Parsnip Love

What We Grew in 2014

2014-11-10T13:20:00.003-05:00

This year we grew a bit of everything. Some successfully, some not so much.

Tomatoes:

We had so many tomatoes and peppers that we borrowed little one's bucket

all summer and fall to collect them.

Cherry Type:

Risentraube-2 plants
Super Sweet 100-2 plants (our only hybrid tomato)
Black Cherry-3 plants
Blondkopfchen-2 plants
Roma Volunteer- 2 plants (also had several volunteers)
Green Zebra -2 plants (but one died during transplant)--I HATE this tomato. It always produces poorly.

Beefsteaks:

Cherokee Purple - 3 plants (but one died during transplant)
Brandywine -3 plants

Regular:

Sub-Artic Plenty 3 plants-supposed to be super early tomato. Later than the regular ones. Super lame.
Black Krim - 3 plants
Paul Robeson-3 plants
Arkansas Traveler-3 plants (lost one in transplant)
Dakota Gold - 2 plants (lost one in transplant. Poor yields on remaining one)
Purple Fleshed Orange Smudges - 3 plants(cross politated with the Costolutos and became very ribby and interesting looking)
Costoluto Genoveses-3 plants

Other:

Green Verde Tomatillo (2 plants)--I thought these would be fun for the little one to "open" but the inside skin is sticky. Toddler loved them, called them "apple tomatoes"--mom not so much.

Peppers:

California wonder -3 plants (hybrid)
Beaver Dam -2 plants
Red Minis-5 plants
Garden Sunshine-2 plants
Orange Bell-5 plants
Quadrato D'Asti (yellow) -5 plants --These were HUGE. Bigger than my hand.
Black Hungarian -1 plant
Banana -2 plants(hybrid)
Pepperocinio-1 plants(hybrid)

Eggplant:

Pandora Striped -3 plants
Ping Tung-3 plants
Rosa Bianca -3 plants

Brassicas:

These were all started from seed and were pretty much all lost causes except for the kohlrabi (which still ended up being too pungent and yucky).

Calabrese Green Sprouting Broccoli
Romanesco Broccoli
Snowball Self-Blanching Cauliflower
Jersey Cabbage
Golden Acre
White Vienna Kohlrabi
Purple Kohlrabi

Alliums:

Giant Musselburgh Leeks
American Flag Leeks (We had a good leek crop, but I'm not sure which of the two produced them. I think it was the musselburghs)
Red onions--didn't produce
Shallots (Which we actually got about 4!!)
Garlic Chives (they're everwhere!!!!)

Lettuces and Greens:

Rainbow Lights Chard
Burpee's Rhubarb Chard
Red Romaine Lettuce
Black Seeded Simpson Lettuce
Burpee Gourmet Mesclun Blend Lettuce
Southern Giant Curled Green Mustard
Bloomsdale Long Standing Spinach
Monstrueux De Viroflay Spinach (Both bolted before we could use any)

Beans and Peas:

Royalty Purple Podded Beans
Calima Beans
Roquetfort Wax beans
Bush Lima (disappointment)
Dragon Tongue Beans
Queen Anne Sugar Peas
Burpee Sugar Peas
Burpee Shelling Peas (these were yucky)

Root Veggies:

Laurentian Rutabaga (only got one)
Parsienne Carrots
Nantes Carrots
Short 'n Sweet Carrots
Hollow Crown Parsnip (from own seed)
Golden Beets
Early Wonder Beets
Cylindra Beets

Herbs and Flowers:

I had planned on starting a large herb garden with six kinds of basil and many other things, but I didn't get to these sadly.

We planted about 5 Tiger Mix Sunflowers that were very pretty.
Our lime basil from the previous year came back from seed.
Our potted, mystery oregano produced very well (mostly through neglect).

Dispatch from Last Year's Pumpkin Patch

2014-10-31T11:36:00.000-04:00

Happy Halloween! In keeping with the spirit of the day, I thought I'd share some of our pumpkin growing exploits of years past.

Pumpkins were one of the first plants on our "must have" list for the new garden last year. I have wanted to grow them since I was a little girl when I would look forward each October to visiting the "patch" at the local farm stand co-op to select my own Halloween pumpkin. It left me with an urge, no-- a need, to grow my own. This was the catalyst to start my gardening adventures. Sadly, we didn't get around to pumpkins this year. But we did have a stellar pumpkin harvest last year which I never got around to blogging about (see pic below).

Why don't people grow pumpkins much in the back yard garden? Well, they are sprawling space sucker-uppers that are also prone to all sorts of "plague of Egypt" type pests. But they are so beautiful that you can't blame folks for wanting to grow them or failing in the attempt.

Our early attempts definitely met with mixed success.

First: Out of a large Terracotta pot on a condo patio. Verdict: Fail. Culprit: Space and lack of knowledge (of how much space).

Second: In the community garden plot. Verdict: Semi-fail (got 3 little ones) Culprit: Vine borer, cucumber beetles, and still not enough space. We also started them to early and ended up with pumpkins in late July.

Third: In new, large back yard garden in 2013. Verdict: Success! Eyes were bigger than my stomach. I definitely had grandiose ideas about how many pumpkins one family required. I thought, "I could plant enough to have all the kids in little one's class come pick their own pumpkin." Turns out 15+ vines creates a pumpkin sea. But it sure was beautiful last year.

Here are the varieties we planted in 2013:

At the top, Early Sweet Sugar Pumpkin;

in the middle, Pontimarron; at the bottom, Bush Butternut

And here is that old enemy, the cucumber beetle. By planting in July it appears we missed most of its life cycle in our zone.

Hopefully coming in 2015: Rouge Vif D'Etampes (Cinderella Pumpkins, yo), Squash Long Island Cheese, New England Sugar Pie, and good ol' Jack-O-Lanterns. (Plus Bush Butternut, Spaghetti Squash, and Pontimarron). Maybe next year I will have enough for all of little one's classmates. We'll see.

Happy Trick or Treating!

2014 Garden Year Thoughts and Pictures

2014-10-30T16:27:00.000-04:00

I am definitely a victim of my own good intentions with this blog. I was shocked to realize it has been over a year since I last updated folks on our gardening endeavors. We have chosen to use our time this year to expand the garden (and enjoy it) instead. But as our first real frost is looming at the end of the week and our main garden season is coming to a close, it is time for an update so that next year we can remember what we learned from this one.

Big 2014 Accomplishments:

Broke new ground that expanded the garden by a 1/3 and required removing a very ugly and oddly placed Magnolia tree.
Planted three apple trees and one plum tree (more on them in another post). Espaliering was involved. It's hard to tell what you are looking at in the pictures so I'll include better ones in our fruit tree post.
Expanded our compost bin into a second bay and moved them 90 degrees to a southern orientation.

Successfully transplanted three red rhubarb plants from hubby's childhood home in the upper Midwest.
Brought our existing green rhubarb plant back from the brink of death. (It got much worse than in the pic. Rust every where. It just needed some fish emulsion. Who knew?)
Bought a shed and had it installed, but built a gravel foundation for it ourselves.

