Hey folks, sorry I haven't been posting for a while. Work has been in panic mode with this economy. That and Fall has made it so I leave in the dark and get home in the dark.
That said, I took the time yesterday to gut the garden a bit. There were tomato plants everywhere that went to Cedar Grove rather than my compost bin. I don't want to continue the Blossom End Rot that I had in droves this year. They've got a much more sophisticated composting system than I do.
As for my fall crops, about the only things to survive and thrive were the carrots. It looks like I've got a good amount for snacks all winter, if the raccoons keep away from them. Let's hope the deterrents work when it gets colder.
What didn't work was the broccoli and cauliflower. I really need to start them indoors in June or whatever so they're hardened off and growing strong in late summer. My biggest plant is good sized, but shredded by some pest. There is no way a stalk is going to form in this weather.
Speaking of weather, it's storm time here in Western Washington. Thunder, lightening and down pouring rain is par for the course. There's nothing to protect but the carrots, so I didn't put up my hoop covers this year.
In addition to clean-up, I harvested my potatoes. I know folks are curious how they turned out. Well, the Yukon Golds that I threw into my SFGs did great. I got 22 pounds out of it. Some were very nice. They're currently drying in the garage on some newspapers. The kids were a big help with that.
Unfortunately the BAYG potato bins failed even worse than I thought they would. You may recall that I gave up on building them up in August when my schedule got hectic and I couldn't keep up with it. I just let them grow and was going to be happy with about 1.5 feet of potatoes. Well, I dug and dug yesterday and found one lousy potato. There were probably a few more smaller ones that I destroyed with a shovel I used at the end when I couldn't find anything. You're really not supposed to use a shovel.
I'm not totally convinced that potato bins are a bad idea, but I just don't have the time to baby the bins. Maybe I'll try it next year. Not sure. I don't have the room to plant rows every year. At least we've got 22 pounds of Yukon Golds! Can't wait to try them.
Hope your fall gardens are more productive than mine.
Enjoy your garden!
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Thursday, October 15, 2009
October 15, 2009
Well, life sure goes fast when you're busy. I haven't had time to garden much since late summer. As a result, when my site came back up, I had little to talk about. Of course I feel bad because there are tons of you that enjoy reading about my garden adventures and antics. Well this year was more of the later.
I never got around to harvesting my garlic. It got so bad that after I finally ripped the weeds out that permiate that bed, I found whole heads of garlic forming roots. Here's where the adventure comes in. I left them right where they were. It was nearly October and that's when you're supposed to plant cloves. We'll see if I get garlic growing next year. Maybe next June I'll be able to convince my brother to help me harvest and dry them. I really like seeing it done before I try something intricate like that. Besides, if someone is helping me in the garden, I am more compelled to actually get things done.
Yep, it seems this year I became a lazy gardener. My corn was a bust, partly due to severe lack of production from the six stalks, but also because I was late to harvest it again. This year it wasn't enough to give away to the Sandy's chickens and goats.
My cantaloupe was a bust also, though mostly I blame it on just not being able to grow cantaloupe here. The worst part is that I still haven't emptied the Self Watering Container (any of them for that matter). Again, the laziness. Sure I'm busy, but most weekends when I have time I have no energy to go out and man-handle 60 plus pounds of SWC. I've decided I will just dump the contents into my compost bin and use compost next year rather than Mel's Mix. I'm out and shouldn't have to make more every other year.
My potatoes were the worst this year. Mid summer sucked for time for me, with vacations and travel, I had no time to tend to my potato bins. As a result, I stopped half-way up the tower and just let them go. I should have been fine, with just a smaller havest, but I still haven't harvested them and the plants died back a while ago. There is still some minor hope that they're salvagable, but we shall see.
Tomatos also didn't do all that well for me. Again, my fault. I didn't keep up with harvesting all the tomatoes, so they rotted on the vine, or succumed to Blossom End Rot. Planting only heirlooms is not as glamorous as it sounds. They don't have the resistances that hybrids do. Also, you get orange Yellow Pear tomatoes. I had no idea if they were done. I figured they would eventually turn yellow. Nope. They rotted.
About the only tomatoes that did well for me this year were my volunteers. I hope to eat one from the complete mystery, and I swear I pulled a 5 pound tomato from the sucker start that doesn't look like anything I grew. Unfortunately the beafsteak or whatever was cracked and not edible. It was cool though. I should post a pic of it. Something to behold.
So you see, there hasn't been a good reason to post. This year was a self-inflicted failure. Next year should be better as my kids are getting into gardening and I'll keep at it for them. Besides, with the economy showing strong signs for a 2011 recovery, growing my more fresh veggies is a good idea. Don't you agree.
