End of season report

A strong wind last night blew most of the leaves from the trees. More and more, they have the barren winter look. We have been picking kale and chard from the garden about once every couple of weeks, also there are a couple of heads of lettuce that are ready from the summer planting. It was a good season for learning more about gardening. In particular, we have an appreciation for how succession planting from May through July will allow us to harvest greens from spring into winter.

Also, we have come to the realization that there is just enough sun in the backyard to grow tomatoes and not really enough to grow peppers. Next year, we will experiment with planters for tomatoes and peppers on the front south facing porch. The planters that we built for friends did much better than our frames and increased sunlight and warmth is most likely the reason. The plus side of less sun in the backyard, is that lettuce and other greens can be grown throughout the summer with less chance of bolting. In other developments, we have decided that broccoli does not really provide much in return for how much space it takes up.

I am looking forward to the winter and the opportunity to relax from outside work. Next year, I will look forward to planting some fruit trees, strawberries and raspberries and adding a few more garden frames, as well as growing warmth loving vegetables on the front porch.

Late September

Our large tomato plants finally succumbed to the late blight. We were able to pick about a half bushel of tomatoes from the four Paragon plants in varying degrees of ripeness. The fruit looked good for the most part when it was picked, but after being washed and set on the counter for a couple of days, the effects of the blight became apparent. So far, we have only thrown out about ten of the greenest fruits that were affected. With many of the tomatoes that are ripe, we will simply cut out the blighted sections (the blight poses no danger to humans according to our Cooperative Extension).

Interestingly, the Cherry Sun grape tomatoes are still looking healthy.

Recently, I was struck by how quickly the leaves on the trees are changing.

Late season thoughts

The days are getting noticeably shorter, and cooler weather will be with us soon. For the past week we have been enjoying endlessly sunny warm weather thanks to Danielle and Earl. This will come to a close on Saturday when we experience a cloudy, rainy high of 63 as Earl blows by to the East.

We are still enjoying cabbage, onions, potatoes, chard, kale, carrots, beets and parsley from the garden though we haven't done much except water and weed since mid-July. Because we got such a slow start with tomatoes and peppers, the large varieties are just beginning to ripen now. We have been enjoying cherry tomatoes for a couple of weeks.

At the end of this season, I am planning to move several of the garden frames. Currently they are separated by four feet on each side. I am planning to reduce this to three feet on the sides and two feet front to back. This will allow me to make more efficient use of space and adjust to get the most sunlight possible from our backyard location. At the same time, I will put down pea gravel to keep the weeds down and discourage insects from migrating to the frames.

I have been using frames fully enclosed with chicken-wire for two years and have not had a single incident with the resident woodchuck. I know other gardeners who have tried to keep out woodchucks by putting up fences and burying them deep enough to prevent burrowing, but the critters still manage to get through. My theory is that the chicken wire enclosures are small and complete enough that the woodchuck doesn't think to try to get inside, maybe it looks too much like a woodchuck-trap.

I have read a lot about composting over the years and it has always seemed like too much of a project to gather the right materials in sufficient quantity to make a real working pile. While recently reviewing "Gardening When It Counts" by Steve Solomon, I noted that he recommends making one big pile at the end of each gardening season. This way, one can be gathering the necessary materials throughout the year and make use of the slow time at the end of the season to build the pile. I planted some comfrey earlier this year with making compost in mind. Hopefully the stars will align and I will find a day this fall to do it right.

Bloom report:
Black-eyed susan, pink phlox, mint, butter and eggs (yellow toadflax), white snakeroot, morning glories and gladiolus are flowering in the yard. Virgin's bower (a native form of clematis) is fading.

Mid-August Report

I was making mental notes for several weeks, then went away on vacation. I came back to find our vining tomatoes reaching the top of the 7' high protective enclosures and full of green fruit. I have some work to do this weekend to harvest chard, beets, onions, and carrots, and to prune back the tomato and potato plants that are beginning to overshadow everything else. The fall crop of lettuce, beets and chard which were planted in July are doing well. I will try planting more lettuce once I have applied some discipline to the garden.

There is at least one gladiolus at the front of the house that found its way to the sunshine this season. Something ate all of my lightly protected sunflowers. Could it be Woody the woodchuck? I wouldn't be surprised. Not much else is blooming right now except for morning glories. Check the previous back-dated post for the bloom and activity report for the rest of July.

