Tim's Square Foot Garden Blog

Driest August on Record, Backyard Chickens

Tim B. — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 16:22:47 +0000

It is now official, Indianapolis had the driest August on record, with only 0.37 inches of rain recorded. While some areas around the city had more rain, my garden did not. Needless to say, it is dessert dry. The temperatures have also been very hot, with many 90 plus degrees days recorded. Only within the last 2 days has it really cooled off. The broccoli, cabbage, and cauliflower seedlings have been suffering along with the hot and dry conditions. I had to shade them a bit, but even with supplemental water, they wilted under the heat. They are doing much better now since it has cooled off. The late planted carrots are not doing well at all. Germination was very poor with maybe 25 percent germination, at best. I have some lettuce seedlings that I will transplanting out into the garden hopefully either today or tomorrow. I will keep them shaded until they get established. The late planted beans continue to be attacked by bean beetles, but within the last week, their numbers seem to have declined a bit. Cabbge worms continue to be a problem, so I have been applying bt to the affected plants. This year’s late summer gardening has proved to be very tough. Sometimes I think I must be crazy trying to garden in this weather!!! Harvest continues on green beans, green and hot banana peppers, a few tomatoes, and some celery.

For those of you who have been considering getting a few egg laying chickens for your backyard, what are you waiting for? With the latest egg recall, it is nice to know that I do not have to worry about where my eggs come from. Check out this nice blog entry on the Urban Chickens Network, Happiness is knowing where your eggs come from.

Very Hot and Dry Early August

Tim B. — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 14:59:16 +0000

The weather has been very hot and extremely dry here in Central Indiana for the past 2 weeks. Heavy rain was scattered about, but none fell in my garden :-( Because of the heat, I have delayed planting out the broccoli, cabbage, and cauliflower seedlings until today. I cannot wait any longer to get these transplants out into the garden. I will have to water them in well and maybe shade them a bit until they get established. Carrots seeds were planted about one week ago, as well as bush green beans (in the old corn plot). The green beans have germinated (see pic below), but I am still waiting on the carrots. After watering the area really well, I covered the carrot seeds with boards to help keep the soil from drying out. Harvest continues on green and hot banana peppers, celery, tomatoes, and lima beans. I hope to start harvesting more green beans in about another week. The beans are starting to get attacked by bean beetles, so I sprayed them ever so lightly with Sevin insecticide. The Sierra lettuce has started to flower and produce seeds, which I have started to collect (see pic below). I am hopeful that the weather will start to turn a little milder within the next few weeks. Fall will be here before you know it.

Green Beans Up and Growing in the Old Corn Plot

Lettuce "Sierra" Flowering and Producing Seeds

Hungarian Wax (Hot Banana) Peppers Growing Well

Summer Harvest, Hot Weather

Tim B. — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 15:27:56 +0000

The weather here in Central Indiana has been very hot, but at least it has rained enough to keep the garden producing without much supplemental watering. The tomatoes have produced a decent harvest despite the leaf disease. I was able to put up 7 containers of tomato sauce a few days ago. There are still some red tomatoes on the plants and the vines are pushing on new top growth. About half of the corn has been harvested and most of the green beans have been harvested from one of the small plots, with many more beans just starting to mature in other plots. Black heart disease has killed about half of the celery plants (probably due to all of the rain earlier in the growing season). The Fordhook bush limas and the pole limas are ready for harvesting (Yum!!). I am still getting decent side shoot production from the spring planted broccoli. The cabbage, cauliflower, and broccoli seedlings are getting bigger and hope to get them planted out into the garden in another week or so (for fall harvest). I hope to get carrot seeds planted in another week also for fall harvest. Harvest also continues on green peppers, hot and mild banana peppers and lettuce. I will be starting seeds of more lettuce today. Even though it is still hot outside, now is the time to start thinking about your fall garden. Happy Summer Gardening!!

Onions and Cucumbers Harvested, New Garden Video

Tim B. — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 16:20:46 +0000

Happy Independence Day!! While we enjoy our cookouts and fireworks today, please remember that freedom is not free. Take a moment to pray for all of our active duty military personnel and our veterans and make sure to thank them for their service.

