New year new garden

So I sort of slacked off at the end of the year last year. Because of the crazy warm weather I still had some crops until early January. Greens and radishes mostly. Christmas came and went.

Cats were dressed like Santa and I got a tiller and money to buy equipment. I purchased a grow light, will be starting some seeds indoor this year. Also got some more obscure seeds, want to experiment with new things this year.

Not a whole lot to take pictures of yet. I finally expanded the plot into an actual rectangle instead of the weird L shape I was working with. 600 total feet, I drew up an actual plan with paths and other neat stuff instead of just throwing plants in a totally random fashion. About 400 square foot of growing space. I am also building a raised bed on the side of the house, about 40 square feet, that will be for experimenting with square foot gardening techniques. Haven't built it yet though, so no pictures.

Things I will grow for sure this year; Beets (red and chioggia), cabbage, lettuces, spinach (bloomsdale and new zealand), rainbow chard, onions, shallots, potatoes, tomatoes, squash (red kuri, ronde de nice, pattypan, and the regulars), pole beans, sugar peas, broccoli raab, garlic, cucumbers, horseradish, radishes (round red, black spanish, sparkler), arugula, and I will have to find room for some watermelon for my grandmother.


Will update with seedlings soon hopefully!

Slacker

I have been slacking on the updates.  Oops :)

I have a new pal. She made a nest next to my house and likes to pick bugs right after I water. I also have a toad in the garden, eating all my slugs. He is a good toad.

These are the pole beans in June. They are extremely prolific producers. I hace more beans then I know what to do with. Been freezing some.

Swiss chard in June.

And last night

Cayenne peppers

Red Cabbages

Collard greens. Also a prolific producer. Can basically take as many leaves as wanted and it keeps growing.

Golden Peach tomato

That is basically how it looks right now. Plant health has been pretty good. One heirloom tomato(ol mr stripey) and a zuchinni plant have died. The zuchinni was producing a lot then ended up with some sort of apparent rot.  I thought it was a borer worm at first but it wasn't. Watermelons and cucumbers have small fruits on them.  Tomatos are starting to ripen. Eggplant has flowered but no fruit yet.  Cabbages need to be picked and I need to start clearing out the old broccoli plants to make room for fall crops. I will be planting more carrots, radishes, bok choy, mustard greens, kale, daikon radish spinach and lettuce.  I need a bigger garden.

Herb Garden

In my quest to get rid of all grass(which I have a rational hatred for) I have decided to expand this thing and make it into a full herb garden.  When i first bought the house there was grass and a dead tree there. Little did I know I was going to get really into gardening, so I just built this shoddy bed and threw plants in randomly.

I expanded it out the back, dug up the holly in the middle and put in under a window on the side of the house, moved whatever the other two bushes are back(some kind of elderbush) and added herbs in the middle. Rasberries and blueberries on both sides, and I am digging up the grass all around the outside and planting blue liriope.

Now it is basically done, just need to finish mulching and graveling. And possibly plant one more raspberry in the back left corner.

Too hot

Well the weather has been atrocious. Things are growing a little bit slower, but still going well overall.

Squash peppers and tomatoes are starting to produce. I am still managing to get a little bit of broccoli, as long as I pick the florets when they are very small before they flower.  In the process of eating the cabbages as well.  The cooler weather crops are holding up to the heat surprisingly well.

Green zebra tomatoes.  All the tomatoes are doing well, except for poor Mr. Stripey who contracted some sort of wilt.  RIP Mr Stripey!

Cabbages.  Before they were eaten.  Left the bases and stems to try and grow some cabbage sprouts, may be too hot for that though.

My favorite squash, Crookneck squash.  

Baby peppers forming.  I don't remember which one this is, Mexibell I think.

Snap peas in the foreground, the trellis's in the background are for winter squash to grow up on. Hopefully.

Pole beans! They have been loving the heat.

Watermelon and some bizarre failed attempt at a trellis for it. The trellis is just too small.

Baby swiss chard. Growing slow in the heat, but not bolting :)

Snap peas are delicious. One of my favorite things in the garden.

Speaking of the winter squash, here are some of the seedlings. Late to the party but finally sprouting. I have about 7 hills of winter squash seedlings going.

Last, but certainly not least the beginnings of some royal beans. Yay for purple beans.











All in all it is going fairly well. The cauliflower never produced a head, they're gone. Kohlrabis have all been eaten, radishes are almost all eaten and cabbages will be gone soon as well. May start a little bit of corn but that is about it for planting between now and the end of July. I may start another row of beans or swiss chard before then. I built an herb garden in my front yard, will update that next.

Memorial Day update

Ate some of the kohlrabi. Interesting taste, but good enough I bought a packet of seeds to grow more. Also some radish greens and broccoli in there. The radishes took too long to grow, they ended up really spicy.










The pole beans are shooting up fast, starting to grab onto the trellis

Stonehead cabbages are about ready to harvest, the red cabbages are taking longer to produce heads. They also got bigger then I expected, I planted them too close together. Oops :)

Red cabbage

Stonehead Cabbage

Collard Greens

Collard greens are filling out well. May have to stake them up sometime soon.

Onion flower

I left onions in over winter, they wouldn't bulb up but I am about to collect their seeds for next year.

Carrots coming up

I really need to weed.  Everything is nice and green though :)

I have sometime before I plant falls crops, so the only thing I have left to plant for a bit are these guys.  I am going to try and build a wooden trellis to support them to save some space.  Planting them were the kohlrabis where, and will let them grow into the cabbage space after I pick them.

Picture Time

 This is the left side of the garden in early May.

Early May

My spinach decided to bolt earlier this week. It was still tasty, but I wish it had held out a little longer to get a bigger harvest. I did need the space though, so it worked out.

This is a kohlrabi. One of several things I have planted that I had never eaten before. The leaves I have been picking and using as greens, and the base will eventually turn into an orb which I plan on stuffing and eating.

The trellis in the foreground is for snap peas, and the large one with string to the left in the background is for pole beans.

 Heirloom tomatoes in their cages.

Stonehead and red cabbages

Baby broccoli

Crookneck squash

Stonehead cabbage

Last picture is a lot of broccoli. I currently have several types of beans sprouting, and swiss chard and collard greens to keep me in greens while it warms up.  The zucchinis and squash are starting to fill out.  I would like to plant some watermelons but they take up a lot of space so I will have to find a good place for them.

Plant list

I will update with more pictures later, but here is a list of what I have planted so far.
 
3/17-Brussels sprouts, broccoli, red cabbage, cauliflower
3/18-Buttercrunch lettuce, collard greens, spinach
3/21-kohlrabi, stonehead cabbage
4/6-carrots, snap peas
4/26-radishes
5/2-lima beans, royal beans, green beans, yellow squash, zucchini, bell & banana peppers,
5/4-Peppers-jalapeno, cubanelle, cayenne, mexibell, red hot cherry
5/12-Pole beans(spanish musica), swiss chard, bunch onions, cucumbers
5/17-chocolate beauty pepper, heirloom tomatoes (garden peach, mortgage lifter, sungold, white, mr. stripey, brandywine, cherokee purple, green grape, green zebra, la roma)

And the picture is my new enemy, the cabbage worm