Best regards,
ST Gardener

July Wrap-Up

Beginning in the second week of July we saw the following plants blooming: chickory, queen anne's lace, echinacea, bee balm, sweet william, and sunflowers. Lilies are in full bloom; pink spirea began fading. Tomatoes, potatoes, and onion are still blooming; We harvested large amounts of lettuce along with chard, kale, beets and carrot. In the third week of July, we planted lettuce, beets, and chard for a fall crop; The first self-seeded morning glories appeared the morning of July 20. Our next endeavor on this blog will be to post more pictures. They tell the story better than anything that we can say.

Some like it hot

In anticipation of the heat wave, I picked as much lettuce as possible on Monday morning and gave it to family members and neighbors. We still have quite a bit of lettuce left if it doesn't bolt in the heat. I fertilized the tomatoes, peppers and brassicas with COF a couple evenings ago. This weekend, I will replant available squares with lettuce, carrots, and beets for the fall.

We heard the first cicada on the morning of July 5;

Midsummer report

Since I last posted, strawberries have come and gone. One weekend we picked 6 quarts of strawberries at our CSA and dehydrated all of them. We ended up with only 7 cups after processing. These work great on cereal or in trail mix. They go too quickly when snacked on alone. Alas, I don't think that any will make it through to winter, or even late summer.

I harvested a large bowl of kale last weekend and tried a "recipe" for kale that I have been planning. I have heard various authors rave about the taste of kale that is sprinkled with tamari then dehydrated to a crisp -- "kale chips". Now I am a believer. My daughters thought that the kale chips were great and consumed them in large quantities. The texture is unlike anything I have had before, but similar to other crisp, crunchy treats. Because the kale is dehydrated at a low temperature, healthy enzymes are retained. This makes it a much superior alternative to potato chips. I will have to plant more kale, so that we can have plenty of chips handy for snacking.

Our snap peas were finished a week ago, but several gardeners that I know are still harvesting. This morning, I harvested two humongous bowls of lettuce and gave one to my neighbor.

We are just past midsummer now and I am coming to realize that in my climate (WNY), I should be making regular plantings of root and leaf vegetables up to this time in order to assure a plentiful continuing harvest into the late fall and winter months. Last year, I waited to sow fall crops until September and had very few vegetables that even germinated. One of the key things to understand is that vegetable growth slows considerably as the days get shorter and temperatures cool. By late August, the sun will be setting at 8PM. Though the daytime temperature will be comfortable most days into October, the nightime temperature will be cool and the soil temperature will begin to drop, making it difficult for seeds to germinate.

Last week around the solstice the following plants were blooming: the ubiquitous day lily, creeping bellflower (closely related to harebells), pink spirea, onions, and potatoes. Wild raspberries are appearing as immature red clusters. The self-seeded morning glories that I worried over a month ago are now making their way out of the undercover and up the fence.

Harebells

I harvested some lettuce on Saturday. Peas are coming on strong. Harebells are blooming.

Second harvest

I have been wanting to get out to harvest all week and finally took some time this morning. After a period of fair skies and heat, the past week turned wet and chilly, I even heard the forecaster warn of possible frost in some areas last weekend. Mostly targeted for picking were the spinach, beets, carrots and arugula that are beginning to bolt. This along with some lettuce and our first snap peas will provide plenty of greens for the coming week. I offered some of our burgeoning lettuce crop to my neighbor who was too busy with teenagers to bother with a CSA vegetable share this year. I am hoping to plant some carrots and lettuce in the squares that have been freed up by this morning's harvest. This might turn out to be another cool summer which will be great for leafy crops, and not so great for tomatoes and peppers.

Planting warm weather crops

On this beautiful sunny Memorial Day weekend, we planted our tomatoes and peppers. The peas are blooming, also trumpet vine and chickweed; I was hoping that the morning glories would reseed themselves from last year, but I have only seen one coming up, about 4 inches tall. Irises are beginning to fade, poppies are in full bloom.

First harvest

First real harvest of beet greens, kale, spinach, lettuce and arugula (and a carrot from last year).

Peonies blooming

Peonies are blooming.

