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 15, 2012

'Packman' hybrid broccoli is very close to full maturity.

Our crop of fall vegetables is racing to maturity, just six weeks after transplanting.  But everything else is winding down; our garden is pretty much the way it will stay for the next four months through the winter period, while we take a welcome rest.  Red clover seed has sprouted across our future corn patch, and it will continue to green up until heavy frosts come with regularity.  Garlic has sprouted thin green spikes up to six inches tall.

Cabbage heads still need a few weeks of growth.

It is looking like we will be enjoying a broccoli harvest this week; the large heads a hand-span across are still firm and thriving in these cooler days of October with no noticeable damage from worms of the cabbage moth.  We've left them uncovered to receive maximum sunlight in these waning days as they mature; it's so nice enjoying fresh produce knowing there were no pesticides used - only our homemade compost.  Broccoli cheese soup sounds like a perfect complement to these cooler fall days!

Roses have returned for one last show - a rare thing of beauty before November drains all the color away.

Roses last until frost.

October 1, 2012

The count is in:  we grew more than 80 pumpkins and squash.

We grew so many pumpkins and squash this year, we ended up dumping a pile by our front tree when we ran out of room to display them around the house and yard.  The pumpkin patch had to get pulled so we have room to plant next year's garlic.  In all, we tilled 1,200 sq. ft. of garden space, wiping it clean to prepare for winter.  Half of this will be sown with red clover seed, and half will be covered with cardboard and fallen leaves through which we plant next Spring.

Individual garlic cloves spaced
for planting across a 20-ft. row.

Just over one week into official autumn, we're seeing individual trees starting the annual color show; some sugar maples have joined the scene with strong hints of red-orange.  There are lots of fun local events scheduled, as last year's article on Pumpkintown's annual Pumpkin Festival will show; the festival this year will be held Saturday October 13.

It's time to withhold water from Dutch hybrid amaryllis bulbs and bring them indoors for forcing after the holidays.  Spring bulbs such as tulips, hyacinths, and daffodils can be planted outdoors.  With the likelihood of frost arriving by the end of this month, a flurry of chores need to be finished, like cleaning and oiling garden tools for winter storage.

Cabbage, broccoli, and brussels sprouts grow large, seen through blackened sunflower stalks.

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.

March 25, 2012

There have already been several busy gardening weekends this year, but this weekend gave us a short break between Spring and Summer planting.  We're just waiting for our plants to grow up. The Spring garden of spinach, lettuce, peas, and raddishes is just a few weeks away from harvest.  Meanwhile, the Summer garden, which is normally indoors under lights this time of year, has really enjoyed its early start outside under the warmth of sunshine and gentle mist of rain.  Tomato seedlings are setting out their first true leaves and could be transplanted any time now.  After nearly a month without frost, there seems to be little danger of another killing freeze, but it won't hurt the plants to wait until April. 

Red clover flower.

We transplanted broccoli out to the garden last weekend, and it has taken off, filling up the milk jug covers with noticeable vigor.  Larger transplants (the kind that often come from garden centers) tend to be root-bound and take a week or two after transplanting to begin new growth.  Experience shows smaller plants are best for transplanting without shock.

50 strawberry plants beginning growth.

It's time to plow under our green manure cover crop of red clover in anticipation of sweet corn planting next month.  But the weekend tended to be rainy, so we're waiting for a dry day this week.  We are harvesting swiss chard and beet greens from the garden along with some random carrots that got left after adding our winter crop to stew.

Perennial culinary herbs are at their best now - parsley, rosemary, tarragon, oregano, chives, and thyme.  The 50 strawberry plants that we set out last week have already sprouted and are loving this weather.  Finally, tulips that we planted around the mail box last October are making a show.

Mailbox tulips planted last October.

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.

Brussels sprouts forming in each stem node

The mornings are getting frosty now; at our location, first frost came on October 21 – in some places we saw freezing fog hovering over low areas.  But the 30^th was our first official freeze at 30 degrees F, signaling the end of the growing season for any tender vegetation.  What a difference seven days has made for the annual foliage show!  We are near peak with good autumn weather in the forecast, so those red, orange, and golden streamers should hold on for a while yet even as the most stubborn green oaks turn and join the show.

