Harvest!

Everything is big and bushy in the garden.  I've managed to stay on top of the cabbage looper invasion and harvested lots of broccoli greens today for Mao Mao and I.  The cherry tomato plants are full of blossoms and a few fruits and my Cherokee Purple is flowering.  The shuyo cucumber has several 5" long fruits on it but they are about as thick as a pencil at this point.  The beans are just beginning to produce and look like they could be a prolific variety.  I threw a few more carrot seeds into the ground in the bare spots despite the unfavorable moon planting conditions.

The harvest today was surprisingly bountiful: garlic, kale, broccoli greens, carrots, purple onions, beans, and peas.  I enjoyed most of it for lunch.  Ahh, the sweet rewards of my gardening efforts!

My Garden, It Grows!

May 6, 2011

May 12, 2011

May 27, 2011

June 9, 2011

June 15, 2011

So far I've been very remiss in posting updates. It was a slow start to the gardening season with the rainy, cold spring and it wasn't until the most recent heat wave that things really took off. We've eaten the wintered over escarole, lots of mesclun salads, plenty of tiny radishes, tasty fresh peas, and even a few little carrots. I'm holding off on the chard until it gets a little bigger, and I haven't dipped into the beet greens yet. My heirloom cucumber plants and heirloom tomato plant are doing well (thanks sis) and I've got burgundy bean plants flowering.

New Border, Stinky Kitty

I forgot to mention the half row of English Peas that I planted last Thursday under the trellis. Today I added some sprouted garlic that I had in my kitchen. Although my original 2011 garden plan called for onion sets, I never got around to buying them so garlic will have to do.

Miss Cha Cha crammed herself into a 12 pack box a while back and looked positively pleased with herself.

Sometimes she spends hours contemplating what it means to be so fuzzy and to have such a big pink nose.

Other times she explores her relationship with her environment: What does it mean to be "in"?

Namesake Kitty

Fat n Fuzzy

What?

Super Amazing Action Shot

Beans! Peas and Lettuce

The garden has been suffering through the hot and dry days we have been having and isn't looking so pretty at the moment. Everything will be fine but the beet greens have been a little droopy and the pea plants are on their last days. I ripped out the peas on the right side of the trellis to make room for some cucumber plants that are flowering on that side. Plenty of marigolds are in bloom, the snapdragons are growing larger, and the sunflowers are developing buds. The Mortgage Lifter tomato is very happy, triple the size it was when planted, and putting out big yellow blossoms. I may have planted too many beans this year. They're blooming like mad and taking up most of the plot. Will beans be my bumper crop?

Harvest

The first true harvest of baby beets, english peas, and two decently sized carrots took place today.

It's Tall Purple Flower season in the garden right now.

Hurry Up Peas!

I visited the garden today after getting most of my housework out of the way. They were predicting temperatures in the 90's and I managed to be there at the apex of today's highs without my trusty water bottle. Sweating and slightly overwhelmed by the sun, I tended to the patch at my own peril.



Everything is enjoying our little heat wave. The Mortgage Lifter plant has its first flowers, the beet greens are now closer to braising greens than salad greens, and that lovely curly green leaf lettuce is living up to expectations by thriving in this heat. I corralled most of the sunflowers to the fig side of the trellis and tried to encourage the peas to climb that instead of everything else in the garden.

Besides muscling their way up my other plants, the peas are also really slow in producing this year. I don't know if it's the variety I chose, the unpredictable weather, or if I planted them too close to the beets and sunflowers. They aren't growing up as much as they are growing out and the space I had allocated for them is definitely vertical. Yes, there are flowers and pods. Yes, they are tasty. No, I probably won't have enough of a crop to have peas as a side dish for dinner this year. Alas, I will have to get my pea fix at one of the farmer's markets around here.

I promise to take some pictures of my apartment side pepper and herb pots soon. So far, cayenne is a very effective squirrel deterrent.

Salad Season Has Begun!

Yesterday I harvested the first of the lettuce thinnings for a dinnertime salad. Two White Icicle radishes and a Cherry Belle also joined the mix. Everything was delicious, of course. Alas, I did not have my camera at home to document it.

Thinning the lettuce is such a win win situation: we get to enjoy many tender green salads and the remaining lettuce gets more sun and soil and grows even bigger. Bigger lettuce then means bigger salads for us.

Plot News:
I can now confirm that the cucumber, squash, and four varieties of tomato seeds are sprouting. I know the cucumber will have no trouble catching up once the weather is a little more sunny. I think the squash should do well also. I planted three of the tomato seed types because I've had such lousy luck with growing things indoors and figured I'd try a new approach this time. Knowing I'd be getting tomato seedlings regardless of what happened, I just threw the seeds in the soil instead of going through the minor agony of starting them indoors. The fourth variety of tomato has sprouted from the droppings of the rather unsuccessful cherry variety I planted last year. Although I never had the chance to harvest more than a handful of the little orange tomatoes, there were always plenty all over the ground that I just missed. We'll see what happens.