2014 Good Discoveries and Surprises:

We have wild garlic! Why bother planting it when you can find it all over your yard and neighborhood?! It's tiny, but it is the real thing.
We are a little late to the party, but it turns out the Brandywine is an AWESOME tomato! The Black Krim is also fantastic. Between the two, our formerly beloved Cherokee Purple pales in comparison since it is a weak producer and all the fruit is prone to cracking. Not so with the Brandywine. While it is still huge, some are a more manageable size and a prolific producer. The Black Krim is also a good producer and provides smaller, more sandwich-able black tomato slices. Between the two, I think we can phase out the Cherokee next year.
We can grow eggplant! Our previous eggplant problems were likely the result of the community garden flea beetle infestation and not us. Huzza! We planted three kinds under the row cover, including the lovely Rosa Bianca that I have tried to grow for 4 years unsuccessfully, and we had more eggplant than we knew what to do with. And although the Rosa Bianca was lovely, it turns out we liked the Chinsese Ping Tung better because it is a uniform size that is super easy to cut up and cook with. Tasty too.
Planting sunflowers next to your Swiss Chard keeps those f^&*ing caterpillars under control. To be fair this is an unscientific assumption of causation with correlation but last year it was a caterpillar plague and the plants were in more or less the same spot. This year, the birds practically lived on the sunflowers (and constantly battled each other for the) and we had no caterpillars. Not one. Zip. Zilch. So, you be the judge, but I'm thinking it helped.
Baker Creek peas outperformed the Burpee seeds, and our toddler likes eating peas right off the vine.
Thinning your beets is overrated. We have taken to growing mostly cylindrical beets because you can sow and forget them. They crowd each other out but still seem to grow fine and shoulder their way up when they are ready.
Found out that kale and mustard are surprisingly resilient. We planted it somewhere out of the way last year and forgot about it. Not only did it come back and produce well (while being totally ignored) when it eventually went to seed it gave us tons of fresh kale seed. I don't think we need to buy kale seed ever again.
Learned that fresh parsnip seed really is better. We have a parsnip plant in our kitchen garden only because its flowers are umbrella shaped and the bees love it. It is really pretty. It gave us tons and tons of parsnip seeds as well which we planted in the fall garden and...........they all germinated and right away. None of this wait two months and see if anything pops up. It's too early to say how the parsnips the seed produces tastes, but I'm hopeful.

2014 Blunders and Disappointments:

A hard winter and late frosts really put a damper on a spring garden. We had our last snow storm at the very end of March and all of April was pretty frigid. Needless to say we didn't really get our ducks in a row to have a great spring vegetable garden and some of the cold weather stuff we planted (mainly brassicas) didn't have enough time to grow before it was blazing hot.
Having neighbors down the block with cedar trees is enough to bring cedar apple rust to your apple trees during a rainy spell. Luckily, hubby noticed the damage fast and we were able to limit it to one tree. Next year we will treat with copper fungicide BEFORE a long rain spell is forecast.
We planned 2 ft between our tomato lanes because we didn't want to feel like we were walking through a tomato tunnel come July. What we didn't realize was that we had measured from trellis to trellis without taking account for the actual hilled lane the plants would live on. This reduced our lanes by at least half a foot and a whole foot in some places. Next year, we will measure 3 ft between the trellis to make sure we have enough room.
The Dick Raymond "Joy of Gardening" Mixed Crop Row doesn't work for us (although it was a good way to get our carrots to germinate). We forgot it underneath a row cover and then everything went to seed. The radishes got too big, only one kind of lettuce took hold from the mix I planted, and the onions just fizzled out. BUT our carrots are beautiful and NO carrot fly damage whatsoever.
Kohlrabi that is set out late and then forgotten under a row cover during a very hot summer gets even more pungent than usual and when you cut it up in your kitchen, your house smells like rotten garbage. No bueno. I think we are taking a break from that for a while.
13 cherry tomato plants produce barely enough to keep up with a toddler's voracious tomato appetite. Next year we will plant 20.
Broccoli and cauliflower from seed is more work than it is worth. I think we will have a brassica break next year.
Starting 40 tomato plants inside is hard. Potting them out once before outside transplant is even harder. Next year we will start them in larger cups that they can live in til they go outside because honestly, I haven't seen any evidence that the second potting makes the roots stronger. Experiment for next year.
We didn't get around to planting pumpkins, squash, watermelons, or cucumbers this year. And let me tell you it killed me to pay $5 for a pumpkin at home depot but what can you do. We had to prioritize and this just didn't make it. We had a number of Pontimarron winter squash come back from seed (pic below) and go wild at the bottom of the garden but something, likely cucumber beetles, gave it powdery mildew and that ended that. It is still out there limping along, but the squashes are only the size of softballs.

Garden Beginnings

2013-08-20T20:22:00.000-04:00

Here is the progression of the new garden:

Started on July 4th:
We have 5 lanes that are 40' x 16" with 1' wide lanes in between. This time around we are following Dick Raymond's (of Joy of Gardening fame) wide row method since it is much back friendlier and more efficient in terms of time (weeding, watering, etc). The lanes run east to west with some shade on either end. We did this on purpose because we have excruciatingly hot summers here and I am tired of everything bolting in mid-June and having sun scalded tomatoes.

Verdict so far? The wide rows and the shading worked great. We need to make the paths a bit bigger and we need to add at least two more rows but that is the beauty of this system. Since there are no 4' x 8' wood borders, I can till everything under at the end of the season and start all over with very little fuss. The narrower rows have made it a bit more challenging to place the row covers over the lanes but we arranged them parallel which has worked so far.

July 4th, 2013

Fast forward to early Aug:

And today:

Hello again!

2013-06-12T19:32:00.001-04:00

Apologize all for the blogging break, but we had a good reason. We found the yard of our dreams and bought the house attached to it. Most of April and May were devoted to this effort and left little time for blogging (or gardening). Sadly, our promising tomato and pepper starts are a little worse as a result, having only finally found a permanent home this past weekend. While we now have an enormous yard that will allow us to avoid the space limitations of the community garden, it has thick grass over dreaded Virginia clay. If you aren't familar it is great for making bricks, adobe houses, or growing trees but not great for gardening until it has been lightened up a bit. We will spend at least the next year (who am I kidding, years plural) trying to turn it into something resembling soil, and we invite you to read along as we start a new gardening journey.

Seedling Progress

2013-04-10T11:48:00.001-04:00

We are a bit behind in blogging. Here are the updates. We re-potted the tomato starts on 3/25/13 and moved them to the windowsill 4/6/13. They were simply too tall for the light set up, and their leaves kept getting burned (which gives me tomato guilt). Due to life events we never started the second group of tomato seedlings, so these are it for the year. Good thing I started all the Cherokee Purples in the first group. The Blondkopfchen seedling (below) is the best tomato start we have ever had. This gives me warm fuzzies because it is from the seed I saved myself. Overall the tomato starts are sturdier than lasts year's were by this point.

The peppers were also re-potted on 3/25/13 and are now enjoying exclusive rights to the plant light. We started all of them at once instead of in two staggered groups because we realized it was easier to get them all done while we had all the soil, etc out. We are trying the "Red Mini" this year from Baker's. I love the thought of mini red bell peppers and the number of red mini seedlings is in equal proportion to my excitement.

Seed Starting Update no. 2

2013-02-25T14:35:00.001-05:00

Today we sowed:

Peppers: Beaver Dams (4), Garden Sunshines (4), Mini-Bells (4)
Kohlrabi (6)
Broccoli (3)

Updates:

Potted out early tomato starts

Starting tomorrow we will keep them under the grow light during the day and put them out on the patio at night so they can be exposed to cooler night time temps. Apparently keeping them at 50-60 degrees at night will encourage early flowering.