Our cold-weather crops seem to be unaffected and are increasing in size; cabbage will tolerate a normal frost but will not last when temperatures dip into the 20’s F.  Brussels sprouts are on schedule for a Christmas first harvest.  We have a good stand of red clover which we are using as a cover crop for next year’s corn.

A good stand of red clover will make a great green manure
crop for corn next growing season.

This is last chance to plant garlic in the South, and we confess this turn of the year has kept us so busy with autumn activities that we’ve put it off a little longer than usual.  We will be making that a priority this week.  We saved several of the largest garlic heads from last year and will split them into individual cloves to plant as seed.  Garlic purchased from the store works just as well as seed garlic – in fact that was one of our garden experiments that has turned into a staple for us; we’re now growing the 5^th generation of garlic from that original grocery store variety.  Garlic likes rich, loose soil, so we will haul out the tiller and incorporate a lot of milled sphagnum peat moss and some organic fertilizer in the row before we plant. We keep this loosely mulched with fall leaves after it sprouts.

Our Fall/Winter garden; the open space is saved for spinach and peas next Spring.

Our compost bin is more stuffed than a Thanksgiving turkey, and aside from those winter “regulars” we can dust off our hands from another gardening season.  It’s time to tuck next year’s 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.  It looks like we will have one more update in November to finish for the year 2011.

October 17, 2011

Mixed greens and beets thrive in these autumn days.

Fair weather made for a beautiful weekend at the Pumpkin Festival on October 8.  Cloudy skies moved in for much of the past week, however, dropping a slow, soaking rain that was just perfect for sprouting the red clover seed scattered the week before.  While we want that section to turn green, we do not want all the weed seedlings coming up with our fall/winter/spring garden; a quick run-over with the tiller set at shallow depth on a sunny day did most of them in.  Among our lettuce, beets, and other cool weather crops some selective hand weeding cleared the area.

'Northern Lights' swiss chard

It looks like we will be enjoying a nice crop of ‘Northern Lights’ swiss chard by first frost.  Chard is a variety of beet that does not grow an edible root but that makes an exceptionally large top:  leaves are often cooked like spinach, and stalks steamed like asparagus.  Chard is grown where conditions do not favor spinach.  We have enough spinach from last April in the freezer to last until March, so we’re just trying something different.

Cabbage plants have grown large and are making heads; brussels sprouts are adding height—sprouts are now the size of small peas in the nook of each leaf stem.

Cabbage heads are starting to form.

October is time to plant spring bulbs; last year we added hyacinth, muscari, crocus, and more than 200 daffodils to naturalize around the property.  This year we bought 100 Darwin hybrid tulips for the bed around our mailbox.  A past home owner installed weed barrier and filled the area with decorative stone.  All of that had to come out, and we excavated an 8-inch pit, which was no easy task:  if we ever do this again we will invest in a pick-axe!  Good soil mixed with milled sphagnum peat moss and bone meal was returned, and the bulbs topped with loose topsoil and pine bark mulch.  Tulips need several weeks of freezing temperatures to bloom, but our location at 934 ft. elevation is always cooler than town; we’ve already seen rooftop frost.

Our world is taking on a golden hue as deciduous trees move from early to mid-season color.  Pretty soon we’ll be getting out the leaf rake!

October 3, 2011

The first of October brought gorgeous autumn temperatures, cooler than any we've seen since April. We made a garden bonfire and reduced to ashes all our corn stalks and dried woody plants, then tilled it under— Bryan tilled 1,125 sq. ft. all together. This wiped the garden clean like an etch-a-sketch. Two pounds of red clover seed was scattered over one 500 sq. ft. section and raked in, to germinate after the next rain.

Most of the garden has been tilled clean.