Warm weather at last

Looking at last year's photos, I am really feeling behind. It looks like the plants on May 5 of last year were far ahead of my plants now and I had already been eating greens for three weeks by this time. I did harvest some beet greens last weekend, but this was from beet plants that overwintered and were getting ready to bolt. I also harvested some carrots yesterday, but again this is from overwintered plants. Ah well...I intended to start tomatoes and peppers later this year to avoid frost and that turned out well, but I should have started greens a month earlier outside under plastic.

We are expecting sunny weather in the 80's for the next four days. I watered the garden this morning and stood back admiring the lettuce, onions, garlic and kale that are all approaching edible size. This weekend, I repaired frames that were damaged by snow and ice over the winter, and planted lettuce, chard and hot peppers at our friend David's garden.

Irises are in full bloom out front, but are just getting ready to bloom in the back. I saw some tulips still blooming on a shady side street. Star-of-bethlehem, oriental poppies, columbine, chestnut trees, white spirea and viburnum are blooming; Honeysuckle is beginning to fade.

Out of the cold and dark

Today marks the beginning of a stretch of mild, sunny weather following a week of cold and wet. The frosts were severe enough to kill most of the leaves on the young black walnut, catalpa and tulip trees. Surprisingly, the apple trees were unaffected. This morning, I liberated the kale and broccoli plants that were set out under covers April 14. A couple of them were beginning to grow through the hole at the top of the protective cover. They should be large and strong enough to survive attacks by slugs or cutworms at this point.

A couple nights ago, I had some fun planting amaranth, sunflower and comfrey plants in a circular arrangement. Many years ago, I had a solitary amaranth plant that provided a dignified presence in the garden. Remembering that plant, I picked up some amaranth seeds at the grocery store and started them inside a week ago. The seedlings are so tiny, I planted four clusters of them in the center of my patch and will thin them as they become more substantial. Surrounding the amaranth are about 30 sunflower plants from which I am hoping to harvest seeds for sprouting. Forming a second band around the sunflowers are 15 comfrey plants. The comfrey will be used for making potent compost and compost tea.

Did I mention that overwintering kale is probably not a great idea unless you want to save seeds? The kale that was left in the garden from last season bolted pretty quickly once it became re-established. I pulled all of the plants last week.

Greater celandine, dame's rocket and oriental poppies are blooming this weekend, honeysuckle and cornflowers are in full bloom, ants are crawling on peony buds (must be sweet), iris color showing through sheath, quince fading, daffodil faded a week or two ago.

Leaf-out

It seemed this morning as I was driving my daughters to school that the trees have suddenly burst into full leaf. After a cold and windy weekend which included some snow, it was striking to drive down the tree-lined streets of our village and observe sunlight breaking through the thick canopy of leaves.

The weather this weekend forced us to keep plants inside and to time-share the available fluorescent light. The seedlings are still very small and could use some warmth to kick start their growth before planting out in a couple of weeks. I asked my wife to remind me in the future not to early start anything but flowers, tomatoes, peppers, basil and brassicas. I have a couple trays of lettuce and chard that were started indoors and the plants outside in the garden are already about the same size.

Last week, we transplanted peppers (19 hot, 13 sweet), tomatoes (13 cherry sun) and five basil from vermiculite to small containers of potting soil. I have observed that the tomatoes that were transplanted earlier into pots turned a bit yellow and have not been growing well. I think that this may be due to using my version of Mel's mix (not enough nutrient rich humus and perhaps too much acidity from the peat) instead of a good potting soil and also to the low temperature of the room in which they are growing.

This weekend, I spent some time cleaning and weeding the garden beds and transplanting lettuce and chard where more than one seed germinated.

Tulips faded this weekend.

Bloom report

Lilacs are blooming; cornflowers are beginning to open; irises are sending up flower stalks; peonies are standing up straight and budding; fifteen gladiolus planted; lettuce seedlings have been on the porch for the past few days; many things that were planted directly in the garden are appearing now, though it is difficult in some cases to tell the intentional from the unintentional...

Outdoor lettuce appearing

The lettuce that was sown in the garden April 14th is beginning to appear. The broccoli, cabbage and parsley that were planted at the same time under plastic covers (plastic milk container tops) are doing very well in spite of no "hardening off" period and several near freezing nights.

Tulips, forget-me-nots and dwarf apple trees are blooming; forsythia, lilac and spruce trees are putting out new growth; and peonies are near to unfurling their leaves.

