, I thinned out the beets and carrots that were planted directly from seed. The plants were about four inches tall and the roots about a quarter inch thick. I used these to make a delicious "green" smoothie which my youngest daughter stated was the best smoothie she had ever had. Here is the recipe for our "Smooth Reddie":

Smooth Reddie
------------------
2 cups filtered water
2 frozen bananas
2 cups frozen peach slices
3 cups loosely packed beet thinnings (leaves and thick part of root)
2 tablespoons maple syrup

Blend until smooth

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Memorial Day Weekend






Over the long Holiday, we were able to accomplish quite a lot. Apples were thinned down to the king fruit; containers completed and peppers, cucumbers and basil planted; three more winter squash planted; cherry and pear trees planted; morning glories, dahlia and marigolds planted. Everything is out from under the lights.

Currently in bloom: iris, lilac, poppies, rhododendron, daisies, cornflower, dames rocket, comfrey. Currently emerging, peony, gladiolus and volunteer morning glories. Currently fading or gone: quince, daffodil, vinca, forget-me-not.

Friday, May 27, 2011

Second Harvest (first real harvest)


This has been a long time coming, but we finally harvested a respectable number of leaves of lettuce, kale and chard. I am sure that the long, rainy, cool spells did not help, but, next year I want to be harvesting lettuce by the end of April. Note to self: start 32 lettuce at the beginning of March next year.

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Bloom report


In our front yard, purple petals are beginning to show beyond the green sheaths of the iris, ants are busy preparing to open the peony buds and the apple trees are shedding their petals and beginning to fruit. This is the first May in the last two years that we did not have a late frost, which bodes well for an apple harvest this year.

Nearby, the honeysuckle has been blooming for about a week. In Buffalo, the chestnut trees are blooming and the cherries have lost most of their petals.

We planted three winter squash last night.

Monday, May 23, 2011

Homemade Earth/Grow Boxes






We worked hard this weekend in the midst of Irish dance, ballet and piano recitals to build planters for our tomatoes, basil, cucumbers and peppers. We managed to finish three 3' containers to house all nine of the tomatoes and six of the basil that were started in April.

Originally these planters were to be regular planters like the ones that I built for friends last year, then I received an advertisement in the mail for "The Grow Box". In a shameless act of reverse engineering, I came up with a plan to use the same concept of continuous bottom watering for my homemade planters using a catch basin and a layer of gravel below the soil.

Speaking of soil, after following Mel Bartholomew's 1-1-1 recipe for a planting mix for a couple of years, I have decided to begin using a product called "Bumper Crop" in a 2:1 ratio with vermiculite. The Bumper Crop already contains peat moss, along with a host of other organic soil amendments.

Iris are very close to blooming and most of the newly planted asparagus have emerged. Strawberries and blueberries are blooming though we don't expect a large crop since they were just planted this year.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Weekend update

We finally saw a few breaks in the clouds today. It has been very gloomy with lots of rain falling every day since the end of the first week of May. Nothing compared with the flooding in the Midwest, but a challenge to the spirit nonetheless.

This weekend we planted seven blueberries, two currants and sixty onions. We also divided the roots of the comfrey that were planted last year to make a 15' x 20' comfrey patch. This will be used for making compost. I have ordered some sorghum grass that will ultimately be added to the compost pile as well. With luck we will be able to manufacture our own compost for the garden frames next year. At $40 per frame for the Bumper Crop product, plus lumber, chicken wire, landscape cloth, organic fertilizer, vermiculite and peat moss, building new frames is a fairly sizable investment; however one can expect to save more than that amount as a return on investment in a typical season.

On the one sunny day which is forecast for this weekend, I hope to get the tomato containers built, planted and settled on the front porch. Peonies are beginning to bud, the apple trees and quince bushes are the only thing blooming in the front yard except for a single protected tulip, eldest daughter picked what was left of the daffodils to give to a friend. We are anxiously awaiting the blooming of the irises and peonies to brighten up our front garden beds, we may even see the lilacs bloom this year.

Thursday, May 12, 2011

Quick update


Buttercup and acorn squash were transplanted into soil blocks, garden frame four was planted with soil block spinach sprouts and lettuce, and the morning glories from 5/6 are sprouting. The tomatoes, squash and cucumber are all growing at an alarming rate.

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Apple blossoms



This morning, I weeded the first frame which was seeded completely from scratch. There are a lot of tomatoes popping up from fruit that was left on the ground last fall. Apple blossoms are fully opening today.

Monday, May 9, 2011

First harvest


Transplanted 5/6 cukes into soil blocks and the last of the 4/27 pepper sprouts. I picked my first harvest of greens this morning from the seedlings that were transplanted on Saturday.

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Tomato graduation day


Tomato soil blocks were transplanted to larger containers. The lettuce from 5/6 is sprouting. Lettuce is dependable enough that I think I will start it right in the 3/4" soil blocks from now on.

Saturday, May 7, 2011

Filling garden frames


Today youngest daughter planted a new frame (G3) with all of the seedlings (kale/lettuce/chard) that were started in March. I prepared another garden bed (G4) with what materials I had on hand. This meant making do with Bumper Crop, peat moss and backyard soil.

This is the first time that I used something other than "Mel's Mix" for a garden frame. Vermiculite is becoming very expensive and difficult to obtain so I figured I would follow the nursery's recommendation of one part Bumper Crop to two parts soil. I have not been very happy with the results. It is not the nice loamy growing medium that I have become used to and when I water, it puddles easily and runs. I think that I will try strictly Bumper Crop in the next frame with a little perlite or vermiculite mixed in. This will mean that each frame will require about $50 of growing medium (8 cu ft).