All this isn't to say that I didn't have any success. Again, my carrots were great. My sons still are bringing them in daily to eat. I will not be doing the creative varieties next year. They were duds. Even the Purple Haze just isn't worth it. The plain Jane orange carrots are just fine. Variety not needed for my family. /shrug
The broccoli and califlower are always a hit, though I think I will devote one bed to them next year so I don't run into late maturing cole crops interferring with my cubrits in summer. Blah blah blah. What I mean is my tall broccoli plants shaded the heck out of my cucumber starts so I got nothing to speak of from my summer cukes. I think two plants survived to produce out of 18. I think I'll plant tons of succession broccoli and cauliflower in my 44 SF bed. It won't block anything and I will have tons of food the adults in my family love. Still working on the kids, hehe.
For fall, I planted tons more carrots, some lettuce and broccoli / cauliflower. Dosn't look like anything but the carrots have done much. I guess I'll start even earlier next year. I'll take KitsapFG's schedule and beat her to the punch by a month. Or else I'll start inside like she does. Sounds silly to start seeds indoors in the summer, but she'd know... She's the expert.
Sorry I haven't been posting anything. There really hasn't been much to say. When I do something I'll let you know, but it's fall and growth is pretty much at a standstill til spring. Thanks for sticking around. Next year will be better.
Enjoy your garden.
I never got around to harvesting my garlic. It got so bad that after I finally ripped the weeds out that permiate that bed, I found whole heads of garlic forming roots. Here's where the adventure comes in. I left them right where they were. It was nearly October and that's when you're supposed to plant cloves. We'll see if I get garlic growing next year. Maybe next June I'll be able to convince my brother to help me harvest and dry them. I really like seeing it done before I try something intricate like that. Besides, if someone is helping me in the garden, I am more compelled to actually get things done.
Yep, it seems this year I became a lazy gardener. My corn was a bust, partly due to severe lack of production from the six stalks, but also because I was late to harvest it again. This year it wasn't enough to give away to the Sandy's chickens and goats.
My cantaloupe was a bust also, though mostly I blame it on just not being able to grow cantaloupe here. The worst part is that I still haven't emptied the Self Watering Container (any of them for that matter). Again, the laziness. Sure I'm busy, but most weekends when I have time I have no energy to go out and man-handle 60 plus pounds of SWC. I've decided I will just dump the contents into my compost bin and use compost next year rather than Mel's Mix. I'm out and shouldn't have to make more every other year.
My potatoes were the worst this year. Mid summer sucked for time for me, with vacations and travel, I had no time to tend to my potato bins. As a result, I stopped half-way up the tower and just let them go. I should have been fine, with just a smaller havest, but I still haven't harvested them and the plants died back a while ago. There is still some minor hope that they're salvagable, but we shall see.
Tomatos also didn't do all that well for me. Again, my fault. I didn't keep up with harvesting all the tomatoes, so they rotted on the vine, or succumed to Blossom End Rot. Planting only heirlooms is not as glamorous as it sounds. They don't have the resistances that hybrids do. Also, you get orange Yellow Pear tomatoes. I had no idea if they were done. I figured they would eventually turn yellow. Nope. They rotted.
About the only tomatoes that did well for me this year were my volunteers. I hope to eat one from the complete mystery, and I swear I pulled a 5 pound tomato from the sucker start that doesn't look like anything I grew. Unfortunately the beafsteak or whatever was cracked and not edible. It was cool though. I should post a pic of it. Something to behold.
So you see, there hasn't been a good reason to post. This year was a self-inflicted failure. Next year should be better as my kids are getting into gardening and I'll keep at it for them. Besides, with the economy showing strong signs for a 2011 recovery, growing my more fresh veggies is a good idea. Don't you agree.
All this isn't to say that I didn't have any success. Again, my carrots were great. My sons still are bringing them in daily to eat. I will not be doing the creative varieties next year. They were duds. Even the Purple Haze just isn't worth it. The plain Jane orange carrots are just fine. Variety not needed for my family. /shrug
The broccoli and califlower are always a hit, though I think I will devote one bed to them next year so I don't run into late maturing cole crops interferring with my cubrits in summer. Blah blah blah. What I mean is my tall broccoli plants shaded the heck out of my cucumber starts so I got nothing to speak of from my summer cukes. I think two plants survived to produce out of 18. I think I'll plant tons of succession broccoli and cauliflower in my 44 SF bed. It won't block anything and I will have tons of food the adults in my family love. Still working on the kids, hehe.
For fall, I planted tons more carrots, some lettuce and broccoli / cauliflower. Dosn't look like anything but the carrots have done much. I guess I'll start even earlier next year. I'll take KitsapFG's schedule and beat her to the punch by a month. Or else I'll start inside like she does. Sounds silly to start seeds indoors in the summer, but she'd know... She's the expert.
