Looking Ahead to Winter Sowing

I've started collecting empty gallon milk jugs for winter sowing, which I plan to start at the end of January.  This worked so well for me last year, that I hope to do more this year, and to try out more kinds of plants with it.

Carrot Seedlings

The veggies I planted last month are continuing to grow.  Pictured here are the carrots. They're growing in a large wheeled container, so I can move it into my little greenhouse before the first hard freeze. It's unheated, but even so, these carrots will give me and my bunnies fresh crunchies later this winter.

Fall Vegetables Emerge

 

Lettuce seedlings

Back earlier in September I planted lettuce and carrots in a large planter, so that I'll have fresh veggies on into the winter for myself and my bunnies. Both are plants that can handle cooler temperatures.  Plus, once freezing temperatures come, I'll move the planter into my pop-up greenhouse, which should keep them going quite a while.

Mid-September Harvest

Here's a photo of what I picked from my garden today.  I enjoyed fresh tomatoes at noon, and this evening, had sweet corn and cantaloupe.  Tomorrow evening I plan to have pepper steak.

Starting Fall Vegetables

The flowers in one of my wheeled planters were dying off, so I pulled up the drying plants.  I dug in some fresh compost to revitalize the soil, and wet it through.  Then I planted lettuce and carrots.

Tonight's Harvest

Fresh From the Garden

Stacking planter for strawberries

This morning out in the garden I loaded up my little harvest basket: several cucumbers, tomatoes, and a few strawberries.  There are several peppers that should be ready in few days, and the sweet corn is getting closer to ripe.  One cantaloupe is nearly full size, but still pretty green, two more nearly ripe; and the watermelon vine has two little melons coming along.

Salad Time

A friend gave me a big batch of baby spring greens the other day.  Combined with my fresh-picked tomatoes, cucumbers, and sweet peppers, I've been having some wonderful salads all weekend. 

Melon Thieves

Damaged cantaloupe

Over the last couple of weeks, I'd been checking regularly on my cantaloupe vines, as a couple of melons were growing closer to ripening.  This morning I went out to the garden, and found that overnight, something had got hold of the melons and eaten them.

Caterpillars on the Parsley

Black swallowtail larvae on parsley

This evening I found eight little caterpillars on one parsley plant that I am growing in a mixed container out on the patio, and fifteen more on another plant out in the veggie garden. They are fascinating-looking little guys, mostly black with white stripes. Even though I hate to lose the parsley, I'm leaving them alone to enjoy their meal. I hope that at least some of them make it to adulthood, as they are the larval stage of a really lovely butterfly, the black swallowtail.

Bitter Cucumbers

Cucumber vine after rain

Part of the cucumber I had for supper tasted bitter.  I cut off the end that had been nearest the stem, and peeled the rest, and it tasted okay.  It wasn't too surprising to run into this bitterness, as we've had some hot weather recently.

Veggie Garden, early July

Tonight I picked a lovely tomato to slice onto my sandwich; the first large tomato from my garden this year.  Up to now it had been cherry tomatoes coming ripe, which are great for salads and snacks, but I do love fresh tomato for sandwiches.  There are lots more green tomatoes that should be ripening soon.

Regrowing Veggies, update

Regrowing lettuce

Earlier I wrote about regrowing vegetables from kitchen scraps. Here is what the romaine lettuce looks like after another week.

As you can see, the new little leaves have grown quite a bit over the last week, and are a nice dark green.

Edible Garden, mid-June

Tonight I picked some more peas.  I really love fresh, tender little peas. It's too bad they're such a cool-weather crop, and die off as summer heat sets in.  They're already starting to dry out, so I won't be getting them for much longer.  Every year I plant one or two of my raised garden beds with peas.  Once the season for them is over, I can plant other things in those beds.

Re-Growing Vegetables

Romaine lettuce re-sprouting

Right now I have two pots in my kitchen where I am re-sprouting the root stub from a bunch of romaine lettuce. Once I'd pulled off the leaves to eat, I put the root end into a small pot of soil, and watered it.  Be sure you don't cover the whole thing with soil, just the lower part. I put the pots near a window where they get good light, and check every morning to make sure the soil stays moist.  It is especially important not to let the soil dry out that first week. The photo shows what happens after about a week.  Small leaves are sprouting again.

Early Tomatoes

Baby tomatoes

My tomato plants are flowering, and some have little green tomatoes.  Can't wait for them to ripen, so I can enjoy that wonderful home-grown taste!

Getting a Start on Vertical Gardening

When a garden has only limited space, one way to make the most of every inch is to support vining plants to grow up rather than to sprawl across the ground. I've learned so much from the the wonderful Square Foot Gardening books by Mel Bartholomew.  He has some great suggestions for making the most of small garden areas, and the close placement of plants in a series of small beds.

Eggshells for the Garden

Another of the things from my kitchen that I save for use in the garden is eggshells.  I rinse them well, and save them in a plastic bag until I have enough to bother with (or feel the need for them). Then I use a rolling pin to crush them while they're still in the bag.  You want them crushed pretty well to a powder. You could also put the shells in a plastic bucket and grind them with the bottom of a glass jar or another hard object as a make-shift mortar and pestle.

Edible Garden Update

Strawberries in stacking planter

This morning I picked six strawberries. There are lots more that should be ripe in the next several days.  I don't have a large strawberry bed; just one small area along the driveway, and the stacking planter described in a recent post.  But it's enough to give me a handful of tasty berries day after day here in the spring; and since those planted in the stacking planter are an ever-bearing variety, I get a few along throughout the summer. Even a few strawberries are great on cereal or salads.

March in the Garden

Leaf lettuce

This is a photo of the leaf lettuce I planted in my little plastic green-house back in December.  It's taken it a lot longer than a late spring planting outside normally would to get rolling, but now I've got plenty of fresh mixed greens for myself and my bunnies.