Hot peppers

This morning, _most_ of the hot peppers that were planted on the 17th germinated. I removed the plastic covering, lightly sprinkled some planting mix to cover exposed roots and used a spray bottle to moisten whole thing. Interestingly, one of the Anaheim peppers that were planted weeks ago also decided to sprout.

Most of the established peppers and lettuce were transplanted this morning. I will have to plant and give away some broccoli and kale seedlings to make room for these burgeoning arrivals.

Seed germination trick

On the 17th of April, I started another vermiculite container of hot pepper seeds. Hope is waning for the first batch to germinate. The basil seeds that were planted on the 16th germinated on the 20th and I can already see a couple of the hot pepper seeds sprouting a tendril. Because of this, I am planning to sow seeds right on top of the vermiculite in the future. The success of this method requires that the containers are wrapped in plastic so that a humid environment is maintained (see the photo from the April 16 post). The greatest benefit is that one can see at a glance whether the seeds are germinating and not have to wonder what is happening under the soil.

On the 17th, I mixed up some organic fertilizer. The formula is based loosely on that provided by Steve Solomon in his book "Gardening When It Counts". I obtained soy and alfalfa meal from a local grain mill, finely granulated dolomitic limestone and bonemeal. These were mixed roughly in a ratio of 16 parts meal:2 parts limestone:1 part bonemeal. About one and a half pints were sprinkled on each garden square. This and subsequent applications should provide the nutrients that the plants need to grow well.

Large hyacinths are fading. We have a robin outside our bedroom sitting on four eggs.

Catching up

Much has happened since the last post. We have four garden boxes completely planted with seeds or seedlings (except for the back four squares of each box which are reserved for tomatoes). It has been a great help this year that the garden boxes are already built and filled with good soil. Last year, we spent a large portion of each weekend struggling to build more boxes.

Over the past weeks, our largest challenge has been getting pepper and basil seeds to germinate. The California Wonder peppers came up, but only one of the hot peppers and one Yankee Bell. In addition to adding heat, we are starting a new set of basil and parsley seeds where the seed is placed almost at the top of the vermiculite. We may have been planting seeds too deeply, but we haven't given up on the remaining pepper seeds. If they don't appear soon we will try again.

Violets and an old apple tree are blooming in the yard.

Here is a list of recent garden related activities and observations:

04/16 - basil and parsley planted in vermiculite; transplanted 22 tomatoes (2 roma; 8 husky gold; 8 cherry sun; 4 paragon) and 2 chard to larger containers

04/15 - soaked more basil and parsley; first romaine lettuce sprouted in vermiculite

04/14 - 8 California Wonder peppers germinated;
Garden 2 (36) Danvers 126 carrots; (18) Johnny's spinach; (12) salad bowl lettuce;
Garden 3 (36) Red Ace beets; (18) Johnny's spinach; (16) salad bowl lettuce;
Garden 4 (8) Johnny's chard; planted the following seedlings: (2) de Cicco broccoli; (2) Carabella broccoli; (2) Early Girl cabbage; (2) Moss Curled parsley; (4) Starbor kale

04/13 - watered outside garden; harvested sunflowers inside; one Yankee Bell pepper germinated in vermiculite

04/12 - transplanted (10) tomato plants to larger containers; planted (28) romaine lettuce in Gardens 1 and 2 and (8) chard in Garden 2; observed two chickadees building a nest in tree stump

04/11 - paragon and cherry tomatoes sprouted; lobelia sprouting; quince blooming; tulip tree starting to show leaves; robin building nest

04/09 - salad bowl lettuce sprouted in vermiculite; vinca blooming outside and white star flowers

04/08 - planted about 20 garlic cloves and 40 spinach in the garden

04/07 - planted (16) romaine and (16) oakleaf salad bowl lettuce in vermiculite; last night started lobelia, alyssum, bergamot, more tomatoes and hot peppers; there are (10) tomatoes germinated from the previous planting including (2) roma, (7) cherry sun, (1) husky gold, and (6) paragon; planted about 50 red onion bulbs before downpour

Ready, Set, Grow!

Since our last post, we have started many seeds and have seen some signs of life from vegetables that were left in the garden over winter. We have about ten tomatoes of different varieties under lights and are anxiously waiting for the peppers to appear. We rigged up a seed starting tray with a short rope light and cafeteria trays. It took some experimentation to get the temperature right, but we just add more trays between the seeds and the lights if the temperature gets above 90 degrees. I was told last fall that kale will survive and regrow if left in the ground over winter. This is being proven in our garden now as the picture shows. We are also seeing some carrots and beets that were left in the ground coming back to life. Forsythia, hyacinth and daffodils are in full bloom.

