October 22, 2012

Crepe Myrtle tree brightens up in our front yard.

Garlic row.

Our third crop of broccoli at the new place is finally approaching the quality that we achieved in the old garden, where we would routinely see broccoli heads a foot across and larger.  The head shown below was still growing when we photographed it, and it did reach 12 inches.  It has taken 2.5 years to amend our subdivision soil with compost, leaf mulch, and a cover crop of red clover in order to boost fertility to the point where it really pays to grow organically.  There are nine heads this size ready to harvest now, and what we cannot eat fresh will be blanched and frozen for later.

A cabbage head or two could be harvested also; they weight about five pounds each and are still growing.  Garlic is shooting up.  Red clover is beginning to turn our future corn patch from brown to vibrant green.

Not much else is green, however, and our attention is turned upward to trees of many types that have caught the hint that it's autumn!  Morning temperatures have consistently been in the mid 30's F on our hill top, and sunny warm days to follow are excellent for creating anthocyanin in leaves, the pigment that gives them their flaming red-orange colors.  If this weather pattern continues, we are in for a very colorful show by early November.

Broccoli head, 10 inches across.

October 8, 2012

Broccoli heads, baseball sized, are swelling for a late October harvest

Last week's warm temperatures put the brakes on the annual color change; the traditional foliage peak in South Carolina comes second weekend of November, and it looks like we are on target. 

Cabbage heads are softball size.

Next year's corn patch was re-tilled, raked, and leveled before several pounds of red clover seed were broadcast and watered in.  Our summer flowers are composting while pansies and chrysanthemums add some welcome color.  It’s time to tuck our garden in for the winter, and we’re already covering it with a layer of cardboard and fallen leaves through which we will plant next year.

The only plants in active growth now are some greens, parsley, cabbage, broccoli, brussels sprouts, and one volunteer tomato plant.  The tomato just blossomed this weekend, and we'll see what happens; it will probably be blackened by the first frost if we don't pot it up to bring indoors.

We're thinking ahead to the big winter project we're planning this year:  building a chicken coop.  By this time next year, we hope to be enjoying our own fresh free-range chicken eggs from chicks we raise next spring and summer.

"Fall is a gift.  A house warmed by the memory of a sore back and splinters, and a kitchen table blessed by food there as a result of dirty fingernails, sunburn, and compost is a great and generous gift.  Enjoy your fall - we are each granted a finite number of them, and it is a vast mistake to let any go by without cherishing the moments that make them real."  -Brent Olson,  Living The Country Life Fall 2012 Vol. II, No. 4, p. 40.

The garden in October.

September 24, 2012

Meyer lemon tree ripens fruit.

It's about time to pull up those old summer border flowers and replace them with chrysanthemums and pansies.  Wild garlic is starting to sprout after its summer hibernation underground; its tell-tale aroma is noticeable when mowing the lawn.  That means any time now we could plant the largest of our hardneck garlic cloves saved from May's harvest, to grow through the winter.  Last year, we didn't plant our garlic until late October, and we're determined to get an earlier start.  The pumpkins have to come out first, however, to make room, and that's a chore - vines have spread everywhere and are setting new fruits.  Did you know that tender green pumpkins can be eaten just like zucchini?

Gladiolus bulbs harvested and curing
for winter storage.

As soon as our summer vegetable patch can be tilled, we will be broadcasting several pounds of red clover seed purchased from the local feed and seed store.  If you've been reading this blog regularly, you know that red clover is our favorite green manure crop because it converts nitrogen from the air and stores it, boosting both soil nutrition and adding plenty of organic humus.

Cabbage and broccoli have taken off, growing to mature size.  Tiny button heads of broccoli are visible in the crown of each plant.  Depending on how much moisture we see in the coming weeks, it won't be long.  Brussels sprouts take 120 days to harvest, longer than many pumpkins; transplanted in August, they won't begin to produce until December.

Broccoli and cabbage plants.

September 17, 2012

Apples turned into tempting treats as the first day of Autumn approaches.

This was garden clean-up week:  tomato vines and their cages uprooted, bean plants pulled, pruners lost in the rubble, wheelbarrow run a marathon, compost bin more stuffed than a Thanksgiving turkey!  The whole family was involved.  Our gigantic pile of sticks is reduced to ashes over the barren garden, helping to clean the slate on stubborn grasses waging war to win back the land we are trying to transform.

Giant grey striped sunflower seed head.

A very few vegetables remain, some carrots, bell peppers, and all the winter squashes; sunflower seeds are ready to be harvested and roasted, or left for the birds.  Our fall garden is progressing nicely as cabbage and broccoli plants stretch out to fill the empty spaces between.

Day and night are now nearly 12 hours each as the impending equinox changes the calendar officially to the autumn season.  The sun is rising due east and is setting due west.  Our myrtle trees are already coloring up and dropping their leaves, while dogwood and red maple are showing noticeable tint.  It's time to sit back with a glass of fresh apple cider and take in the wonder of God's creation.  Soon enough we'll be pulling jars of canned produce out of the pantry to supplement what little fresh we can find as the weeks get colder.

