Plot 22 & Winter Seedlings

I start with a new plot for this year (Plot 22 instead of 29). It sits uphill from my old one and part of it is blocked from the sun for some time during the day. Today I put in an order for some seeds from Johnny's Selected Seeds (hot peppers, a bigger/darker eggplant, yellow crookneck squash, turnips and some flowers). In addition, I stirred some mosser lee moss, perlite and some organic mechanics seed starting mix together and planted Kohlrabi, Swiss Chard and Collard Green seeds to be my first additions to the Plot 22 garden as soon as the end of February.

Moss:Organic Mechanics: Perlite (5:3:3)

Collard Greens (left) & Swiss Chard (right)

I planted Kohlrabi seeds in this Bok Choy clamshell.

What Worked This Growing Season

Brandywine Tomatoe Plant

Martha Stewart's Brandywine Tomatoes were definitely the perk of growing our own vegetables this year. Each plant produced several large tomatoes over the growing season from July thru early September.

Burpee Roma Tomatoes produced a good amount of tomatoes. Some of the seeds in the package gave us some weird shaped tomatoes but otherwise we were pretty happy with them. They gave out all their fruit by the end of August. I have one plant in a backyard planter that sat in the shade that's giving out it's first fruit of the year.

Honey Delight Tomatoes

Honey Delight Hybrid Tomatoes (Burpee) grew bunches of tart yellow tomatoes. They made an easy replacement for tomatillos in salsa recipes.

Kohlrabi (Behnke's) was a surprising treat once they were ready. We were really happy with this vegetable as a replacement for cucumber early in the growing season.

Garden Babies Butterhead was a delight to watch grow. They grew into small heads of lettuce with light flavor and delicate leaves.

The small eggplants were neat in terms of serving a whole little eggplant in a dish. They came out tasty in an indian curry with rice and roasted in a honey/soy/miso sauce over noodles. My one gripe is that they take forever to grow.

Herbs were definitely winners this year. They all gave awesome flavor:

• Cilantro, Calypso
• Sage, Common
• Parsley, Titan
• Basil, Siam Queen
• Large Leaf Basil (Behnke's)
• Dill, Fernleaf
• Lovage (Behnke's)

Calendula (top) Nasturtium (Bottom)

The Edible Flowers were a nice mix in the garden and did attract the right insects. Although I think I would limit my nasturtiums to one plant next year. Their flavor is a bit too much and you do get a good amount of foliage/flowers from one plant:

• Calendula, Flashback Mix (Organic)
• Nasturtium, Dwarf Cherry Rose
• Edible Marigold, Lemon Gem

The Biggest Losers this Season:

Zucchini

Burpee Zucchinis were a big disappointment this year. I think I would try a vining type instead of a bush type next time. This type of Zucchini says it's for a small garden and grows one squash at a time. Seemed like way too much leaves to meager fruit.

Burpee Broccoli Raab grew into flowers way too fast before developing any thickness to their buds. This was the most disappointing vegetable of the season. I love the taste of Broccoli Raab but wouldn't plant this type again.

I don't think I'd plant the Ferry Morse Spinach again. The leaves came out way too small and we didn't really end up eating any of it.

Thunderstorms and Spiders

Today within 2 hours we received over 2 inches of rain and we're expecting even more rain. I'm hoping this translates to greener leaves and better tomatoes in the garden. In the last couple of days there has been an increase in the variety of insects in the garden. Some red mites on the Brandywine tomato leaves one day was followed by the appearance of cobwebs and spiders the next. I'm thinking the straw provides a good home for predator (beneficial) insects. The swallowtail caterpillar is missing from his favorite dill plant and to my relief he is not on the adjacent collard greens; I didn't want to have to touch him, it's kinda gross.

Harvested today: Salad Bowl Lettuce, Baby Butterhead Lettuce, 2 Kohlrabi bulbs (which are now pickling in the fridge) and enough Kohlrabi leaves and Collard Green leaves for omelets.