We've amassed quite a lot of cardboard to lay over the other part, all except for one row where garlic will grow through the winter. We noticed some of our garlic developed rot in this heavy soil, but it may also have been introduced by using some moldy manure last fall. So to be extra careful this year we will be adding a fair amount of milled sphagnum peat moss which both lightens soil and resists rot. We saved "seed garlic," three or so of the largest heads we harvested last May, to plant this month.  

Brussels sprouts spread their leaves.

The fall garden is really showing up as beets, greens, and carrots fill in empty dirt spaces; brussels sprouts and cabbage are spreading, too. After a good soaking rain last week a bunch of weed seedlings sprouted that will need to be pulled before they crowd out over good plants. By the looks of that lettuce, we could have homegrown salads by next week.

mixed greens in the early morning sun

July 18, 2011

The Almanac called for a wet summer, and it’s been wetter than many years in recent memory.  We received nearly three inches of rain this week, making the garden appear rather jungle-like.  None of our large melons split, thanks to consistent watering even during dry spells.  This week has been much like last week, only more so.  In about one month’s time, we rake in enough food to last our family all year.

We gave up canning extra green beans in order to harvest the first half of our corn crop.  Bryan picked more than 100 ears of sweet corn, which isn’t even half of the first planting.  There is more than twice this much still to come.  We blanched it (and helped ourselves to some fresh), cut from the cob, and froze it - 12 quarts!  We made such a mess in the kitchen; corn kernels and spurts landed all over the floor from one end to another and up the refrigerator door.  We had to mop and wash everything down before it dried into a sticky mess.  What are we going to do with all the corn that's still coming!  We've never seen a harvest like this - many of the stalks have 3, 4, or 5 ears growing on them, and many produced side shoots that are bearing sizeable ears themselves.  The only difference this year was the incorporation of “green manure,” a red clover cover crop.  That stuff really works! 

We ended up canning green beans after all – our winter pantry should thank us.  Hate to admit it, but weeding is long overdue; we haven’t had time.  When does the resident gardener come to do chores?  We’ll put it on his list.  Garden mulch is the only thing keeping weeds from growing with wild abandon.

The first 12-ft.-tall sunflowers are blooming, fruits of harvest are ripening, and cicadas are buzzing from tree to tree as midsummer winds down.  All nature is preparing for the harvest to come.  These cute mini pumpkins now decorate what was our Spring pea fence.  They will ripen no larger than the palm of your hand, and as a true C. pepo are delicious to eat baked in their own jackets.

March 28, 2011

While our neighboring state to the north rolls its collective eyes at winter precipitation advisories, we have steely grey skies with highs in the 40's and 50's F.  Too cold for beans...  even peas will just sit and wait this out; but spinach takes it like the Energizer bunny and keeps on growing.  In two weeks we hope to be harvesting sweet green leaves loaded with vitamins.  While we're thinking about it, time to drag out the Black Hen composted chicken manure (people with sensitive noses be advised, this stuff is really smelly) and sprinkle a helping down the rows for an extra boost of very natural nitrogen.

Our velvety green carpet of red clover has grown knee-high during the last month, but I've been plotting how to kill it:  we're several weeks away from corn planting, and it's time for our green manure to work its magic, turning sterile subdivision soil into a humusy, fertile compound.  Mowing it may kill the lawnmower.  Weed whacker?  I'll be vibrating all night.  Neighbors might act jittery if I head out there with a scythe in hand...  Looks like a tiller wins out as the power tool of necessity, though it will take several passes to completely lay clover to rest.  Our rain gauge measured 2.1 inches collectively over the weekend, and soil is much too wet to till.  Will have to wait for a drier weekend.

Though it is too soggy for outdoor chores, bell pepper seedlings under fluorescent lights indoors have been drying out every day, a sign that they need to be transplanted.  Foam cups make inexpensive pots, not organic I know, but recyclable.  Anything may be used.  It's the vigorous root systems this extra growing space encourages that helps transplants take off after they are moved to the garden.  We've made reflectors out of cardboard sheets covered in aluminum foil to help keep light focused and strong for stocky plants.  In a couple months these tiny seedlings will become major architectural landscape elements in the yard.