Cabbages (top row), broccoli (middle), and brussels sprouts.

September 10, 2012

Brussels sprouts, broccoli, and cabbage mulched
with fresh lawn trimmings.

One valuable item our property is producing with wild abandon in these early days of a wet September is grass - a whole acre of it!  For once we have much more than we need to mulch our new cole crops, which are coming along very nicely after transplanting.  We have a lot of dry, brown carbon materials in our compost bin right now, so the wet green nitrogen in grass will be a perfect combination to help boost our compost output.

Red bell peppers finish ripening.

We are very close to the end of our summer vegetable patch.  All summer long we have been gathering fallen sticks, prunings and trimmings in a big brush pile 10 ft. long x 5 ft. wide x 5 ft. high.  If we get a dry week, we will move it to the garden and burn - removing and killing surface weed seeds, and adding potash to the soil.  Next month we will plant red clover in anticipation of rotating our corn crop over where the vegetable garden was this year.

The garden in September.  A large Prizewinner pumpkin matures in the top-right corner.

August 27, 2012

A Prizewinner pumpkin grows large and orange-red as summer comes to an end.

It's time to get rid of the old to make room for the new.  Two hundred eighty-eight corn stalks were macheted at ground level, clearing a 20 ft. x 25 ft. space that will be our fall and winter vegetable garden.  The tiller evened things out, and any weeds quickly wilted in these sunny and dry days of late August.

Corn stalks dry after being cut.

The 2013 Farmer's Almanac calls for a colder than normal winter with above average precipitation for the eastern two-thirds of the nation.  Unseasonably chilly temperatures will reach as far south as the Gulf Coast.  Last winter was so warm because of a most unusual combination of a North Atlantic and Arctic Oscillation that pulled warm air up from the Southwest, and a La Nina that kept the jet stream far north.  Last winter was ideal for gardening year-round, but this winter looks to be different. So we are taking advantage of the remarkably cool August to get our fall garden in early.  Nine brussels sprouts transplants were moved to the garden under milk jug covers - not to keep the frost out, but to shield from hot sun and hungry insects.  Cabbage, broccoli, root crops and greens will soon follow.  Since grass mow is so thick, it will make an ideal mulch to keep weeds down around our new plants.

A bucket of compost went into
each planting hole

Superfreak pumpkins have an interesting appearance.

We have counted at least 50 pumpkins ripening in our patch, and more are setting daily.  We are almost ready to go through and cut everything orange from the vine.  A prizewinner giant is almost red; it really stands out among the smaller varieties.  These will soon be moved with hay bales under our front yard maple tree.

Brussels sprouts transplants underneath protective milk jug covers.

August 13, 2012

August is the month of sunflowers.

Our harvests are getting smaller, but often more interesting; for example, the handful of red raspberries we picked to eat with a honeydew melon and a nice fat fig.  These combinations would never be conceivable if we weren't growing them ourselves.  'Heritage' red raspberries, which are labeled "everbearing," are just getting started on their big fall crop; we don't have to cover these in bird netting like we did with our spring berries; birds are done raising young, which have fledged and focused on protein diet of insects before the winter.

2nd-year parsley, heavy with seed, bends to the ground.

The dog days of summer are over.  We received another 5 inches of rain this week, giving us a two-week total at 9.5 inches; I think it rained every day in the past two weeks and don't remember as significant a wet period since the summer it rained 40 days in a row in 2005.  Needless to say, we're about ready to pull up our soaker hoses and mow down the melon patch.  One of the most appealing qualities of the garden this time of year is its disarray.  Plants are overgrown, blowzy, and wild--and that's part of what keeps our interest.

Brussels sprouts seedlings through
the screen of an airy window.

Folks often incorrectly assume that spring and summer are the prime gardening seasons and that the beginning of fall brings an end to the garden's glory.  But as fall rains return and the lawns green up again, the nights are cooler and the sun seems softer, we have time to catch up on a crop of brassicas and greens.  Cole crops such as broccoli, cabbage, and brussels sprouts perform just as well as in the spring.  Didn't get that crop of April spinach that you were hoping for?  Try it now.  Since the days are often hot, it will help to sprout seeds under a 2x4 laid directly on top of the ground, but check underneath every day.  Our brussels sprouts started from seed in early July will be ready to transplant out to the garden by the end of this month.  It's time to start cabbage and broccoli seed now too.

Seed-saving is in full operation as we select the best heirloom tomatoes, peppers, and herbs.

Pumpkins ripen in these warm and humid August days.

March 19, 2012

Swiss Chard planted last September gives us
greens while we wait for spinach.

Spring has come and is on the way out before the calendar says it arrived at all.  Everything is happening a week ahead of last year, and last year was two weeks ahead of normal schedule.  Peach and cherry trees are finished blooming, and apple trees are budding out.  There was no time to waste during our 80-degree weekend since everything seems to be on an accelerated schedule.    It left us feeling truly breathless. 

Broccoli under milk jug covers.