Southern Exposure Seed Exchange

2013-02-17T13:56:00.001-05:00

It looks like we found a new seed company to try. A colleague made us aware of the Southern Exposure Seed Exchange. They are a Baker Creek-esque seed company based in Mineral, Virginia that focuses on gmo-free, untreated, open pollinated seeds suited to the inland plains of the mid-Atlantic (our zone, 7a) and the mid-Atlantic region writ large. They describe this area as "generally characterized by high summer heat, humidity, numerous plant diseases, uneven precipitation and occasional high temperatures in the early spring and late fall. Soils are predominately clay except in the sandy coastal areas." Add in the plagues of Egypt-magnitude insect problems we experience at the community garden and this precisely captures our growing conditions.

Am I in love? Very possibly. I am withholding judgement til we grow some of their seed, but all indications are positive.

For starters, their catalog is lovely. Just the type of seed catalog a garden hopes to get in the middle of winter: one filled with planting and seed saving tips, planting calendars (again, for MY zone...how great is that?!), planting quick references, and great information about seed exchanges and preservation programs. It has a great mixture of plant photos and old-timey drawings. All the seed descriptions include indicators identifying varieties "especially well-suited to the Southeast," heirlooms, ecologically grown, and USDA certified organic. They are up front about the specific plant seeds they carry that are hybrids (only four of them). They even sell seed-saving supplies that are usually difficult to find, such as muslin bags and seed vials.

They have a "safe-seed" pledge that says they do not "knowingly buy or sell genetically engineered seeds or plants." I'm happy to see this. While it doesn't necessarily mean they go as far as Baker Creek does to ensure their seed is not GMO tainted (for example testing each batch of heirloom seed), it is still a far cry better than most seed companies out there.

They are even part of the Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association (OSGATA) et al. vs Monsanto lawsuit which definitely scores them points with me. If you aren't familiar with the lawsuit, I encourage you to read about it here.

Overall, I am excited to order some seed from these folks. We've been looking for some summer lettuce that can withstand our brutal June temperatures, and it looks like they have a few varieties that fit the bill. (I'm eyeing the "Jericho" which was bred for desert heat and which is "especially suited to the Southeast.") I will do a follow up post later this summer.

Tomatoes Started

2013-02-17T13:07:00.001-05:00

We started our tomatoes on February 10th, along with some onions (see here for how we start seeds indoors). According to our garden plan we started the tomatoes a few days earlier than we planned and the onions about a month late. But whatever. We are doing this as we have a free second, which isn't often.

We started the following:
2 Cherokee Purples
1 Blondkopfchen (using the saved seed so tripled sowed it. All popped up right away)
1 Black Cherry
1 Cosoluto Genovese
1 Volunteer (also saved seed but only did one since we planned to sow more in the next go around)

Observations to date:
All of the seeds have germinated except the Cosoluto Genovese. I will give that one another day and then re-sow. The volunteer seedling is already an inch taller than the rest and is budding second leaves (the one all the way to the right in the picture). I am very excited to see how much this produces this summer since it seems to be a great example of natural (and now human) selection. I think putting the grow set up in the kitchen this year helped our germination time since the kitchen is the warmest part of our house. We put it there out of necessity, but it has worked out so far. (I cringe to think how our counter will look in 2 months though).

Plans:
We need to set up the fan to "tickle" the seedlings so that they spread strong roots. We've done that the last two years and have been widely successful. As long as I remember to mist them once a day and turn on the lights in the morning they should grow nicely. We plan to pot these out into yogurt containers when we start the next set of tomato seedlings (early March). Stay tuned.

Welcome 2013!

2013-01-02T18:33:00.000-05:00

What better way to welcome the new year than with our 2013 sowing and planting schedule?

Garden Resolutions for 2013:

This year we are going to single stem our tomatoes s bit more faithfully
We are going to use deep watering in all the beds
We are going to rearrange at least one of our beds to make better use of space
We are going to add 2 more low tunnels with row covers
We are going to turn our compost more often and add more brown matter during the summer
We are going to make our garden pollinator-friendly
And most importantly, we are finally going to build a new garden gate!

Tentative Schedule:
For our zone (7a), the last frost date is tentatively Apr 15th (but usually comes earlier) and the last frost is October 15th.

For a list of what we may plant, see here.

January 1-15:

Start onions and shallots indoors

Feb 15-30:

Start pepper seeds and first set of tomatoes indoors

2 Cherokee Purples
1 Volunteer
1 Blondkopfchen
1 Black Cherry
1 Costolute Genovese

March 1-10:

Direct sow lettuce, asian greens, beets, radishes, carrots, turnips, peas, and mustard
Re-pot first set of tomato starts
Start kohlrabi and broccoli indors
Start second set of tomatoes indoors

2 Cherokee Purple
1 Costolute Genovese
1 Riesentraube
2 Smudges
1 Volunteer
1 Black Cherry

March 15-30:

Transplant broccoli and kohlrabi

April 1-8:

Re-pot second tomato starts indoors
Start herbs indoors
Sow 2nd planting of peas directly in the garden.
Sow 2nd lettuce crop and more beets
Sow chard

April 15-20:

Harden off and transplant first tomato and pepper starts (under tunnel)
Sow pumpkin, winter squash, and cucumber seeds indoors
Direct sow more lettuce, beets, radishes, carrots, asian greens, mustard greens
Transplant onions, shallots, kohlrabi, and broccoli

April 30:

Sow last cool-weather lettuce, wax beans, and green beans
Harden off and transplant pumpkins, squash, herbs, and cucumbers to the garden if the soil is well warmed (under tunnel)

May 1-15

Plant flowers

May 15-20:

Sow 1st summer lettuce
Sow 2nd crop of beans and radish in garden

June 15:

Sow 2nd summer lettuce

July 1-14th:

Sow summer lettuce
Sow 3rd crop of beans, 4th crop of radish in garden
Direct sow fall beans, parsnips, kohlrabi, brussels sprouts, broccoli and radishes
Sow collards

July 14-28th (10 to 12 weeks before your first frost)

Direct-sow beets, carrots, leeks and scallions, along with more cool weather lettuce and radishes

July 28th-Aug 11th (8 to 10 weeks before your killing frost)

Direct-sow lettuce, turnips, spinach, mustard, pakchoi and other Asian greens
Sow more radishes

Aug 11th- 25th (6 to 8 weeks before first frost)

Sow more lettuce, mustard, and beets beneath the protective tunnel

2013 Seed Collection

2012-12-30T07:41:00.003-05:00

Here is what is in our seed collection for 2013. I will update this periodically though the year as my will power fails me, and I buy more seeds than my garden can ever accommodate. The * indicates the seeds we usually start indoors.

Storage: We store our seeds in old peanut butter jars or a ziploc and keep it in a crisper drawer in our fridge.