Indoor garden - Day 8

I harvested half of the wheatgrass last night to make juice, and cut buckwheat and sunflower for sandwiches today. The wheatgrass was surprisingly sweet. Our broccoli and kale sprouts are under the lights for the first time today. We are still waiting for the parsley, cabbage and another variety of broccoli to appear. The "green" smoothie this morning was made with water, frozen blueberries, chard and a squirt of agave.

Indoor garden - Day 5

We will be harvesting soon...The wheatgrass will be juiced and used in smoothies. The sunflowers and buckwheat will likely end up in smoothies as well.

Peas planted

Yesterday, youngest daughter and I planted peas even though the soil was still frozen in spots. We also planted broccoli, kale, parsley and cabbage seeds in vermiculite. All of these seeds were soaked and sprouted for 12 hours before planting.

Sunflowers - Day 2

The sunflower roots are plainly visible at the beginning of day two in the trays.

Indoor garden trays

After soaking and sprouting in jars for 24 hours, we planted the seeds in small cafeteria trays (you can find them on Amazon). Here is a view of the seeds after being "planted". The extra tray that is leaning up behind the seeds will be used to cover them for the first three days as they take root. The seeds are spritzed with a spray bottle once or twice day until the root gets established.

Last night, I organized my garden seeds into five categories:
1) Start indoors in February/March (parsley, broccoli, cabbage, kale)
2) Sow outside as early as soil can be worked (peas)
3) Start indoors in late March/April (tomatoes, peppers, basil, lettuce)
4) Sow outside around last frost (carrots, beets, lettuce)
5) Sow outside when soil has warmed (squash, melon, beans, chard)

Indoor gardening and green smoothies

We continue to sprout alfalfa and mung beans in jars about once a week, but we have also been experimenting with green smoothies and this was the perfect impetus to start indoor garden trays to provide more low-cost greens. In case you haven't heard of green smoothies, they are composed of fresh fruit and greens like spinach, kale, or chard. The fruit causes the greens to become surprisingly palatable. I never thought that I would enjoy eating greens so much!

Pictured are jars of unhulled buckwheat, soft wheat berries, and unhulled sunflower seeds soaking for twelve hours. Once they are finished soaking, I will sprout them in the jars for another twelve hours, then plant them in 10" x 14" cafeteria trays filled with Mel's Mix (equal parts compost, peat moss, and vermiculite). I will post new pictures as the experiment continues.

This morning, I made a green smoothie with an apple, several strawberries, cranberry juice concentrate, a handful of soaked almonds, a banana, a bunch of spinach and a dash of agave nectar and vanilla. It was very good, both daughters considered it a hit.

Sleeping garden

Spring is coming, Spring is coming...

Gardening indoors

We recently had a cold spell for a couple of weeks where wind chills were below zero. Temperatures are now in the 30's during the day. My youngest daughter says it smells like Spring. Perhaps that is a bit of hopeful thinking, but it certainly is a relief to be past the bitter cold.

With the Holidays behind us, I am beginning to think about the garden and looking for an opportunity get out my gardening books to make a garden plan and schedule for seed starting. It is nice that we have the 5 garden frames to start with this year. One of the benefits of the soil mix that we prepared is that it will be very easy to plant seeds directly as soon as the temperature begins to warm. Perhaps I will even have time to put up a greenhouse to get an extra early start.

My friends at Osage Gardens in New Castle, CO inform me that January 26 is Eliot Coleman day at their latitude (~39N). This is the day when there are 10 hours of sunlight and plants begin to grow again in anticipation of longer days and sun warmth. We are at 43 degrees N, so not far behind.

I have been sprouting 4 tablespoons of alfalfa/clover seeds and 4 tablespoons of mung beans which yield about a quart and a half of alfalfa sprouts and a pint of mung sprouts every five or six days. So far this has been a good pace when supplemented with lettuce from the market. We like the sprouts on sandwiches and in our salads or even on top of crackers with cheese. I am hoping to start a tray or two of sunflower and buckwheat sprouts this weekend which will grow to three or four inches before harvesting.