Sorry I haven't been posting anything. There really hasn't been much to say. When I do something I'll let you know, but it's fall and growth is pretty much at a standstill til spring. Thanks for sticking around. Next year will be better.
Enjoy your garden.
Monday, September 28, 2009
September 28, 2009
Where have I been hiding? Well, sitting at my computer. I think I've mentioned that I have an addictive personality. Well, when the site was down, I got hooked on Facebook and the various apps that it entails. /sigh Can you say time-sink?
Anyway, I felt compelled to post tonight so I'm back. I promise to try to squeeze in a post as often as I've got something to say. This is the time where there is not much happening in the garden. My tomatoes have all succumed to blight or whatever, as did my cantaloupe.
Unfortunately the Minnesota Midget Cantaloupe never got beyond baseball size. I know they're supposed to be small, but not THAT small. So now I've got two seasons of growing those under my belt and have come to the conclusion that they just don't work in my climate. I know others have made it work, but I'm guessing it's in a greenhouse. Last year I planted late and they never got beyond golf ball size. This year I had them in my container ASAP after the last frost date and look at the results. It's just not hot enough for them to mature in their 57 day window.
Thankfully I've got two tomato plants that may still have a shot. One was a volunteer and the other was a sucker transplant.
This volunteer basically took over the carrot section and the isle... I ran out of tomato cages. It's got some great looking tomatoes on it, but they're still green. I may have to pull them and let them redden inside. It worked last year so I'm hopeful if it comes to that.
I hope you're late summer garden looks better than mine!
Anyway, I felt compelled to post tonight so I'm back. I promise to try to squeeze in a post as often as I've got something to say. This is the time where there is not much happening in the garden. My tomatoes have all succumed to blight or whatever, as did my cantaloupe.
Unfortunately the Minnesota Midget Cantaloupe never got beyond baseball size. I know they're supposed to be small, but not THAT small. So now I've got two seasons of growing those under my belt and have come to the conclusion that they just don't work in my climate. I know others have made it work, but I'm guessing it's in a greenhouse. Last year I planted late and they never got beyond golf ball size. This year I had them in my container ASAP after the last frost date and look at the results. It's just not hot enough for them to mature in their 57 day window.
Thankfully I've got two tomato plants that may still have a shot. One was a volunteer and the other was a sucker transplant.
This volunteer basically took over the carrot section and the isle... I ran out of tomato cages. It's got some great looking tomatoes on it, but they're still green. I may have to pull them and let them redden inside. It worked last year so I'm hopeful if it comes to that.
I hope you're late summer garden looks better than mine!
Thursday, September 10, 2009
September 10, 2009
Alright, you asked for it, you get pics of my disasterous garden. In my defense, I'm almost out of broccoli and caulflower seeds and they've turned into a big hit with the big people in my family (namely my wife, who is the first person to tell you she hates those veggies). So I decided after the plants flowered that I'd see what it took to make them go to seed. The bumblebees loved them so I let them stay. The bees were a welcome addition to that area of my garden.
Well, now they look like this...
I think each of those pods needs to dry out and inside are about 10 seeds. When I opened one earlier they had about that many green seeds.
Of course I have since seen the package and thee Fiesta broccoli from Territorial is a hybrid. Oh well, no harm no foul. These will make a welcome addition to the compost pile.
Speaking of which, I haven't been doing much adding to it this year. Three years out from the last time I weed and fed my lawn, it didn't grow at all all summer. It really didn't turn majorly brown either, just didn't grow. I'll take that from an effort perspective, but it makes me quite shy of greens in mass quantities for my compost pile. I figure with the kitchen compost and leaves that are bound to start falling, I'll have one more major flip before I put it to bed for the winter. For greens I'll use these plants and some handy coffee grounds from Starbucks.
Lastly, I thought I'd take an overview pic of my garden to scare you all into going out this weekend and cleaning up yours, hehe. Needless to say the major winner this year were the carrots. I swear my kids is turning into a rabbit.
Oh, and that monster in the picture is a volunteer tomato plant. No clue what type it is, but it looks healthy enough. I figured if I had tomato volunteers I'd just leave them and see what happened. So far it looks like I'll have a late crop of salad makings, even if I have to ripen them inside. Not Judy and EG kind of second crop, but pretty decent for the Pacific Northwest.
Enjoy your garden, and let folks know I'm back. It's kinda lonely without the 400+ folks reading my blog each day, hehe.
Well, now they look like this...
I think each of those pods needs to dry out and inside are about 10 seeds. When I opened one earlier they had about that many green seeds.