I will be ordering some sudan grass (sorghum) as a compost crop to complement the comfrey for making my own compost next year in the hopes of reducing the cost of filling more frames.

All prior year garden frames have now been moved into the new more narrow pathway configuration. Next week, I hope to build four more frames to bring the total to nine.

This evening, I started pickling cucumbers, zucchini, yellow crookneck, acorn, butternut, and buttercup squash in baggies.

Friday, May 6, 2011

Soil blocks and baggies

Transplanted 4/27 spinach sprouts into soil blocks, started lettuce, yellow pear tomato, and heavenly blue morning glory seeds in baggies. Forget-me-nots and quince have been blooming for a few days now.

Thursday, May 5, 2011

The system is coming together


More basil, pepper and spinach sprouts were transplanted into soil blocks last night. It does feel good to have a working system now for growing these seeds (baggy/soil blocks/SF raised beds). Now if I could just get a few extra garden frames ready outside, it would free up the bottleneck of getting the plants out from under the lights. If I hadn't decided to rearrange the frames this year to make the paths more narrow, I wouldn't be in this situation. But by next year, we will have at least nine frames ready to go from the beginning.

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

In the falling dark, and the falling rain

Suspicious looking furry critter
Last night, I planted 26 asparagii (asparaguys?) as darkness descended on our sleepy little town and the rain was fallin'. What a surprise when I visited the garden this morning, to find that some furry critter had dug up several of my asparagus roots. Fortunately, he did not find them very interesting because they were mostly intact. This is a great reminder of why I go through the trouble of completely enclosing all of my square foot garden beds with chicken wire. I may need to put down some livestock fence over the asparagus until they get established to discourage further digging.

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Raspberries

The remainder of the raspberry plants were planted last night in the falling dark, twelve in all. I noticed this morning that one Poblano pepper seed and several more basil have sprouted on top of the grow lights. If it is not raining too hard tonight, I will plant the asparagus.

Monday, May 2, 2011

Progress


The garden frame that was seeded on Easter Sunday (8 days ago) is now beginning to sprout. I spied kale, beet and lettuce peeking through the soil. I removed the plastic plant protectors from the seedlings in garden 2 since we are expecting mild (though rainy) weather for the rest of the week. The progress of the seedlings is encouraging and the tomato plants inside the house are about five inches tall.

Sunday, May 1, 2011

Sproutlings

We have six spinach sprouts now transplanted from the baggy to soil blocks. That is six out of twenty-four Melody spinach seeds. One of the twenty Bloomsdale seeds have sprouted. This took 5 days.

About half of the twenty basil seeds that were placed in a baggy on top of the fluorescent light fixture have sprouted and been transplanted (5 days). I had zero basil seeds sprout from the original planting in soil blocks.

April broke many records for rainfall in our area. According to Aaron Reynolds, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Buffalo, "“There’s only been six days without rain this month. The only day that was above 60 degrees without precipitation was April 9 (the high was 62 degrees).”

Saturday, April 30, 2011

Asparagus and Raspberry beds


I got out my trusty Gravely two-wheel tractor this weekend to dig holes for the asparagus and raspberry beds. Due to time constraints, I only planted three of the raspberries, will have to finish up during the week...

Thursday, April 28, 2011

All hail, the baggy!


I have settled on the baggy method for starting seeds. I find the suspense and disappointment of looking at barren soil-blocks day after day, wondering whether anything is happening under the surface, to be too much. Also, by the time the seedlings appear in vermiculite, the roots are too long to easily incorporate into soil blocks.

While searching for confirmation whether the top of a fluorescent light fixture is an appropriate place to start warmth loving seeds like peppers and basil (it is), I found an excellent reference on the baggy method by Rob at Rob's Plants. The only way that I differ in practice from Rob, is that I have been placing the seeds on top of a paper towel in the baggy so that I can see what they are doing without opening it up. Also, I seal the baggie completely (as completely as one can when using non-sealable sandwich bags), and place a label on each with the planting date and variety.

With the baggy method, one does not need to keep an eye on the moisture level and one can see at a glance whether the seeds (any of them) are sprouting. It is also easier to find a micro-environment inside at the right temperature to make them sprout most quickly.

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Transplanting out



The seeds that were started last week were in dire need of transplanting, so I planted many of them directly in the second garden frame (not counting the strawberry frame). I also planted many of the seedlings that were started in March. The protective covers in the picture are meant to protect the plants from severe weather and insects until they get a little larger:
8 lettuce
8 kale
4 chard

I tried germinating some marigold and old lettuce seed (from early-90's) on damp paper towels in plastic bags. The marigolds sprouted well, but not a single lettuce seed. Now I know what to do with those packets.

Under the lights, the tomatoes seedlings are looking great and the first kale, lettuce and chard plantings are large enough to plant out.

I like the soil block idea, but it does take a little more effort to prepare the blocks than to fill containers and it is causing me to procrastinate. No sign of life from the blocks that contain the pepper and basil seeds. I see the advantage now of having the smaller size (3/4") blocks. They will take up less space while waiting for seeds to germinate. Thankfully, I received an offer for one from Gullywash Gardens, can't wait to try it out.

Forsythia is in full bloom and the hyacinth was especially fragrant this morning. Vinca vines are flowering in the back. The apple trees have green leaves just beginning to unfold and the lilacs are a little bit ahead of that.