Beans:

Bean, Brittle Wax (Bush Wax) -OP- Burpee -52 days (1 1/2 pkgs)

Bean, Burpee's Stringless Green Pod- F1 - Burpee- 50days (Bush habit)
Bean, Climbing French - SSE -OP-65-75 days (pole habit)

Brassicas:

Broccoli, Calabrese Green Sprouting, Baker Creek

*Brussels Sprouts- Baker Creek-OP

Kohlrabi, Early White Vienna – Baker Creek - OP

Pakchoi, Choko Baby – John Scheepers – 45 – 55 days

Climbers (Peas and Cukes):

Pea, Shelling (Burpeeana Early)-Burpee - 63 days

Pea, Super Sugar Snap (edible podded) - Burpee – 64 days

Cucumber, Burpless Beauty – Burpee – F1- 60 days

Cucumber, Bush Champion - Burpee - F1 - 55 days 58-65 days
Cucumber, Japanese Climbing- SSE -OP

Gourds and Squash/Pumpkins:

Winter Squash, Early Butternut (bush habit) – John Scheepers – 82 days

Potimarron - SSE -85-95 days (saw this in Germany and loved it. SSE is the only place I know of that sells it)
Pumpkin, Early Sweet Sugar Pie--Burpee 90 days

Herbs:

*Basil, Greek - Burpee Fordhook Collection

*Basil, Lime- Burpee Fordhook Collection

*Basil, Genovese – Baker Creek
*Basil, Sweet - Burpee

*Bee Balm, Lemon – Baker Creek

Chamomile, Organic German ( but actually roman)-Garden's Alive-OP- Perennial

Chamomile, Bodegold – John Scheepers - Perennial
Chamomile, Organic German - Garden's Alive
Chervil, Curled -Burpee Fordhook Collection

Chives, Common- Burpee-Perennial
Chives, Common - American Seed
Chives, Common - Burpee Signature
Chives, Garlic - Burpee

*Cilantro, Slo-bolt – Baker Creek
Cilantro, American Seed

Lavender, True - Burpee

*Majoram - Ferry Morse

*Oregano – Burpee
Parsley, Single Italian Plain Leafed - Burpee

*Sage, Broad Leaf -Jiffy Smart Start

*Tarragon -Ferry Morse

*Thyme, Common - Burpee

Nightshade:

*Cherry Tomato, Blondkopfchen-SSE-OP- 75-80 days (yellow)

*Cherry Tomato, Black Cherry- Baker Creek – OP (black/purple)
*Cherry Tomato, Riesentraube- Baker Creek -OP (red)
*Cherry Tomato, Super Sweet 100 –Burpee- F1-70 days (red)

*Tomato, Cherokee Purple – Baker Creek – OP (black/purple)

*Tomato, Costoluto Genovese- Baker Creek-OP (red)

*Tomato, Green Zebra-Baker Creek - OP (green)

*Tomato, Orange Fleshed Purple Smudge- Baker Creek – OP -(multi)

*Tomato, Thessaloniki- Baker Creek-OP-60-80 days (red)

*Tomato, "2012 Volunteer" cherry/Roma mix (red)

*Pepper, Beaver Dam – SSE – OP-80 days from transplant (mildly hot)

*Pepper, Black Hungarian – SSE – OP 70-80 days from transplant (medium hot)

*Pepper, Garden Sunshine – SSE – OP-80-100 days from transplant (sweet)
*Pepper, Red Mini Bell- Baker Creek (sweet)
Onions:

Bunching Onions, Evergreen Long White -Burpee- Perennial

Onion, Nebuka Bunching- Plantation- 60-65 days
Onion, Yellow Granex - John Scheepers - 150 days

Onion, Red of Florence, Baker Creek

Leek, American Flag--Ferry Morse

Shallots, Ambition – John Scheepers--100 days

Root Vegetables:

Beets, Yellow Cylindrical, Baker Creek

Beets, Chioggia, Baker Creek
Beets, Cylindra - Burpee - 60 days
Carrot, Nantes Half Long - Burpee - 70 days
Carrot, Short n' Sweet Chantenay - Burpee - 68 days
Parsnip, Harris Model, Baker Creek

Radish, Asian Watermelon - Burpee - 35 days
Radish, Gourmet Rainbow Mix (Flamboyant French Breakfast (red/white long taper), Fuego (red round), Hailstone (white round), Helios Yellow (round), Pink Celebration (round), Plum Purple (round), Roodkapje (red/white round) and White Icicle (long taper) - John Scheeper- 23-30 days

Turnip, Purple Top White Globe – SSE - 45-65 days

Turnip, Golden Globe - Baker Creek
Salad:

Asian Greens, Mizuna, Baker Creek

Asian Greens, Tatsoi, Baker Creek

Lettuce, Butter Beauty (butterhead) - Burpee - 75 days
Lettuce, Burpee Bib (butterhead)- Burpee 75 days

Lettuce, Parris Island Romaine – Ferry Morse – OP-68 days

Lettuce, Simpson Elite (looseleaf) –Burpee –OP- 48 days

Lettuce, Tennis Ball (butterhead)- SSE
Lettuce Mix, Lovely Lettuce Mesclun Blend (Little Gem Baby Romaine, Curly Tango, Cheeky Red Lolla Rossa, Crispy Summertime, Brunia red oakleaf, Buttery Rouge Grenobloise and Merveille des Quatre Saisons) - John Scheepers - OP-30-40 days

Mustard Greens – Baker Creek
Japanese Giant Red Mustard Greens - Baker Creek
Flowers:
Echineacea, Majestic Coneflower Mixture- John Scheepers- Perennial
Bells of Ireland -Burpee
Love in a Mist - Baker Creek (2pkgs)
Lupine, Russells Hybrid Mix - Burpee
Sunflower, Tiger Eye Mix - Baker Creek

December Radishes

2012-12-26T19:44:00.000-05:00

We have had great luck with radishes this December. Instead of our usual radishes we planted the John Scheepers "Gourmet Rainbow Radish Mix" which includes Flamboyant French Breakfast (red/white long taper), Fuego (red round), Hailstone (white round), Helios Yellow (round), Pink Celebration (round), Plum Purple (round), Roodkapje (red/white round) and White Icicle (long taper) and has a growth time of 23-30 days.

We must have lucked out because we harvested a handful and each was a different type. Usually with these seed mixes there seems to be an uneven amount of one type over the others so we were pleasantly surprised. Below are some we picked right before the holiday. We appear to have the White Icicle (which were kind of meh), the Hailstone and the Fuego (both were tasty), and the Plum Purple (which was fantastic!!!).

We previously harvested long red, carrot-looking radishes that I think are the Flamboyant French Breakfast and were also tasty. Below is also the Pink Celebration which was good. The only one we have not had is the yellow Helios radishes.

When these run out we plan to get more of just the Plum Purples which were out of this world!

How to Save Tomato Seeds

2012-12-24T11:27:00.005-05:00

This year we had a need to save tomato seed for the first time because we were running out of our beloved Blondkopfchen yellow cherry tomatoes from Seed Savers Exchange, and we also wanted to save seed from a wayward tomato plant that found its way to our garden this year via the community compost. Of course we intended to save seed at some point which is part of the reason we buy open pollinated and heirloom sees. It was a cool process and I wanted to share our experience. The interview with the SSE president about the importance of seed saving in this quarter's Urban Farm magazine reminded me that I still needed to write a post about so here it is.

Instructions:
The instructions we followed were from the 2012 Baker Creek catalog which had a great photo excerpt of Jere Gettle's The Heirloom Life Gardener showing the steps for saving seed (in pic below). We supplemented these instructions with some from the International Seed Saving Institute.The steps below in bold are from that site interspersed with photos and comments (in italics) about our experience.

What did we want to save?
We were trying to preserve seed from our Blondkopfchen and also from our amazing "volunteer" red cherry/roma mix that appeared in our garden this year uninvited but which was beyond prolific.