Of course I have since seen the package and thee Fiesta broccoli from Territorial is a hybrid. Oh well, no harm no foul. These will make a welcome addition to the compost pile.
Speaking of which, I haven't been doing much adding to it this year. Three years out from the last time I weed and fed my lawn, it didn't grow at all all summer. It really didn't turn majorly brown either, just didn't grow. I'll take that from an effort perspective, but it makes me quite shy of greens in mass quantities for my compost pile. I figure with the kitchen compost and leaves that are bound to start falling, I'll have one more major flip before I put it to bed for the winter. For greens I'll use these plants and some handy coffee grounds from Starbucks.
Lastly, I thought I'd take an overview pic of my garden to scare you all into going out this weekend and cleaning up yours, hehe. Needless to say the major winner this year were the carrots. I swear my kids is turning into a rabbit.
Oh, and that monster in the picture is a volunteer tomato plant. No clue what type it is, but it looks healthy enough. I figured if I had tomato volunteers I'd just leave them and see what happened. So far it looks like I'll have a late crop of salad makings, even if I have to ripen them inside. Not Judy and EG kind of second crop, but pretty decent for the Pacific Northwest.
Enjoy your garden, and let folks know I'm back. It's kinda lonely without the 400+ folks reading my blog each day, hehe.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
September 9, 2009
Well, I didn't get a chance to get out to the garden tonight. As is typical these days, I rushed home from work, changed clothes, raced to the soccer field to relieve my wife so she could go to a meeting. After practice, I took my eldest to my folks to meet up with my youngest, had a bit of dinner, helped with a project and brought the kids home to bed. Rinse repeat. Frankly I've been lucky to water my SWCs because they're a closed system and rain doesn't help them. I thought I had some pics of the garden on my phone but don't, so alas, you'll have to wait another day until I can get out and snap some shots. Trust me, it will make your garden look good.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
September 8, 2009
Wow, boy how time flies. I can't believe it's been a whole month since my last post. I almost forgot my passwords and how to navigate my blog. As you can tell from the August 1st comments, my patron Judy has been working diligently over the last month to convince the host company that there was a problem on their end causing all of the FT2Garden.com sites to be down.
I have been keeping busy with summer activities, mostly non-garden related. Gettting my eldest ready for Kindergarten has been a chore, but now my baby is all grown up and started school today. /sigh.
Well, short post for tonight. All I can say is YAY! I'm so glad to not only get my blog back, but all the old data is back. Thank you Judy for backing everything up. So sorry that most of your backups were corrupt and you lost the last year.
Let folks know that may care. I plan on posting almost daily like normal. I hope you enjoyed your summer and as always, Enjoy your garden!
I have been keeping busy with summer activities, mostly non-garden related. Gettting my eldest ready for Kindergarten has been a chore, but now my baby is all grown up and started school today. /sigh.
Well, short post for tonight. All I can say is YAY! I'm so glad to not only get my blog back, but all the old data is back. Thank you Judy for backing everything up. So sorry that most of your backups were corrupt and you lost the last year.
Let folks know that may care. I plan on posting almost daily like normal. I hope you enjoyed your summer and as always, Enjoy your garden!
Saturday, August 1, 2009
August 1, 2009
Ha! And you thought I was gone. Well, I am. The miracle of forward publishing.
I hadn't planned on posting anything, but while I was out with my Aunt doing a wet run at the watering schedule for my garden, my kids went with us. While out in the main garden, Logan asked politely if he could pick a carrot. Like I would say no, hehe. I was busy filling a SWC when my Aunt made a comment about how big it was. I turned around and saw this!
I swear that Purple Haze carrot is 8 inches long and over an inch in diameter at the stem. Very cool. Even cooler that he wanted me to use the hose to wash it off before he proceeded to eat the entire thing!
I actually got to share the little one with my little one. He sort of likes carrots, mostly because his older brother does. He had a few bites and I ate the rest. It was sweet and crisp. Perfect in other words.
Have a great week!
Enjoy your garden.
I hadn't planned on posting anything, but while I was out with my Aunt doing a wet run at the watering schedule for my garden, my kids went with us. While out in the main garden, Logan asked politely if he could pick a carrot. Like I would say no, hehe. I was busy filling a SWC when my Aunt made a comment about how big it was. I turned around and saw this!
I swear that Purple Haze carrot is 8 inches long and over an inch in diameter at the stem. Very cool. Even cooler that he wanted me to use the hose to wash it off before he proceeded to eat the entire thing!
I actually got to share the little one with my little one. He sort of likes carrots, mostly because his older brother does. He had a few bites and I ate the rest. It was sweet and crisp. Perfect in other words.
Have a great week!
Enjoy your garden.
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