Fall Planting Begins

It seems that summer crops have just begun.  I got my first tomato today and I'm still waiting for my melons to ripen.  I also just harvested numerous broccoli heads from my spring planting.  Then I looked at my garden planner and saw that this week I need to get broccoli and cabbage seeds started inside.  Already!

I love how I map out my garden plan in the middle of winter while cozy on the couch, likely with a cup of tea.  It seems that anything is possible.  When I looked at my layout, I planned to have an entire row devoted to broccoli this fall.  That amounts to 124 broccoli plants!  The problem is that broccoli has to be started inside long before it gets planted in the garden, which means I need to plant and grow 124 broccoli seedlings while harvesting, weeding and preserving a busy summer garden.  We will see if this happens.  I do love broccoli.  It is one of my favorite vegetables.  I remember making this plan and dreaming of having so much broccoli that I freeze the excess.

I did decide to slightly alter the plan and attempt growing some cauliflower and Brussels sprouts.  I have never been successful growing cauliflower and had one successful attempt at Brussels sprouts.  It has been awhile since my last try, so why not.  I had planned to spread out my broccoli seed planting over the next three weeks.  This week I ended up planting six cauliflower, three Brussels sprouts and 33 broccoli along with ten cabbage (three Golden Acre, three Charleston, three Late Flate Dutch and one Red Cabbage).

 The seedling tray will stay inside where temperatures are cool until they germinate.  Then I will move them to the screened back porch that gets morning sun and afternoon shade until they are ready to be transplanted into the garden.

Here's to fall gardening in early July!

Harvest Monday

I need to pinch myself.  Is it really the end of November and I just ate a fresh salad from my garden?  Or maybe I should kick myself for not planting a fall/winter garden sooner!

This week in the garden I pulled some turnips that I roasted.  The turnip greens are sitting in the fridge awaiting that fabulous recipe that's going to make me love them!

I cut some lettuce for salad- it's a mix of green leaf, romaine and a mesclun mix.  I'm so use to my lettuce getting bitter that I nibble the ends before adding.  Very nice to have bitter free lettuce!  And yes, the strawberries are still producing at the end of November.

I also pulled the first radishes from the fall garden.

I think fall/ winter gardening is now my favorite- no 100 degree weather, 100% humidity, mosquitoes, chiggers, overabundant pests or rampant weeds! 

To see what others are harvesting check out Harvest Monday at Daphne's Dandelions.

Fall Colors

This weekend has been perfect autumn weather with blue skies and beautiful colors on the trees.  Here are some of the pretty colors I found in the backyard and beyond..

A kaleidoscope of colors on an oak leaf:

 

Vivid dogwoods against the blue sky:

Focusing on a single dogwood leaf- such amazing colors:

Then there are the yellows, like this American beech:

Looking up through the layer of leaves:

Thought it looked nifty to blur the leaves into a jumble of color:

 

Back into focus is a view of the woods and the bird feeder through the leaves:

And finally, we took the canoe to the Catawba River and here's Domino checking out the autumn leaves on the bank:

There is such beauty in every season, but autumn wins for colors.. well, until spring flowers come!  I suppose the lesson is to enjoy of the beauty of the moment. 

Garden Goals: November

The days are getting shorter and the leaves are falling from the trees.  Normally I would be done with the garden after the first frost, but this year I'm trying to extend my season.  So, here's November's gardening goals:

• Clean up garden: I need to pull the eggplants and clean up the herb garden.
• Add manure to beds as they are cleaned up.
• Mulch: rake up leaves, get Jeff to mow them and add to beds
• Plant the winter garden: This is my experimental garden because I have no clue if seeds are going to germinate this late in the year, much less grow and mature.  I guess I will find out!
• Cover beds: since I ended up getting much more row cover than I originally needed, I'm going to make a cold frame for the broccoli.  The broccoli seem to be taking their time and I don't know if they are going to make it before it gets too cold.  I may make another frame for one of the fall beds too.
• Harvest and eat fall veggies!

Well, I guess this means I should get moving and get off the couch.  Happy November gardening!

Revisiting those October Garden Goals

A new month is sneaking up around the corner, so it's time to check on those October gardening goals.

• Clean-up garden:  I finally parted with the tomatoes, still have some paths to rid of weeds and grass.
• Harvest peanuts:  Peanuts are drying at the moment, one more week until roasting and eating!
• Dry herbs: Mint, basil, and oregano are currently drying in the potting shed.
• Plant garlic:  I didn't plan ahead with my garlic and did not order any, so I ended up going to the grocery store and buying a couple of organic garlic bulbs.  I've never grown garlic before and I'm hoping they will grow!
• Order bulbs: Sadly, bulbs did not fit into my budget this year.  I had some way too expensive car repairs (very angry at Toyota right now!!) and decided that flower bulbs were going to have to wait until next year :(
• Add compost: I got my alpaca manure and added it to the beds I cleared.  There will be more to do as the fall crops finish and I clear the eggplants and peppers. 
• Plant cover crops: I have three beds with cover crops growing.  Just planted the peanut beds with cover crops and hope they will germinate.  I had read about planting cover crops around fall crops.  I tried this with my brussel sprouts, but it seems the cover crops are taking over!  I do like the look of cover crops.  Nice to have something green instead of exposed dirt.

• Mulch:  The trees haven't dropped many of their leaves yet, so this is going to have to wait until next month.
• Make cold frame: I'm having two cold frames.  For one I am using the bottom of the trellis frame for the structure.  The other I assembled with plastic tubing and rebar.  I will be covering these with Agribon+ AG-19 row covers.  Hopefully this will work!

• Finish planting fall garden:  Fall garden planted!  I realized I've never grown turnips and even though they look smaller than I expected I'm afraid those lines might mean they are getting overripe.  Should I pull them??  

• Paint potting shed trim:  Definitely made progress, but not completely done.  One more side of trim to paint.

Not too shabby for October!  November should be a bit less busy, which is  good because I`m ready for a break!

Fall Garden

It's that time of the year to clear out the spent summer crops and get ready for a fall garden.  Since I missed early spring with all the garden renovations, I am excited to get a second chance with the cool season crops.  One crop that I have always had problems with is peas.  I never get them in the ground early enough in the spring and they quickly wilt and die in the SC sun.  I'm hoping that I can have some pea success in the fall.  I may have gone overboard by planting four different varieties and at least 30 seeds of each. Stay tuned to find out if I get buried under a pile of peas!

Next up in the fall garden are the root crops.  I'm excited about the colorful carrots and beets- never had a purple carrot before!  I'm also not sure about the difference between turnips and rutabagas- they look a lot alike.  Maybe I don't need to plant both, but I guess I will find out how similar they taste.  I've never grown or even eaten kohlrabi.  It's my fall garden adventure crop!


I also planted several varieties of lettuce, kale, swiss chard, broccoli, cauliflower, and brussels sprouts.  Radishes and garlic will be on the planting to do list in couple of weeks.  I find the hardest part about growing a fall garden is keeping the seeds from drying out.  I use vermiculite to help hold in the moisture, which also seems to help the carrot seeds to germinate.  Luckily the forecast for the week has lots of rain, although tonight the rain has been coming down for awhile.  Hoping seeds don't float away!