Process: Cut the tomato into halves at its equator, opening the vertical cavities that contain the seeds. Gently squeeze out from the cavities the jelly-like substance that contains the seeds.

Place the jelly and seeds into a small jar or glass. (Add a little water if you are processing only one or two small tomatoes.) Loosely cover the container and place in a warm location, 60-75° F. for about three days. Stir once a day. We forgot to stir. Whoops.

A layer of fungus will begin to appear on the top of the mixture after a couple of days. This fungus not only eats the gelatinous coat that surrounds each seed and prevents germination, it also produces antibiotics that help to control seed-borne diseases like bacterial spot, canker and speck. What they didn't say was that this fungus smells really bad (kind of like moldy cheese). The red tomato had bigger pieces so it developed a fungal layer much more quickly than the smaller yellow ones.

Here they are after 4 or 5 days. We couldn't get to them right away so they may have sat longer than they should have. Again, whoops.

After three days fill the seed container with warm water.

Let the contents settle and begin pouring out the water along with pieces of tomato pulp and immature seeds floating on top. Note: Viable seeds are heavier and settle to the bottom of the jar. I thought the instructions were wrong because if I poured out the contents I thought the seeds would also slip out. So instead I tried to spoon off the mold. Ugh. It was gross and didn't work. I finally did as the instructions advise and just poured and lo and behold the icky stuff poured right out with no fuss.

Repeat this process until water being poured out is almost clear and clean seeds line the bottom of the container. Pour these clean seeds into a strainer that has holes smaller than the seeds. Let the excess water drip out and invert the strainer onto paper towel or piece of newspaper. We didn't have a strainer fine enough so I just poured out as much water as I could and then poured the rest through a paper towel. This worked just fine.

Allow the seeds to dry completely (usually a day or two).

Break up the clumps into individual seeds, label and store in a packet or plastic bag. I didn't realize the seeds would have a little furry coating. I took out some packet tomato seeds to compare and sure enough, they also have a furry coating. This produced a remarkable amount of seeds. We will have enough for years to come, but if we have a particularly good year with these next year I may do this process all over again to keep breeding stronger performers.

Reflections on Seed Saving:

I can't yet comment on the vitality of the seed (will follow up this summer) but the process definitely made me feel like I am contributing to the ongoing story of our planet's food legacy, particularly by saving seeds from the volunteer tomato. To be an heirloom an OP seed needs to be between 30-50 years old by most definitions but usually getting to heirloom status means that a plant worked particularly well in one part of the country for a long time. This tomato plant appeared in our garden unexpectedly but was so successful we wanted to save it to try again. In Michael Pollan's Botany of Desire terms, this plant "used" us to help it procreate by offering us something we wanted: an abundance of tasty fruit. If we are still using it in 30 years Seed Savers Exchange may even want some of them :)

Rosalind Creasy's, the author of Cooking from the Garden and quoted in the Jan/Feb 2013 issue of Urban Farm, description of what would go on SSE packets if there were space sums up my feeling nicely: "By planting the seeds in this packet, you have become a steward of our food heritage, a link in a chain that goes back thousands of years. Use his seed to grow food, but please save the seeds, share them with others and replant them again in your garden to allow the seed to adapt to your local growing conditions."

December Harvests

2012-12-10T19:48:00.001-05:00

Sorry everyone for the long blogging break. What can I say? Babies keep a person busy. But I thought I'd share some December gardening harvest pictures (that's right, December harvests). We are having unseasonably warm weather and that, plus our rowcover is giving us a continued harvest of yummy veggies including red and green mustard, onions, cylindra beets, radishes, and lettuce (including my new favorite Merveille des Quatre Saisons or Marvel of the Four Seasons).

Seeds for Cold Weather

2012-10-05T09:44:00.002-04:00

Our seed order is here! It includes a few more things we may be able to squeak out for fall but otherwise it is all for spring. We aren't going to do a CSA share next year since we haven't been super pleased with what we have received. We are going to garden more and visit the farmer's market more instead. However there are several things we were introduced to via the CSA that we do not want to give up, and we are going to try our hand at growing those. Here is what we ordered:

Mizuna - This is spicy asian green we usually get from the CSA)

Tatsoi - This is a spicy asian green we usually get from the CSA that hubby loves to use in pesto

Rainbow Swiss Chard - Hubby loves it and I like the look of it when it is growing so we are going to try it)

Parsnips, Harris Model - We usually do Hollow Crown but we love parsnips a ton (obviously) we are going to plant both kinds next year. We might try and get a sowing of this in for fall so that we have early spring parsnips.

Broccoli, Calabrese Green Sprouting - For some reason growing broccoli has always intimidated us, but we're gonna give it a go next year. Our attitude now is that with the row cover anything is possible!

Onion, Red of Florence- We are already planning to grow onion from seed for the first time next year instead of getting sets. If I am going to do all the work I figured we should try two types of onions and not just one.

Beets, Yellow Cylindrical- We love golden beets and the cylindras we have are so easy to cut so we thought a gold cylindra would be awesome. Turns out these are actually mangels (super big roots grown for animal fodder) but we'll see how they taste. As long as we pick them small they won't have a chance to go behemoth on us.

Beets, Chioggia (striped)- We are in a beet faze and I have always been intrigued by these striped beets. Plust they are supposed to taste less "earthy" than regular beets.

and for our free gift (Baker Creek always includes one) we got American Melon. I'm not a huge melon fan and we don't really have the space for melons, but I'm sure we can find some use for the seed.

Patching the Row Cover

2012-10-02T18:18:00.002-04:00

This weekend we realized that the edges of our row cover where we drive in the garden stakes to secure it to the ground had made large holes around the stake entry points. This is caused by a combo of normal wear and tear and the number of wind storms we had this year. My clever hubby found a great way to patch it though. Just like all other row cover care, he used good ol' duct tape. He placed a piece over the stake holes and then drove the stake through. Now the stake still has something to grip and the cover is very secure.

Fall Garden Guilt Assuaged

2012-09-30T16:02:00.000-04:00

We got over to the garden today and finally got some more things planted for fall. Good thing because I was really starting to feel guilty that my fall garden plan flew out the window. (I know, why did I think we would have an awesome fall garden when we have a brand new infant...crazy, right?! But we had baby help this weekend so we were able to make time to garden). We are planting super late we realize, but we hope that the row cover will extend our season. Supposedly it protects the plants down to 28 degrees. Then we will switch it out for a plastic cover. Our average first frost is October 15th but may come a bit later, so we will see how things go.

We planted more cylindra beets since our lack of watering has yielded only 4 seeds that germinated. Sadly I'm out of Golden Beet seeds which I only realized when we got to the garden. :sigh: We filled in the lettuce with some romaine and bibb, planted a row of butterhead lettuce, a row of Japanese red mustard, a row of regular mustard, a row of kohlrabi, a few wax bean seeds, and assorted radishes. We also planted one brussels sprout as an experiment since it is our first time growing it, and we are beyond late in getting the seed in the ground. We'll see what happens. At least we can try again with them in spring.

The canola cover crop that we planted in the big bed last week is popping up. At first I always think they are weeds. We need to fill it in in some places, but it should keep the erosion under control this winter.

Our peppers are still going strong and the bees are definitely enjoying the basil seed stalk flowers as you can see in the picture at the top. Our neighbors all have amazing peppers right now too, so I think the conditions may just have been right this year.