The onions were pulled up this morning and are now drying over hardware cloth in the garden. I am now beginning to think that I did not have an onion leaf disease, rather, the onion were finished growing and the tops were naturally dying. The onion harvest is at least two weeks early this year. The onion harvest seems to be about average this year. I have been harvesting cucumbers like crazy and will be pulling up the vines soon, as they are now starting to crowd out the pepper plants. Harvest has also started on the celery and banana peppers. The peas were pulled up about one week ago and in that space I planted bush green beans, which have just started to poke up through the soil. I will be starting seeds of broccoli, cabbage, and cauliflower today for fall harvest. I have posted a new garden video to You Tube, made July 1st. You may view it below. Happy Summer Gardening!!

You may also view the above video directly from YouTube by clicking on the following Link: Tim’s Square Foot Garden Mid-Summer Garden Tour - July 1, 2010

Potatoes Harvested, Onion Leaf Disease

Tim B. — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 15:44:00 +0000

The potatoes were harvested in both raised beds and also from the fabric bag on June 12th. Overall harvest from the two raised beds were good. Nine seed potatoes were planted in each raised bed. In one of the beds, a combination of Red Norland and Yukon Gold were planted, and the other just Yukon Gold. This was the first year for Red Norland, and the harvest from them seemed a little better than from the Yukon Gold (see pics below). The harvest from the fabric bag was disappointing. I am not sure why the harvest was so bad from the bag. New for this year, I decided to replant the bag with more potatoes using some of the potatoes that I pulled from the first harvest. I will report back later on how this second harvest is doing. I will be planting some top setting onions in one of the potato raised beds, for green onions. I am hopeful to get a harvest before it gets planted with fall broccoli, cauliflower, or cabbage. My onions have started to develop what I think is a downy mildew disease on the leaves. See this web site for a good description of Onion Diseases. I think the few weeks in May that it was cool and wet might have contributed to the development of this disease. It only appears to be affecting the yellow Candy onion, and not the red Candy variety (see pic below). The onions have been in the ground for around 70 days (full maturity is approx. 90 days for Candy), so I am hopeful that I can still salvage a decent harvest, as the onions have started to bulb up quite a bit. Harvesting will start soon on the celery, hot and sweet banana peppers, and the Diva cucumbers.

Potato Bed Number One Harvest

Potato Bed Number Two Harvest

Poor Harvest from Potato Bag

Candy Onions With Downy Mildew Leaf Disease?

Early June Garden is Growing Fast

Tim B. — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 21:39:16 +0000

Wow, what a difference in the garden since my last entry of 3 weeks ago. The garden has really taken off, especially the warm season veggies. I started harvesting broccoli on June 6th (YUM!!), which is at least several weeks earlier than normal. The cabbage loopers/worms have returned, so I have started spraying with bt. I started harvesting peas, with many more to come. Harvest also continues on the lettuce. The cucumbers have started to flower as well as most of the peppers and tomatoes. Most of the corn is now almost 2 feet tall and the beans are starting to get some good growth to them. The onions have just started to bulb and the celery plants will have some harvestable stalks in a few weeks. The potato vines have started to gradually brown, which is a sign that they are nearing maturity. The weather has been pretty good, with just the right amount of rain, which has cut my watering time to nearly zero. I have posted some garden pictures below. June is my favorite month in the garden

Mature Broccoli Head Ready for Harvest

Broccoli Looking Good

Peas Have Reached the Top of the Pea Fence

Cucumbers (Left) and Tomatoes (Right) Growing Well

The Corn is Reaching for the Sky

Hungarian Wax Pepper Fruiting

Chickens Enjoying the Warm June Afternoon

Mid-May Garden Update, Pictures

Tim B. — Sat, 15 May 2010 15:53:07 +0000

The mid-May garden is doing well and you can almost see daily growth from the plants. Generally, the garden seems to be slightly ahead of a normal year. The lettuce is growing very well and harvest continues about 3 times a week. Harvest will start soon on more green onions and a few radishes. The weather has been pretty good with just the right amount of rain. There were two mornings of scattered frost about one week ago, but I thankfully experienced no plant damage. The potatoes are growing like I have never seem them grow before. It must have been all of the chicken manure that was applied to the beds last fall :-). All plants/seeds are in except the lima beans and green beans, which I will be planting today. I will also be planting more lettuce seeds either today or tomorrow. Today, I will also side dress the broccoli plants with Vegetable Alive fertilizer from Gardens Alive. I have attached a few garden pictures below.

