This week I took time to browse through a stack of catalogs and picked out quite a few new varities of veggies that I wanted to try. In one of my previous posts in a fall I said I'll keep it simple and will plant only those veggies that we do eat. But I will keep outside of the garden area for experimental veggies - if they survive all animals that is. That way inside the garden premium space won't be wasted..
I did get more beans to try because last year we didn't really get any to eat and I didn't save seeds so had to restock. I won't plant as many varieties of tomatoes this year but will increase peppers. My "seeds 2014" page shows inventory of ALL seeds, plants, trees and shrubs that we have in or outside the house - not necessary of what I will be planting. That part I'm yet to decide. I know what I will not plant for sure - they are listed in italic font and these seeds will be going to a local community garden for new users. I also have more greens than I can count but it won't hurt to plant them as they'll b done before summer and before tomatoes and peppers will be planted. I have some more that people sent me to sort and catalog but that will wait till next weekend.
And I'm also waiting to see what my coworkers will pick for me to try - I made it into a game for them. They have to look through the catalog and find 1 item that they never tried before that looks fantastic and sounds like will taste great and can grow in zone 6. So far only 1 person picked something I did not have before - strawberry spinach, so of course I had to order it. Can't wait to see what others come up with.
How does your garden planning coming along?
First Harvest in 2014
Happy New Year everyone! It's been a very nice and quiet time since last time I've posted, but the cold weather makes me wish for warm and sunny spring. It doesn't help that all these seed catalogs started to come in. And I got a wonderful present from Dave from Our Happy Acres with bunch of seeds! So of course the seed-itch started and I've started planning my new season. I will post updated seed list shortly, after i get it all organized.
This weekend I also checked my hoophouse to see if anything survived the bitter cold that we had for several weeks - at one point it went to -8 with windchills at -20. I doubt that my figts or persimon survived but will have to wait and see what happens in spring. But hoophouse seem to protect some of the parsley and carrots and I was even able to harvest few carrots for dinner.
So this weekend I will browse through what I have, order more seeds as I want to try few new things this year and start making seed-mats.
How does your garden doing these days? Check with Daphne at http://daphnesdandelions.blogspot.com/ for other harvests.
This weekend I also checked my hoophouse to see if anything survived the bitter cold that we had for several weeks - at one point it went to -8 with windchills at -20. I doubt that my figts or persimon survived but will have to wait and see what happens in spring. But hoophouse seem to protect some of the parsley and carrots and I was even able to harvest few carrots for dinner.
How does your garden doing these days? Check with Daphne at http://daphnesdandelions.blogspot.com/ for other harvests.
Closing garden for the year with last of the harvests
It's been a while since I posted any updates. We've had hard frost down to 20 degrees couple of nights so all garden items other than under the covers have been removed. You can see few last tomatoes and peppers from 3 weeks ago, onions and potatoes that were picked earlier but not weighted in - these are the last of our onions. Definitely will need to plant a lot more next year. Turnips are plentiful but too strong so won't be planting this variety again. Winter carrots are hanging in there - we've been picking few here and there for meals. Still have greens - parsley, arugula and salads and some remaining herbs. And today picked out the rest of the leeks and scallions from small bed by the shed - it was overrun with weeds so leeks came out pretty small. But of course it's more than enough for us for winter.
Planting Garlic and Harvest weekend
It's been very slow two weeks. We get few greens and remaining tomatoes and peppers for meals. And picked up our "surprise" watermelon. It wasn't hot enough for it to fully ripen but it was still tasty. Also picked up some turnips, one of the fall carrots that is very twisted; and found a nice Maitake in the local park under an old oak tree.
And this weekend I planted some of my garlics - German Porcelain Garlic (left) that I had this year and plenty left for winter, Inchelium Red Garlic (right), and Kettle River Giant (middle) that I ordered new to try.
The new varieties are soft-neck and supposed to have nice flavor with long shelf-life. Will see how they'll perform in my garden and if the flavor is as good as described. I will plant second wave of more German Porcelain next weekend in large garden bed to have more for green garlic for cooking in spring - I really like their scapes.
End of September harvest
This week's harvest is very basic - herbs, onions, potatoes and peppers and a handful of remaining tomatoes. Not in the picture are radishes, turnips, kale and beans - they were eaten before I realized that pictures were not taken. After all that parsley was cleared from bed we found a nice watermelon still growing - its stem is still green so we're not picking it just yet.
Visit Daphne's Dandelions to see how other gardeners are doing with their harvest each Monday.
September 22 harvest
Things are slowly getting back to normal at home, but garden is lagging behind. I'm not allowed to work on it for a while as I'm not allowed to bend or pick up anything heavy. But things do get harvested little by little. Tomatoes are pretty much over, only few remaining plants are still hanging in there - black cherry, black brandywine, red zebra, and azoychka being picked. Peppers finally woke up and producing like crazy so I'm happy with them - plenty for my hubby's meals. Parsley and kale are also on overdrive, young turnips that were planted in first week of August are being picked now, and two remaining ears of corn - second generation on old stalks were picked.
Visit Daphne's Dandelions to see how other gardeners are doing with their harvest each Monday.
Happy September Harvest
It's been a very long two weeks for me here, including one week vacation in Vermont at the end of August, which was fabulously relaxing in a really beautiful mountain settings. While I was away most of the harvesting was done by my sister but most of it was also not measured so no pictures of those harvests. She did help me dug up a bed of potatoes from the large garden, so one of these days I'll try to weight it together with remaining onions but it won't be for a while longer. When we came back I did pick few items for eating with pictures below.
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