Fall Gardening Update

Two Park Beds,  September 27th, 2013

      Many of the cold weather crops planted back in August are coming along quite well.  Some of the older seeds used were a complete bust.  Having tried to use up old packets, I will be forced to use fresher seed next year.

      At the left end of this bed are a few plants of Pak Choi (Livingstone for 2013) that were planted by seed on August 31, to replace the completely failed sewing of Heirloom Seeds (for 2010) De Cicco Broccoli.  Only one Fedco Winter Wonderland Romaine Lettuce (for 2012) sprouted, I will try the paper towel method next.  The second bunch of plants are red cabbage, planted 8/7/2013, as was all of this bed.  The little open spot was where I had planted a row of Kentucky Wonder Pole Beans from Hart's Seeds for the year 2009.  Only one plant came up, and it was lost during the transplant stage.  The next solid row is Fedco Plum Purple Radish for 2012.  Have picked some and they are pretty hot.  Tucked in next are some Fedco Beedy'a Camden Kale for 2009.  So far it is tough to find those plants between two rows of radishes.  Next comes sparkler radishes for 2013.  They are still short of harvest stage.  Finally, on the right side are Thick Stem Chinese Mustard plants from my own seed picked 6/4/11 (originally from Fedco).

      This box has done poorly.  On the left is the single chinese cabbage from an unknown source of seed.  The few little plants in the middle are Fedco Star Champion Collards for 2010, not exactly robust for collards.  To the right are Agway Early Purple Kohlrabi for 2009.  The Rouge D'Hivre Lettuce seeds planted in the middle were a total no show.  I then seeded this bed with Cook's Garden Mesclun Mix for 2009, also a complete bust.  Birds getting the seed may be an issue, but using old seed has probably been the bigger culprit.

      This box was planted on just September 10th!  On the left is Lake Valley Mizuna Japanese Mustard for planting in 2010.  The second planting is Red Sails Lettuce from my saved seeds for planting in 2011.  The darker red lettuce is Fedco Oscarde Oak Leaf Lettuce for 2011.  A nice dark red Oak Leaf.  Not a one of the Burpee Black Seeded Simpson for 2008 germinated, duh.

      All the plants in this picture were broadcast as seed on August 8th.  I had to check my plant notes to see that the bushy stuff on the left is Meyers Broccoli raab for 2012.  Many times have I tried to grow raab, never have I succeeded.  This year looks like it might just make it.  Tucked underneath the raab is a very beautiful stand of Fedco Winter Density Bibb/Romaine lettuce for 2011.  It is ready for picking now, we just need to make our next salad.  Next to that is Burpee's Bright Lights Swiss Chard for 2011.  I have already made two harvests of the chard from last month's sewing.  The last bushy stand on the right is Fedco Rainbow Lacinto Kale for 2010.  Fairly old seed, but a good result.  To the right side is spinach coming up, as shown in the next picture.

      On the left are three short rows of Fedco Giant Winter Spinach for 2011.  It looks to have a decent germination rate.  An earlier planting of maybe four year old bulk Bloomsberg Spinach seed was a total failure.  I will try some of that seed with the paper towel method.  The plants to the right are arugula which self seeded from an earlier self seeded patch.  If you let some go to seed, maybe you can have an ongoing arugula supply with little to no effort.
      Wow, after all that writing, I am hankering to get out to the garden.  I have mentioned lots of seed failures, but the pictures point to lots of success as well.  Next I have to figure out where to transplant a lot of these starts, and to figure what other seeds can still be started for my cold frame gardening.

      To check on my paper towel method:
                    http://fromseedtoscrumptious.blogspot.com/2012/01/be-careful-what-you-wish-for.html

Park Garden, 1/1/2012

      Now over to the park for the first of the year update.  Cold hardy greens such as kale and collards are doing well in many gardens.  On to my garden:

My collards, ready for a picking

Open space from harvest of savoy cabbage yesterday

Cardoon, 1/1/2012

      This cold frame, with the regrowing stumps of cardoon, has received a thin layer of mushroom soil to cover the garlic bulblets from an earlier post.  I saw three little shoots of garlic, including the one in the left corner of the following photo:

Garlic shoot, midway between post and cardoon plant

      This bed has seen better days.  The deer and voles have cleaned out all of the beets that were in the middle.  The voles and George have decimated the radishes.  I will sorely miss that crop.  The Beedy's Camden kale over near the right side is doing well, having been harvested heavily yesterday.  Finally, the thick stem chinese mustard on the far right is doing really well, and needs a heavy picking.

Artichokes, 1/1/12

      These two artichoke plants are doing great, having survived a couple of 23 degree mornings so far.  I might cover them somehow tomorrow if i get really motivated.  Or maybe dig them up to over winter on the relatively cozy porch.

      Many of the egyptian walking onions above are yellowing a bit.  I suppose that has to do with the cooler temperatures, though they should do fine if left alone.  They will recover quickly in the spring.

      This arugula plant is still growing nicely in this cold weather, allowing for some limited harvesting.  The garlic plants on both sides are also growing slowly.  Right now you want root growth in garlic rather than stem growth.  I hope to mulch this bed soon with a couple of inches of leaf mold.

Veggies in unprotected bed, 1/1/2012

Ah, arugula - 1/1/2012

Cold frame packed tight, 1/1/2012

Leeks on left, Rainbow Lacinto kale, and blue curly scotch kale

Volunteer Veggies

      This fall, like many, came too quickly, with many summer projects left undone.  Not surprisingly, planting seed for the fall garden was one of those projects gone awry.  To make it worse, none of the nurseries or box stores around here are carrying fall veggie starts.  In little more than an hour, I will drive down to Willey's Farmstore to see what they have.  But this morning I was over to the park garden to look for volunteers in my plot and in the three compost piles.
      The pickings were fairly slim.  Black Seeded Simpson lettuce that I got from Lou Gallo early this year was great fresh, then went to seed.  Some of the babies are just poking through the mulch.

Black Seeded Simpson starts, 9/7/11

      I saw Lou this morning over at the park.  He has a fat 20 foot row of Simpson coming up right now.  He offered me to thin out some.  Solves that problem.  Thank you Lou.  I forgot to take a photo of the nice little Frisee plants coming up at the park.  They look like I had put them in, as they are already in a bed, no transplanting required!  There is a nice batch of what looks to be Rainbow Lacinto Kale coming up.  It could also be Red Russian Kale, but no problem as either is great.

Kale, either Red Russian or Rainbow Lacinto

      Next it was on to a walk around the park compost piles to see if anything of interest was growing for transplant to my garden.  Whoopee, spotted at the top of one pile was a sole sprout of the red stemmed Malabar Spinach!  I had tried unsuccessfully to grow malabar from seed this spring, having planted 18 seeds to have only one sprout.  That one did not make it to size either. 

Malabar Spinach find, 9/7/11

      Malabar Spinach likes hot weather, as in the nineties.  It will not get that here in September, but it will grow to where I can get lots of cuttings.  I have at times successfully rooted them over the winter, to have plants to put in the ground in June.  I will try harder this winter to succeed with it, as it is difficult to even find the seed.
      Having scaled the compost pile to dig out the Malabar, I was rewarded with a bonus!

Red lettuce, 9/7/11

      A handful of red lettuce seedlings!  Oh how sweet it is.  I would not have even seen them at the top of the pile if it had not been for the malabar scavenge.  The lettuce was transplanted to cell packs to grow some better roots before going into their fall spots.  A total count of 11 nice little seedlings.  I love it when a plan comes together.  So between Lou's generous offer and my red lettuce find, I may not buy lettuce later this morning.  More to spend on broccoli and cabbage.