The spinach is sloooowly getting larger. The bush beans may surpass them and could even cover them. Timing and space allocation is something I am still mastering!

The carrots are all short and frondy. I wish I planted more! After the huge rainstorms last month and the seeds getting washed everywhere, it doesn't look like I'll have as big a crop as last year. The beet area is a different story. I may have gone overboard but I'm really looking forward to stealing their leaves from time to time for some braised greens. Last year we accidentally pulled most of all the leaves off the beets thinking they were chard and the beets seemed totally unfazed. They are a hardy bunch.

The peas are also slooooowly getting bigger. It may be somewhat of a struggle to keep them from using the baby tomatoes, cucumbers, and squash as a trellis. I'm adding lots of other stick options whenever I can get to the garden.

Enjoying Springlike Weather in the Garden

Now that the weather is being more spring-like, the garden is thriving. Lettuce is in the lower left, first round peas are under the left side of the trellis, followed by later peas on the right, radish are behind the remaining cabbage, and bush beans have sprouted in the right center. Some of the carrots are beginning to frond out, the beets are about 2" tall, and the spinach leaves are about the size of a quarter. Marigolds are popping up everywhere so I've been experimenting with transplanting them in other locales. I have a secret fantasy of planting them in green spaces all over my neighborhood a la Guerrilla Gardening. Later in the summer when they're all thriving and I'm walking around I can point them out proudly and say, "I planted those!" I may even do that with the sunflowers too since they are all over the place including in the pathway next to my plot.

The lettuce is looking really crispy and delicious. I'll wait until it's a bit larger to thin it out so the thinnings can be part of a little homegrown salad. You can see a marigold in the lower left. I scooped this one out and gave him a new home in one of my stoopside pots. A later planting of lettuce is in the upper right. I didn't plant too much this year and I'm wondering if I'll have enough. Usually it bolts before I eat it all so we'll see if this is the right amount.

In the very upper right corner of the plot the snapdragon seeds are sprouting. A few weeks ago I noticed that the old snapdragon stem was showing signs of life but it has since died off. I'm excited to see the new little sprouts. I bought a multicolor mix so it'll be a pretty display.

No More Cabbages

This photo was taken on Monday just minutes before a very knowledgeable fellow community gardener suggested I go ahead and pull the cabbages and eat them. They had begun bolting and I was going to loose the only tight little head that the large plant produced if I let them grow any longer. It's been a very warm spring and things are getting a little confused around here. The cabbage thinks it's summer already. So we ate it Monday night. I chopped it up and we had some slaw to go with the grilled cheese on fresh garlic and herb bread that I baked in the afternoon. A simple but tasty meal.

You can see that they lettuce in the lower left is growing. In the upper left are radish. Some of the larger green things around the plot are volunteer sunflowers from last year's flowers. I left the seeds on those through the fall figuring I was feeding the birds. Looks like they missed a few so I gifted some to the other gardener and transplanted some to the public areas.

I filled in some more radish and beets. I located the spinach (it looks like grass at first). The marigold seeds that I planted outside my plot in the front have sprouted. The carrots are identifiable. Lots of red sunflowers are sprouting. The peas are slowly doing their thing.

Happy Peas

Iris Aplenty

Cherry Tree Extravaganza

The Plot Thickens

I visited the garden last Friday and took some update photos as well as some Pretty Spring Flower photos. I didn't have my camera wire at home last week so they never made it up here. Yesterday I also spent some time at the garden snapping photos, planting more seeds, and even doing a little Spring Harvesting! First we have two Before and After photos with the pics I took last Friday and the ones I snapped yesterday.

You can see the cabbages are a little bigger and there are a few more green things showing up around the plot. At this point, I can locate peas, lettuce, beets, radishes, and carrots. I cannot tell which sprouts are the spinach. There are some other volunteer seeds poking up that may or may not be something from last year. A couple sprouts look like chard and there may even be a sugar baby watermelon but I won't hold my breath.

The peach tree in the garden is in full bloom now and the bee population is very busy with all the blossoms it has produced. We'll have to do some thinning if each of these turns into a little peach.

I'm hoping the peas survive this heat wave we're having (they're predicting 88 tomorrow). They haven't changed much over the past few days so I'm guessing they would prefer cooler weather. They have been joined by some squash seeds, cucumber seeds, and tomato seeds just in case.

My Big Plan included replacing the peas with some trellised vining vegetables. I'm hoping to get a cucumber plant out of the seeds I planted but if that doesn't happen I'll buy a seedling. The same goes for the tomato seeds. Last summer I saved seeds from some particularly tasty tomatoes and decided I'd give direct planting a try. The squash seeds were a mixture of acorn, crookneck, and summer. I would be very happy if one of the vines took off and made a couple of fruits.