Recently Germinated Corn

Brussels Sprouts, Broccoli, and Cabbage Growing Well

Lettuce, Onions, and Newly Planted Celery Doing Well

"Mr. Big" Peas Almost to Top of Pea Fence, Green Onions on Right

Tomatoes (Left), Cucumbers and Peppers (Right)

One of the Two Potato Beds, Potatoes Growing Like Mad

Two Beautiful Brown Eggs in Nesting Box

Warm Season Crops Being Planted

Tim B. — Tue, 04 May 2010 16:27:24 +0000

I think the weather is now relatively safe to plant out the warm season veggies here in Central Indiana. I took down the cold frame yesterday, cleaned it and put it away until next spring. The weather over the past few weeks has been seasonable, with just enough rain. There was a frost/lite freeze about one week ago, and it nipped the potato leaves a little, but the plants have since pushed on new growth and appear to be growing fine. Most of the warm season plants and seeds have been or will be planted within the next few days. The corn was planted yesterday, and I plan on setting out the tomato, pepper, cucumber, and celery transplants today. I might wait a few more days to seed the King of the Garden Pole lima, the Fordhook 242 bush lima, and bush green beans.

I harvested the last of the topsetting onions for green onions a few days ago. I will let the rest of the plants produce top setting bulbs for next season’s harvest. My bulbing onions, Candy and Red Candy, are starting to push on good leaf growth. The Mr. Big peas are starting to climb up the pea fence and I harvested a nice second crop of the spring planted lettuce, with plenty more to come. There is always lots to do in the garden this time of year……Don’t you just love spring :-) I will try to post some pictures within the next few weeks.

Cole Crops Planted, Lettuce Doing Well

Tim B. — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 15:37:43 +0000

I finished transplanting cabbage, broccoli, and brussels sprout seedlings out into the garden between April 20-23. The spring lettuce is growing really well and harvest will probably start within the week (see pic below). It has been a really good spring so far for growing lettuce. The weather has been unseasonably warm and dry for the last 2 weeks. It is raining today, which is good because it has been a bit too dry. Baring any kind of real cold weather, I will be planting out celery, tomato, pepper, and cucumber seedlings in about 7 to 10 days. The spring planted onions are starting to push on many new green leaves. Harvesting continues on green onions, with the last of the topsetting green onions to be harvested soon. The rest will be allowed to grow and produce new top sets to be planted out this fall.

Lettuce Growing Well, 4-24-10

Mid April Garden Update, What Real Lettuce Taste Like

Tim B. — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 15:17:14 +0000

The weather here in Central Indiana so far this spring has been fabulous. The temperatures have been in the 70’s and 80’s over the past 5 days or so with dry conditions. The red bud trees are now in full bloom. It is quite a bit cooler today, with a frost/freeze expected tonight. With all of the warm weather, it is hard to be patient. If you are planting this time of year in my area, make sure the plants are cold tolerant and also keep some row covers handy. Looks like I might be using some tonight. Even though broccoli, cabbage, and brussels sprouts are cold tolerant, I resisted the temptation on planting these seedlings. Young seedlings are not as cold tolerant as one thinks. I always wait until the 3rd week in April to plant these out into the garden. A few years back I lost nearly all of my broccoli seedlings because I planted them out too early. I will get these planted out in the garden in 4 to 5 days, depending on the weather. I continue to harvest green onions from the fall planted top sets. I also started harvesting the over-wintered lettuce a few days ago (see pic below). These over-wintered plants have really done well this year, despite the fairly cold and snowy winter. The only protection I gave them was a plastic covered hoop. The snow last winter pushed it down quite a bit, but the lettuce really started growing under the hoop by late February. The lettuce variety “Sierra” appears to have over-wintered the best. Man, I forgot how good home grown lettuce taste!! The taste is far superior than the mushy and bland store bought lettuce. I planted out most of the spring lettuce seedlings on April 6th, with the rest a few days later. Most are now growing under a hoop (see pic below). All of the potatoes have just pushed up through the soil over the last few days. Peas were direct seeded out into the garden during the first week of April and are now about an inch tall. Cucumber seeds were planted in small pots 5 days ago and were placed in the cold frame to germinate.

All is right in the chicken world. A new larger run was built adjoining the coop to allow more space for the chickens to scratch and to have access to the outside (see pic below). I snapped a picture of Penny in the nesting box a few days ago (see pic below). My chickens are soooo spoiled :-) Happy Spring Gardening!

Over-Wintered Lettuce Awaiting Harvesting, 4/13/10

Spring Planted Lettuce Growing Under Hoop, 4/13/10

New Chicken Run, 4/13/10

Penny In Nesting Box, 4/13/10