Tomatoes, dill, and basil are sprouting indoors while this list of chores were accomplished:
1.  Planted 50 ft. of sprouted pea seeds.
2.  Planted 50 strawberry plants.
3.  Transplanted 8 broccoli plants into the garden.
4.  Transplanted bell peppers to larger cups.
5.  Pulled all brussels sprouts plants; cleaned, blanched, and froze 6 quarts.

Brussels sprouts on several stems.

We've managed to tune the lawnmower since the lawn needed an early cut, and the tiller is next.  Red clover is reaching skyward about an inch a day, and it's just about the height it was last year when we tilled it under.  Last year we used "red" clover (named red because that's the color of its blossoms, but we don't let it go to seed) as a green manure or cover crop because it fixes nitrogen in the soil.  After incorporating it into terrible subdivision soil, we had the best corn crop we've ever seen!

Peach blossoms on the way out one week ahead of last year.

March 12, 2012

The first peach blossom.

March is here, and it's beginning to look like it.  Mounds of green clover up to 10 inches high are covering our future corn patch.  Grass is turning green again, thanks to abundant Spring rains, and trees are in bloom everywhere.  After wheelbarrowing mulch to the far ends of the property during a church work day, we came home to plant:

Onion and carrot plantings
next to garlic

6 ft. of raddishes
18 ft. of 'Salad Bowl' lettuce
6 ft. of 'Romain' lettuce
25 ft. carrots
25 ft. yellow onions

Bush cherries two years old.

We also re-planted spinach seed where there are bare spots and mowed part of the lawn.  A second batch of peas is rolled up in moist paper towels on top of the refrigerator to sprout and be planted before St. Patrick's Day.  This is a busy weekend for the garden, since it's also time to sow seeds of tomatoes and dill indoors.  Broccoli will be transplanted out into the garden by next weekend, so it's time to start hardening off our seedlings by acclimating them to sunlight and wind after being pampered under fluorescent lights on a heat mat indoors.

Bees are loving our bush cherries, and the first peach blossoms have opened.  We finished a very busy day by watering our blueberries with an acid-loving fertilizer and by misting all the newly-planted seed.  Thanks to all this work on a sunny day, we can humbly show off our red necks!

The vegetable garden in March showing garlic left; clover center;
and peas, spinach, lettuce, and brussels sprouts right.

June 20, 2011

Today we bid a sad farewell to the zucchini.  Vine borers, those pesky pests of organic gardening, hit the stems at the root zone, and we saw tell-tale sudden plant wilt and collapse.  But not before we harvested a basket full of nice, perfect fruits.  Organic methods of control for vine borer include wrapping stems in cloth or aluminum foil; it is also possible to inject nematodes into an affected stem, but an invaded stem will never recover full strength.  Finally the tiny, red eggs may be hand-picked off the base of the stems when they are laid.  We do not have time to bother with any of these, and rather lose a couple plants; zucchini are so quick-growing they can be replanted.  Let them RIC  (Rest In Compost). 

The photos today are our garden experiments:  white potatoes, and Aunt Molly's Ground Cherry.  These potato bushes are about knee-high at five weeks old.  We planted them in composted manure when the potatoes were already well-sprouted, and now they are in flower.  We will check on tubers around seven weeks to see how they are developing, and maybe harvest some "new" potatoes which, from what we hear, are a special treat of potato gardening.

Ground cherries are in the nightshade family, related to eggplant, tomatoes, and, ironically, potatoes.  When still green, ground cherries contain a mildly toxic substance called solanine.  Fruits come wrapped in light, papery lanterns, and they are ripe when they yellow and fall from the plant.  Mature ground cherries are deep yellow-orange and can be picked up off the ground in their dry papery skins.  The earliest fruits that set on our plants this Spring are now ripening, and they have an interesting pineapple-strawberry flavor.  We plan to try these in a pie, and if they merit, preserves, although they are a tempting treat to eat fresh from the garden!

We are harvesting cucumbers in abundance; we made our first batch of overnight Kosher dill pickles with fresh dill and garlic from the garden.  These are similar to Claussen brand refrigerator dills, only better.  They are not canned and must be eaten within a couple weeks or they turn soggy, but they aren't in danger of spoiling in our house!  It looks like we're only getting started by the abundance of little cucumbers that are in flower now; picking only encourages more.  We will need to can pickles soon. 

Tomato bushes have outgrown their cages and their stakes, and will have to sprawl from now on.  Each bush is loaded with a crop of swelling green fruits and are setting more, but it looks like we will have to wait until July for that first sun-ripened red tomato.  We have both determinate and indeterminate varieties; once they come, we won't be able to keep up with them, but we need a lot at once to preserve.

 

Melons have set the size of a clenched fist.  Peas are giving a second crop, not as big as the first, but still welcome.  Broccoli heads as big across as 10 and 12 inches are ready to harvest - we will need to cut them, blanch, and freeze since we can't keep up with eating them fresh.  Already side shoots are growing that will give us fresh broccoli season-long.  Sweet corn is tasseling out now and should be ready to pick in about three weeks.  Add green beans, carrots, sweet and hot peppers, and onions to the mix, and who needs to shop at the market!