Garden Pics

Kohlrabi are about 2 to 3 inches wide now

Roma Tomato has leaves that I think are being eaten by insects

I think this is fennel (front) and in the back a zucchini decided to start growing finally

Swiss Chard (red version in front and yellow in back)

Collard Greens were being eaten but now seem to be recovering.

Chamomile seedling starting out. I have three growing currently.

Salad Bowl Lettuce (left) Butterhead Lettuce (center) and Broccoli Raab (right)

Cucumber plant at the base of the teepee

A cilantro plant that began from seed and behind it is a shallot plant

The sad looking plant in the back is a sweet potato and the plants in the front right are eggplants.

Danielle's Jalapeno plant growing happy new leaves

The New Mexico Chile plant is doing fine

Nasturtium plants are growing. I have about five of them.

Bay (left) and Lemon Verbena (right)

 The weather has been nice and we're expecting beautiful weather all this week (highs in the 70s and 80s).

Broccoli Raab harvested

The high today was 87F. The Broccoli Raab is supposed to grow in cooler temperatures than what it has been recently. It seems like we skipped spring and went straight from winter to summer. The Broccoli Raab unfortunately sent up shoots when it was only 2 inches tall and very thin. Next time I'll have to plant it way earlier or grow it over winter. The top little rounded pieces are the shoots and you have to catch them before they flower (My Vegetable Gardener's Bible book says you have 24 hours after they send up shoots). I'll try planting them again in the fall (hoping for better results then).

Also in the picture you can see little holes in the leaves of the Broccoli Raab. These holes are appearing everywhere: my pepper plants, tomato leaves, collard greens and kohlrabi. I sprinkled some diatomaceous earth over the weekend over the trouble areas. I have heard from other gardeners that this could be slugs and things I read online seem to confirm it too.

I am looking forward to harvesting the Kholrabi soon so I can plant some more tomatoes.

Trellises & Hot Peppers

Yesterday and today were pretty warm days between 65 and 75F. I planted hot peppers in the garden and put up two trellises. One for the honey and brandywine tomatoes and the other for my cucumbers. I took pictures of the various veggies growing in my garden.
Link to newest plant:
Barkers New Mexican Chile (Bonnie Plants/Lowes)

Here is the newest member of my collection. A New Mexican hot chile. Bonnie Plants promises a spicy pepper.

Trellises at center of photo with my new Barnes and Noble bag.

Tomato trellis (left) & Cucumber trellis (right). The tomatoe trellis uses some untreated stakes from Lowe's vertically and the two horizontal pieces are 1" thick hollow bamboo. The one on right is assembled with branches that have fallen off the trees from our rental home and some untreated short stakes from Lowe's.

This is the Jalapeno plant Danielle gave to me. He is tied to the tomato trellis with Jute rope for the moment.

We think it's a strawberry plant. I chopped it's flowers off today so it can focus on growing roots and hopefully fruit later in the year.

Spinach

Baby Butterhead Lettuce

Baby Butterhead Lettuce

We think it's Salad Bowl Lettuce

Broccoli Raab

Collard Greens (they are tiny; the picture is deceiving)

Kohlrabi is growing pretty well.

Mostly Radishes with some Carrots sprinkled here and there

I fed my plants fish emulsion (Espoma) yesterday.

Pictures at sunset right before sprinkling of rain

Baby Butterhead Lettuce from seed

Random lettuce that popped up (We think it's Salad Bowl Lettuce).

Cilantro seedlings that survived the small flood (I guess they are too close together)

Radishes (large leaves) & Carrots (teeny tiny leaves at right)

Broccoli Raab (left) Butterhead Lettuce (center) & random lettuce from previous tenant (left)

Kohlrabi

Kohlrabi up close

Onions (back) Oregano (left) & Rosemary (right)

Strawberry (I think) plant from previous tenant

Calendula seedling transplanted

New Garden Links

Kohlrabi (Behnke's)
Honey Delight Hybrid Tomatoes (Burpee)

Additional links to veggie transplants and seeds.