A Little Soil Prep

I took advantage of the 55 degrees and sunny weather to do a little soil preparation.

Late this fall, I adopted the neighboring garden plot. The gardeners hadn't been able to come by and it was untended. So I watered and weeded and last week pulled up the frozen tomato plants. Today, I turned over the soil. Like my plot, they have six inches of top soil on top of hard-packed gravel. I didn't bother digging through the gravel though. I've done that in parts of my garden and it's a huge job.

In my garden, I pulled up the (beautiful) swiss chard to make way for garlic. It's supposed to rain tomorrow so it would be ideal to get the garlic in this evening. I made a 3'6" by 3' bed. Depending on how densely we plant the garlic, it can hold from 56-192 heads. I don't think I'll be able to eat 192 heads of garlic, so it may be wise to space them out a bit!

I also planted some Allium flowers around the chives. I hope the Allium gigantum bulb I planted survives. It will be a fun flower.

Garlic bed in the far corner. To the left you can see the freshly tilled neighboring plot.

Colorful kale, mums, and dianthus. I expected the mums to bloom more than they did. They have lots of blossoms, but few flowers.

Note the long shadows. I took this picture at almost exactly noon today.

The Weather Changes

63 degrees and sunny today with a warm breeze.

More Snow

Yesterday, I went out to my garden and removed the dead tomatoes, peppers, and marigolds. The plan was that I was going to go out to the garden today and work the soil for the garlic bed. But then we woke up to a 2" blanket of snow. I probably could work the soil today, but I'd like to be able to see the ground so I don't accidentally dig up any of the onions I've left in the ground to overwinter.

First Frost and Snow October 9

"Welcome To My Garden"

It snowed last night and we got our first frost. I knew last night that it would get cold. But the days are shortner now and I got home right as it got dark. So I decided that what was meant to happen would happen. I slept in this morning and woke up to a blanket of snow. I took these pictures at about 9:30am after a lot of the snow had started to melt.

It's supposed to get down to 26 degrees tonight so I thought it was time to get out into my garden and do a little work.

I did some harvesting: tomatoes, swiss chard, leeks, cucumbers, bell peppers, onions, cabbages, and one carrot that was living under a tomato plant. I removed the tomato cages and cucumber/morning glory trellis. This meant pulling up the tomatoes and cucumber plants.

I'm pretty sure the peppers are done for. But I'm not sure about the leeks, onions, swiss chard, cabbages and kale. I know these plants are more cold-tolerant, but I'm not sure how cold they can get without dying. I'm also not sure what to do to keep them alive. Cover them? Go out and buy those mini-greenhouse hoops?

These are my seedlings: carrots and radishes. I was optimistic putting them in as late as I did and we didn't get the late season warm spell I was hoping for. They're so tiny, but they don't seem bothered by the cold...so far.

Thai peppers are pretty with snow on them.

Tomatoes.

Zinnias.

September

Now that it's mid-September, the weather is finally getting warm. My tomatoes have just started to ripen and the okra has just started to make new fruit.
These tomatoes have been on the vine, green, for over a month.


You can see the okra blooming and starting to bear fruit.

I planted seeds for winter crops last month. I know it's late and I'm an optimist. But with such a cool summer, we're due for a warm fall!

Radish & Turnip Seedlings

Now I look forward to October so I can plant the four varieties of garlic I have collected.

Garlic Chives

The only problem with having a fall garden is that it makes it harder to dig everything up and work the soil. The front half of the garden has bulbs in it. The back half has seedlings and will soon have garlic. So how do I aerate and fertilize if I can't till these areas?

Garden, 9/12/09


Swiss Chard

Morning Glory

Territorial Seed Company Winter Garden Planting Calendar

Progress Report

This growing season has been cool and dry. When my plants first went in, I didn't harden them off, so they got pretty burnt and took a while to recover. It is just now starting to get a little warmer and wetter.

I'm wondering if I misunderstand the word "mature" as used on seed packets. It seems, based on the dates I planted seeds and what I'm seeing in my garden, that "mature" does not mean "ready to harvest".

1. Thai Dragon Pepper
Should mature 5/18. Just started turning red.

2. Spanish Utah Onion
Should mature 6/17. A little bigger than a golf ball, sitting on top of the soil.

3. Candy Hybrid Onion
Should mature 6/2. A little bigger than a golf ball, sitting on top of the soil.

4. Sweet Basil
Small bush now. Harvesting regularly.

5. Marigolds
Going crazy, growing like weeds.

6. Petunia Pearls Royal Blue
Growing well, not as bushy as last year's seeds.

7. Morning Glory Clarks's Heavenly Blue
At the top of 3 foot trellis long since having reached to grow even higher.

8. Pepper Carnival Mix
Should mature 5/26. Tiny peppers, just got done flowering.

9. Pepper Big Dipper
Should mature 5/29. Medium sized green peppers, OK to harvest.

10. Cabbage Earliana
Should mature 5/16. Harvested weeks ago.

11. Tomato Super Beefsteak
Should mature 6/15. No red tomatoes yet, just green ones.

12. Snapdragon Tall Deluxe Mixed Colors
A couple snapdragons came up, just about done flowering now. Harvested seeds today.

13. Petunias from last year's seeds.
Going crazy, growing like weeds.

14. Tomato Sun Gold Hybrid
Should mature 6/3. I have been eating these since 2 weeks ago.Moderate amount of tomatoes ripening now.

15. Tomato Big Boy Hybrid
Should mature 6/16. No red tomatoes yet, just a couple of green ones.

16. Cabbage Red AcreShould mature 6/15-20.
One of two survived. Small head, not quite ready to harvest.

17. Cabbage Premium Flat Dutch Late
Should mature 6/20-7/10. Small head, not ready to harvest yet, but soon.

18. Cabbage Early Jersey Wakefield
Should mature 6/3. Large head, past ready to harvest. Multiple smaller heads growing alongside primary head.

19. Okra Red Burgundy
Should mature 7/1. Each plant has only one okra on it, but each plant is now growing more leaves.

20. Zinnia Sombrero
Healthy, small plants. Some have gone to seed.

21. Cilantro
Way past prime. Seeds about to mature.