Our blackberry is beyond out of control and is trying to assimilate the fence. Once the berries are ripened and picked this is getting whacked back.

We also got some more compost going and for once we remembered to bring some brown matter (shredded newspaper) and not just our green matter kitchen scraps. I'm trying harder since I don't want to attract any more critters.

Recipe: Healthier Pumpkin Granola

2012-09-29T14:45:00.002-04:00

Since it is fall I thought I'd share my recipe for pumpkin granola. I make a batch every week and then have it with greek yogurt each morning for breakfast. I typically make "healthy" granola so it is not very sweet. If you like sweeter or richer granola, just up the sweetener and add more goodies (nuts, dried fruit, etc). It is really customizable so if you don't have all the ingredients, don't sweat it and if you want to add other things in it, go for it. Enjoy!

Supplies:
2 mixing bowls, one large & 1 medium
2 baking sheets
1 rubber scraper
1 mixing spoon
Measuring cups

Ingredients:
Dry:
6 cups Rolled Oats aka "Old Fashioned Oats"
1/4- 1/2 cup Flax seed (ground)
1/4 cup Wheat Germ
Few shakes of Cinnamon
Dash of Nutmeg
Dash of Ginger
(and other spices to taste)
3/4 - 1 cup Coconut Flakes (or brown sugar, sugar in the raw or other sweetener--adjust amount to taste)

Wet:
1 Can of Libby pumpkin puree or equivalent amount of pureed fresh pumpkin
3/4 cup Applesauce
Squeeze of Honey

Recipe:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. In the large mixing bowl combine the dry ingredients.

3. In the smaller mixing bowl combine the wet ingredients.

4. Pour wet ingredients into dry and combine. Mix until the wet ingredients are thoroughly dispersed and most of the flakes are no longer dry looking.

5. Pour onto the baking sheets and smooth out. This will allow it to cook more evenly.

6. Cook for 30-45 minutes or until the granola reaches the texture you prefer. The shorter time will yield granola that is a little more chewy and the longer will yield crunchy, hard granola.

7. Let cool and then store in an airtight container.

Eating Suggestions:

This tastes great in yogurt, mixed with applesauce, put on top of ice cream or even eaten with milk like cereal.

Shared on Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways #47

Fall Garden Clean Up

2012-09-27T20:37:00.000-04:00

Last weekend we cleaned up the garden for fall. Even though I planned out what we should plant when for the fall garden, life got in the way and most of that did not make it into the ground. What can I say, life with an infant is hard. We did manage to plant the row cover bed though and some things are starting to sprout including some yummy oakleaf lettuce.

We cleaned out our compost bin, mostly to try to discover what kind of critter was living in it. We're thinking chipmunk because the holes are small and it stole plastic bags from somewhere and threaded them throughout our pile like a nest. We could put out a trap for it, but it hasn't stolen any produce and if anything it has helped us out by turning our compost a bit so for now I think we're cool. Plus, you can see below how empty it is now, so we may have accidentally evicted it.

The prolific volunteer tomato soldiers on; although, it is looking rather ragged---kind of like a tomato fountain. Somehow though it still has lots of green tomatoes so it may just stay til the frost comes.

Our regular tomatoes are still producing but they are slowly petering out. Still quite a few green ones on the vines though.

As I mentioned in a previous post, the peppers are still going gangbusters as well. This has been the best pepper year we've ever had but we deserve no credit. They have flourished under our neglect (and from the spill over from our neighbor's irrigation set up).

The two basil plants I transplanted to the garden towards the end of the season have set seed (which the bees are enjoying) but otherwise they look great. We planted so many kinds of basil this year I lost track of which one this is.

We mulched our very sad raspberries which we almost killed by stupidly putting wood chips underneath them early in the season. We did not know at the time (but do now!) that woody material requires extra nitrogen to break down...which it stole from the raspberries. Sadly they did not even send out runners this year when we usually have so many we can't give them away. Time will tell if they come back next year or not. But they did set a little fruit for their second harvest (they are everbearing).

The blackberry mini-bramble is doing something, but I already nibbled all of these while I was there the other day.

Now the plot is pretty well cleaned up (if sadly empty). We sowed our winter canola cover crop in the big bed and will probably also do the tomato bed once they are done. Hopefully I can still sow some more in the covered bed and possibly in the pepper bed if those finish up soon.

Our Seed Collection - 2012

2012-09-27T10:06:00.005-04:00

Here is what is in our seed collection right now (or as Garden Betty calls it, our seed vault). Since I'm already shopping for next year I thought I should know what I already have without having to trot all the seeds out periodically. We store our seeds in old peanut butter jars or a ziploc and keep it in a crisper drawer in our fridge. The * indicates the seeds we start indoors. The bolding are the seeds we got mid-season that we will try in 2013.

Beans:

Bean, Brittle Wax (Bush Wax) -OP- Burpee -52 days (1 1/2 pkgs)

Bean, Burpee's Stringless Green Pod- F1 - Burpee- 50days (Bush habit)
Bean, Climbing French - SSE -OP-65-75 days (pole habit)

Brassicas:

Brussels Sprouts- Baker Creek-OP

Kohlrabi, Early White Vienna – Baker Creek - OP

Choko Baby Pakchoi – John Scheepers – 45 – 55 days

Climbers (Peas and Cukes):

Pea, Shelling (Burpeeana Early)-Burpee - 63 days

Pea, Super Sugar Snap (edible podded) - Burpee – 64 days

Cucumber, Burpless Beauty – Burpee – F1- 60 days

Cucumber, Bush Champion - Burpee - F1 - 55 days 58-65 days
Cucumber, Japanese Climbing- SSE -OP

Gourds and Squash/Pumpkins:

Winter Squash, Early Butternut (bush habit) – John Scheepers – 82 days

Potimarron - SSE -85-95 days (saw this in Germany and loved it. SSE is the only place I know of that sells it)
Pumpkin, Early Sweet Sugar Pie--Burpee 90 days

Herbs:

*Basil, Greek - Burpee Fordhook Collection

*Basil, Lime- Burpee Fordhook Collection

*Basil, Genovese – Baker Creek
*Basil, Sweet - Burpee

*Bee Balm, Lemon – Baker Creek

Chamomile, Organic German ( but actually roman)-Garden's Alive-OP- Perennial

Chamomile, Bodegold – John Scheepers - Perennial
Chamomile, Organic German - Garden's Alive
Chervil, Curled -Burpee Fordhook Collection

Chives, Common- Burpee-Perennial
Chives, Common - American Seed
Chives, Common - Burpee Signature
Chives, Garlic - Burpee

*Cilantro, Slo-bolt – Baker Creek
Cilantro, American Seed

Lavender, True - Burpee

*Majoram - Ferry Morse

*Oregano – Burpee
Parsley, Single Italian Plain Leafed - Burpee

*Sage, Broad Leaf -Jiffy Smart Start

*Tarragon -Ferry Morse

*Thyme, Common - Burpee

Nightshade:

*Cherry Tomato, Blondkopfchen-SSE-OP- 75-80 days (yellow)

*Cherry Tomato, Black Cherry- Baker Creek – OP (black/purple)
*Cherry Tomato, Riesentraube- Baker Creek -OP (red)
*Cherry Tomato, Super Sweet 100 –Burpee- F1-70 days (red)

*Tomato, Cherokee Purple – Baker Creek – OP (black/purple)