The radish section of the plot must have turned into a lake last week during the storm. The seedlings are sprouting up in clumps rather than the tidy rows I had created for them. I filled in the gaps yesterday with additional seed.

A green leaf lettuce is sprouting. Again, the row was in disarray so I filled in areas with additional seed. I guess we're doing a little sussession planting.

The Gourmet Blend lettuce is sprouting. Three or four different leaf lettuces make up the mix. Somehow this row remained intact so between it and the next I put in additional carrots. The plan is to have the carrot tops shade the lettuce in early summer.

In other areas around the plot I put in mixed red sunflower seeds and more marigold seeds. I noticed the snapdragon plant from last year is springing to life and I added some new snapdragon seeds around it for company.

Around the garden everything is blooming. Big clumps of this white flowering stuff are everywhere!

I harvested the three chinese cabbages! I'm pretty sure the florets were a sign that it was bolting so I took action, cut it down, sauteed it with some garlic and ginger, and called it a success. It tasted good and now there's more room for other stuff like the bush beans I planted.

Cabbages and Cats (not my cats)

I visited the garden last Friday to check the progress of the seeds and to see if anything had begun blooming in the common areas. My plot had apparently been used as a litter box by some of the local kitties and it seemed as though the more recently planted peas had been disturbed. After removing the stinky stuff I replanted some seeds just as insurance and snapped a photo.

The cabbages are happy and there are seedlings popping up but it is too soon to tell if some of the shoots are vegetables or weeds.

A little narcissus popped up and bloomed this year. This is a group of bulbs that Sarah planted two years ago. Last year I accidentally dug them up before they had a chance to get going.

The first group of peas are doing well. After I took the photo I found out temperatures were going to dip below freezing and I hoped they wouldn't mind.

The largest Chinese cabbage has a little floret in the center. I'm not sure what that's about but I'm anxious to see what will happen.

The big cabbage is getting bigger. I'm looking forward to some homemade coleslaw. Maybe I should make the mayo for it and go all out.

All of the cabbages have new leaves and look like they are going to thrive once we get some more sunshine.

I passed by a beautiful magnolia in bloom on the way to the garden. In the garden there are lots of daffodils blooming, the peach tree is budding, and the various shrubs are showing signs of life. I picked an assortment of budding branches for a bouquet.

Gardening 2010

I began the new gardening season at the beginning of the month while the last snowstorm was melting away and the garden was buried under several inches of slush. Last year I had made some notes at the beginning of March (that I never followed up on) that were helpful in planning this year's adventures. I also had a list in my head of things that seem to be working and stuff that I just want to try.

Last spring I noted in a book the dates when the first seeds went in the ground (March 9, 2009) and the location of the crops in the plot. Although I am interested in the concept of crop rotation, it is just too hard to do that in my tiny little garden. I always want to plant tall and hungry tomatoes. I will always begin the season with peas on the big trellis. Sunflowers are just too pretty and beneficial to pass up. More than anything, my garden planning is a careful orchestration of space and the path of the sun. I am lucky to have a great position in the community garden in terms of light: I get it morning, noon, and night in the spring, summer, and fall. Still, I will not make the same mistake I made the first year when some huge cherry tomato plants shaded the entire plot by mid July. My tomato plants will again be in the southeast corner of the plot and I made sure to heavily compost that area last fall in anticipation of their arrival.

Surprisingly I did get some seeds in the ground the same day this year as last: March 9. We had some beautiful weather last week with temperatures in the low 60s. I picked up a packet of English peas ("prolific yields" it said) and planted half a row under the trellis. Last year my early planting was a gamble and I was a little cautious this year, choosing to stagger my plantings under the trellis. I also planted a row of green leaf lettuce on the west side of the plot. I will go back this weekend, finish the pea row, add another row of lettuce, and begin the sowing season for real.

Getting back to that plan I put together way back when we still had snow on the ground, I am scheduled to begin serious gardening mid March. That means now! I drew up a schedule first of desired harvest dates and then a corresponding schedule for planting dates. It is always difficult to have things constantly in the picking stage. Last year I had a gap in July partly due to the very wet spring but also because of poor planning. The tomato plants went in late. The beans had already peaked. I was persisting with a waning chard and kale crop that should have been pulled. This year the word to know is succession planting. When the lettuce is done, the next crop goes in. When the bush beans are getting bushy, new bean plants should be started. When the peas are reaching up the trellis, cucumber and squash seeds must be sown. If I stick to my schedule and the weather is reasonably cooperative, I should be enjoying fresh produce throughout the season.

This weekend I will sow: red leaf lettuce, green leaf lettuce, peas, radish, 2 varieties of carrot, beets, and spinach. I am working around a green cabbage plant that wintered over, 3 chinese cabbages that wintered over, and garlic that I planted around the south and west perimeters last fall.

I will have images next post and probably an amended list of what went in the ground.

Share with us what you have planted indoors and out! We all want to know!