*Tomato, Costoluto Genovese- Baker Creek-OP (red)

*Tomato, Green Zebra-Baker Creek - OP (green)

*Tomato, Orange Fleshed Purple Smudge- Baker Creek – OP -(multi)

*Tomato, Thessaloniki- Baker Creek-OP-60-80 days (red)

*Eggplant, Rossa Bianca – SSE – OP -80 days

*Pepper, Beaver Dam – SSE – OP-80 days from transplant (mildly hot)

*Pepper, Black Hungarian – SSE – OP 70-80 days from transplant (medium hot)

*Pepper, Garden Sunshine – SSE – OP-80-100 days from transplant (sweet)
*Pepper, Red Mini Bell- Baker Creek (sweet)
Onions:

Onion, Nebuka Bunching- Plantation- 60-65 days
Onion, Yellow Granex - John Scheepers - 150 days

Evergreen Long White Bunching Onions -Burpee- Perennial
Leek, American Flag--Ferry Morse

Shallots, Ambition – John Scheepers--100 days

Root Vegetables:

Beets, Burpee Golden – SSE – 55-60 days
Beets, Cylindra - Burpee - 60 days
Carrot, Nantes Half Long - Burpee - 70 days
Carrot, Short n' Sweet Chantenay - Burpee - 68 days
Parsnip, Hollow Crown- Burpee – OP- 105 days
Radish, French Breakfast – SSE – OP – 30 days
Radish, Asian Watermelon - Burpee - 35 days
Radish, Gourmet Rainbow Mix (Flamboyant French Breakfast (red/white long taper), Fuego (red round), Hailstone (white round), Helios Yellow (round), Pink Celebration (round), Plum Purple (round), Roodkapje (red/white round) and White Icicle (long taper) - John Scheeper- 23-30 days

Turnip, Purple Top White Globe – SSE - 45-65 days

Turnip, Golden Globe - Baker Creek
Salad:

Lettuce, Butter Beauty (butterhead) - Burpee - 75 days
Lettuce, Burpee Bib (butterhead)- Burpee 75 days

Lettuce, Parris Island Romaine – Ferry Morse – OP-68 days

Lettuce, Simpson Elite (looseleaf) –Burpee –OP- 48 days

Mustard Greens – Baker Creek
Japanese Giant Red Mustard Greens - Baker Creek
Flowers:
Echineacea, Majestic Coneflower Mixture- John Scheepers- Perennial
Bells of Ireland -Burpee
Love in a Mist - Baker Creek (2pkgs)
Lupine, Russells Hybrid Mix - Burpee
Sunflower, Tiger Eye Mix - Baker Creek

Garden Nemeses: The Weeds

2012-09-26T13:48:00.000-04:00

Here are some pictures of the plants that make gardening life difficult for us. We consider them weeds, but we realize that what is and isn't a weed is in the eye of the beholder.

The Morning Glory

This is the most invasive weed we have in the community garden. The seeds are spread so thoroughly that we will never eradicate it fully. It grows around our plants, choking them off like a boa constrictor and worst of all, it takes over the deer fence if unchecked. Once we went on vacation for two weeks in July and when we came back our entire plot was a tangle of vines and purple flowers. To make matters worse my husband and I are both allergic to it. Needless to say, the thought that anyone ever grows this on purpose horrifies me.

Here is a morning glory seedling (the heart shaped one in the center):

This is what greeted us when we got back from vacation in 2010. Keep in mind we were gone 2 weeks and the plot was semi-weeded before we left. but we hadn't dealt with the morning glories. As you can see they launched their assault from the fence. Needless to say we no longer go on vacation during garden season.

Horseradish

This is another gem that we inherited in our plot. The main problem with the horseradish is that it is so persistent. You have to dig down at least a foot to get rid of it because it is a parsnip shaped root; just ripping off the greenery doesn't kill it. Somehow it seems to know this and the errant seeds that do the best grow in the inaccessible area between our fence and our neighbors, in the empty spaces in the pallet that makes up the walls of our compost bin, and in the corners of our beds--all of which are extremely difficult to dig out. I have dug the one below out at least 3 times in the last 3 years. But if even one tiny root piece remains, it grows back. It is also frost resistant. At least this one we could eat if we wanted.

Mint

We are in a bit of a detente with the mint at the moment. When we got our plot, this was growing along each fence line and since it spreads through rhizome, it is basically unkillable. (Yet if I try and dig up some to put in a pot at home it dies...oh irony). This year we noticed our largest patch of mint decided to move away from the fence and colonize our sun box and this is where it stayed the whole season until it finally got completely cooked in the August sun. We never opened up the window since we weren't really trying to help it out so I'm sure there were days it was 110+ degrees in the box. Luckily we realized we didn't really need the sun box for growing since we have our low tunnels now and we are fine to use this as our mint containment system from now on. Of all of our weeds this one bothers me the least. It smells beautiful when we rip it up, it doesn't bother the other plants, and we do use it for tea.

Virginia Creeper

This is the most insidious of our weeds because if causes the same types of blisters and rash as poison ivy if you are allergic to poison ivy (which of course we both are). It grows everywhere in norther Virginia including on fences, houses, trees and it turns a lovely red in the fall which is why people like it and treat it as an ornamental. It is coming from outside the trees outside our plot, snaking its way in the space between ours and our neighbor's makeshift fence and growing along the back of the sun box. I tried to kill it last year and am still scarred for my efforts so this time we are waiting til winter to try to eradicate it. I am no fan of round-up and we never use it in the garden but we may trot it out to finally end this.

The Fennel

I'm hesitant to say this, but I think we may have conquered our initial nemesis: fennel herb. Just like Florence fennel but without the bulb part, the top part looks like dill with feathery fronds. It grows a root underground that can be as long as your forearm and weigh up to 5 lbs, and it has to be fully dug out to eradicate it.

Our ENTIRE plot was covered in them (all the stick looking things in the picture). Before we could do anything in our plot we had to dig out every last one. As you can see from the picture below of what our plot looked like when we first got it, the previous owner had tried to smother it with weed block. This had no effect whatsoever. Long after we dug it all out little fennel sprouts would pop up everywhere each year. They look like little carrot tops when they are seedlings. This is the first year that we haven't had more than one or two pop up in our beds so maybe we finally won. Maybe.

September Peppers and Tomatoes

2012-09-22T16:47:00.003-04:00

This year we had planned to forget pepper altogether. The last few years they have only done so-so in our garden and some didn't germinate for us at all. At the last minute I thought, what the heck, and sowed some of the most stubborn seeds when I started the tomatoes indoors. Of course they all germinated and it turned out to be a banner year for peppers. Most exciting of all were finally getting a few Beaver Dam peppers after 2 years of NO germination whatsoever. Now it is September and our peppers are finally coming in and our tomatoes are still going.

Here are a bunch of Garden Sunshine Peppers.

Assorted cherry tomatoes. Aren't they pretty?

Tomato plants still going strong. The Cherokee Purples failed this year (sad face) and our Blondkofpchen crapped out early because of the heat, but our smudges are still going strong along with the Black Cherries.

Some more Black Cherries. This thing is PROLIFIC. Will definitely be planting next year.

Here is our accidental pepper bed. It has definitely benefited from the overflow from our neighbors elaborate drip irrigation system that you can see in the top of the picture. We haven't watered much at all in the last month but they are still going strong.

Here is my garden diva...the Beaver Dam from Seed Saver's Exchange. We still have quite a number of these on the plants. I was so excited when I realized they germinated that I started squealing, "It's a Beaver Dam....a Beaver Dam!!" so of course now my hubby does this every time we bring some home.

Here are some Garden Sunshines turning that lovely orange.Still have lots of these too.

And here is an Orange Fleshed Purple Smudge that actually looks like the picture. Most of them seem to only have the purple when they are still green and then just turn totally orange. Of course I had to have a little hitchhiker peek out right when I took the pic. :sigh: We probably will plant these again next year because they are a great theft deterrent tomato...if you aren't in the know that they are supposed to look like this they just look diseased or not ripe yet.

What a lovely sight!

Eternal Gardening Optimism: A review of "The $64 Tomato"

2012-09-19T07:56:00.000-04:00

As this year's gardening season begins to close I find myself taking stock of what worked, what didn't and what I want to try/change/do next year. This happens at the end of each season but the one noticeable characteristic of this yearly assessment is how quickly I focus on all the ways the garden will be *better* next year. My mind has almost tunnel vision, immediately forgetting the garden dramas of this season and instead imagining the garden of next year which of course will have no pests, no blights, perfect germination, amazing yields, and enjoy wonderful weather all season. We have been gardening for a few years now so of course we know this is not possible and yet, I spend most of the fall and winter of each year in this magical mind place. I never really thought about this little yearly leap from reality until I read the book "The $64 Tomato: How One Man Nearly Lost His Sanity, Spent a Fortune, and Endured an Existential Crisis in the Quest for the Perfect Garden" by William Alexander.

I read this a while back and enjoyed it so much I had hubby read it too. The quick synopsis is that he and his family move to the Hudson Valley in NY and are able to build a garden, which he does on a mammoth scale which overwhelms him as the years go on. He chronicles his adventures some of which are laugh out loud funny and some that give him very amusing insights including why reel lawn mowers aren't worth the trouble (quotable observation "I bought this mower so you won't have to"); why you probably won't win against the critters eating your garden produce (quotable observation "you may be smarter, but they have more time"); why gardeners can't vacation in the summer; and one of my favorites, when he realizes that he created his own ultimate garden nemesis by accidentally encouraging an accelerated natural selection process of woodchucks on his property that weeded out all the dumb ones leaving only a very savvy "super chuck" who could get through the strongest electric fence to feast on his heirloom tomatoes. But his greatest insight will likely resonate with gardeners everywhere: he observes that most gardeners are filled with an overwhelming optimism each year that trumps whatever bad experiences they've had in their garden previously. Simply put, gardeners favor "optimism over experience."

This struck a chord with me because I am the queen of this. Here are some of the flights from reality that I have been on at the end of seasons past: So what that the Mexican Bean Beetle ate all our beans this year; it can't happen two years in a row, right? (the reality check: of course it can!). Who cares that most of our heirloom tomato plants got burned from the extreme sun and heat this year; next year the weather will be perfect! (the reality check: it will likely be just like this year). What does it matter that we have not yet been successful growing cucumbers in the garden? Next year we will try a different trellis system/place in the garden/watering amount, etc and it will finally work. I could go on but you get the idea and if you love gardening you probably do this to. This used to drive my hubby crazy but thanks to this book, now he just chuckles at me and says "I know, I know...optimism over experience."

If the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results, then aren't all gardeners insane? No because we do try different things to fix the problems we've encountered. But as Mr. Alexander points out, for some reason we just forget all the bad stuff, or rather, don't forget it but give it less weight in our minds and instead seem to focus only on all the ways that our garden will be better next year. Given how much effort it takes to keep a garden going, especially an organic one where everything is grown from seed in a community garden that is hyper pest infested, this is probably what gives us (me and hubby) the mental energy to do this year after year. It is a little mental sabbatical that gets us ready to throw all our physical energy into the endeavor one more time.

This matters this year especially because for me, this was a very frustrating gardening year. I was hugely pregnant and then had a newborn for most of the gardening season and had to leave all actual garden work to my husband, living vicariously through him. Sure I contributed a little, making seed tape, planting lists & diagrams, and diagnosing plant problems via cell phone pictures but it's just not the same thing. This experience could have put me off the whole gardening thing altogether. But remarkably, all that is already forgotten and my mind is already in that dream garden....of next year.

Definitely read "The $64 Tomato" if you get a chance because it is definitely one of the best gardening narrative books I've read in a while.

I should add as a disclaimer that some people found parts of this book offensive from an animal rights point of view because of how he deals with deer, opossums, woodchucks and other critters invading his garden (based on a quick skim through amazon reviews). I'm not going to judge him because I haven't gardened where he has and for people who are able to never use a pesticide and can live in harmony with their unwanted visitors, good on you. But some of us are in absolute wars in our gardens and sometimes extreme measures can be necessary if you want to feed yourself. Not saying I condone all the stuff he does in the book (re: opossum), but it happens.

Single Stemming Tomatoes: Does it work?

2012-08-24T12:36:00.001-04:00

Since out tomato plants are winding down I thought I would do a review of the new approach we tried with them this year. Instead of cages, we grew them on a trellis and we "single-stemmed" them.

What the heck is single-stemming?

Single-Stemming requires you to pinch off the suckers (those extra tomato stems that grow in the notch between the stem and branch of the plant) so that the tomato grows mainly on one stem with only main branches. This allows the plant to focus on setting fruit instead of growing more greenery. When the tomato reaches the top of the trellis you top it off so that the plant focuses the rest of its energy on the remaining fruit below.

We have tried to do this in previous years but it is much more difficult to get to all of the plant when it is caged and after a week or two we usually forget. Then overnight the plant sprawls everywhere and we give up. Not this year. After we saw the youtube video below we were convinced that if we did this religiously it would yield us more tomatoes.

Even though we don't square foot garden (after our very bad experience year 1 of community gardening), this convinced us that in addition to the single-stemming we should also try trellising again. We made really inexpensive trellises year 1 from conduit we bent to shape at Home Depot. But unlike years past, we bought trellis netting this year instead of using single strands of jute, nylon cord, and other trellis materials we have used before (which have all buckled under the weight of the plant before the end of the season).

How did it all work out?

Following this method we were able to fit many more tomatoes in our tomato bed. The trellis netting held the plants up exceptionally well as long as we stayed on top of weaving the new branches through the squares in the net. The single stemming kept the plant looking lean and orderly and still allowed it to set tons of flowers that turned into many, many tomatoes.

Also, we had better air flow that I believe prevented the spread of disease. Our garden neighbor usually crams 20 tomato plants in his 4x8 beds and invariably they are disease ridden by early June. This doesn't bother him because he has so many plants that enough survive to meet his needs, but to us, with our handful of plants, this is very worrisome. This year it was particularly bad, and I feared that it would quickly spread to my heirlooms (which have no specially bred disease resistance) that were only a few feet away.

But lo and behold, it is the end of the summer and whatever was affecting our neighbor's didn't bother ours. We did eventually end up with a little blight but even that took a long time to spread to all our plants, and I believe the air flow made the difference.

The final verdict:

Single-stemming plus deep watering (post coming soon) is the way to go. This is definitely how we plant to grow all our tomatoes in future seasons. The results make it worth the extra work.

Shared on Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways #41

Also shared on Simple Lives Thursday #110

August Photo Update: Tomatoes

2012-08-11T15:44:00.002-04:00