The Modern Victory Garden

HARVEST MONDAY

Each Monday, Daphne’s Dandelions hosts “Harvest Monday” where everyone submits links to their blog posts summarizing their harvest for the week.   It’s fun to see what people are producing from gardens from so many different regions, and how they are using it.   Check it out and join in too!                               

Root crops that are held in the ground for fresh harvests over the winter  that are left too long in the ground once the days start warming up and the day length starts increasing will generally begin sprouting in an attempt to go into a second year of growth.   For biennials like carrots and parsnips the second year is all about seed production rather than root development.   In fact, the roots of biennial crops will actually become less edible as the second year of growth progresses.   As I mentioned earlier in the week, I am seeing some signs of increasing growth throughout the property and on Sunday I noticed that the last of the parsnips were putting out new top growth too.   This is my cue to harvest the remaining roots as they will only decrease in quality from here on out.    There really was not that many of them left in the bed, but I harvested all that remained.         

Harvest totals for the week of January 23rd through January 29th (rounded to the nearest ¼ pound).

• Parsnips 0.75 lbs

Total For Week 0.75 lbs

Total Year to Date 3.50 lbs                                                  

Eggs collected this week – 8                                                                 

SEED STARTING

I am officially into my peak seed starting season.   The onions, celery, and celeriac are all emerged and growing.    My ultra-early start tomatoes that I seeded last weekend are starting to emerge.   The plants I started for the Giving Garden have their first true leaves and will soon need regular drinks of very dilute kelp emulsion tea.   All in all, things are progressing right along and as usual, I am constantly juggling to make more room under the lights for the newest items to be seeded.   This weekend, I started cabbages (Famosa, and Parel), kale (Dwarf Siberian Improved and Beira), Tatsoi, pac choi (Ching Chiang - dwarf), and kohlrabi (Koliribi).   I started all of these items in micro soil blocks as they are fast germinators and so keeping them adequately hydrated should be easier than slower starting items.   I used an old cookie sheet lined with aluminum foil and then I marked which group of 20 was what by placing masking tape on the edges of the pan with the crop and variety name indicated.   The micro block maker does 20 small blocks which are sized to plant up later into the medium sized soil blocks.   The blocks are easier to transplant if they are cleanly separated from the other blocks in the group.   I used my dough scraper/cutting tool to help separate the blocks more after they were formed.   It is the perfect tool for the job as it has a thin sharp edge, is not overly long (6 inchs), and has a handle to hold on to at the top.                                                           

These were covered by a plastic humidity dome and placed under the grow lights along with all the other seedlings.                    

GARDEN BED TIDY UP

The weather was windy and overcast all weekend, but for the most part it did not rain and the daytime temps were in the mid 40’s.   I took advantage of the mild conditions on Saturday to do some garden bed tidy up under the long grow tunnel cover.   I removed the items that were played out, eaten too badly by slugs to be useful, or had been freeze damaged by the period of days we had two weeks ago that were in the mid 20’s.   This resulted in several large sections that are now empty under the bed.   I cultivated and weeded the entire bed, and used my sharp hoe to scrape the weeds away adjacent to the edge of the bed.        

As you can probably tell from this picture, the soil was actually pretty dry under the cover so I gave everything a good watering while I was at it.          

The kale and the swiss chard have all been previously harvested pretty hard, such that they currently do not have much usable leaves on them.    However, they are showing signs of good new growth at the central growing point and I expect they will be producing harvests again very soon.                                   

There are two small sections of this bed that have baby radish and swiss chard seedlings growing that were seeded earlier this winter.   The swiss chard starts are very small yet but appear to be holding up despite the slug attacks.   Here's a golden swiss chard plant.                                

Further on down the bed is the last of the late summer planted crop of golden beets (a rogue red beet plant appears to be in among them), and the young pac choi plants I put out several weeks ago.                          

Once the bed was weeded, cultivated, and watered, I let it sit exposed to the ventilating effects of the mild breeze that was blowing Saturday before I recovered it with the tunnel cover.                                                 

There is just over two months left before I will need to plant this bed with the current year’s potato crop – assuming reasonable weather conditions, I should be able to continue getting good harvests from these overwintered crops during that time frame.                                                     

How are things going with your season extending efforts?   Have you begun any seed starting yet?                                

Laura

kitsapfreedomgardener

HARVEST MONDAY

Each Monday, Daphne’s Dandelions hosts “Harvest Monday” where everyone submits links to their blog posts summarizing their harvest for the week.   It’s fun to see what people are producing from gardens from so many different regions, and how they are using it.   Check it out and join in too!                      

Winter finally arrived this past week.   We had a heavy snow storm on Wednesday followed by more snow mixed with freezing rain on Thursday.   The temperature never got above 25 degrees during these two days of winter storms.   However, by mid-day Friday the temps moderated back to our normal range for this time of year (night time lows of mid to low 30’s and day time highs of low to mid 40’s) and the moisture laden storm systems steadily pumping through our area turned to rain - lots of rain.   As you can imagine, we are a big soggy mess at the moment as the rain and snow melt has nowhere to go since the ground is so saturated already.                                                       

Despite the steady and rather heavy rain, I ventured outside for about an hour on Sunday to watch over my hens while they enjoyed some free range time.   They did not want to stay out in it long as it really was a soaker of a day, but they were happy to get some fresh greens and a few worms and grubs before they declared defeat and retreated to the relative dryness of their covered yard.   While the hens were busy foraging, I made use of the time to harvest the last of the leeks and some kale leaves.                                                

Several days of below freezing temperatures had made the leeks outer leaves a bit slimy, so it was time to just harvest all that remained.   I peeled away the outer leaves, trimmed up the roots and gave them a good rinse – and ended up with some nice leeks for my efforts.   The kale leaves harvested was a mixture of the Siberian Dwarf Improved kale that is growing under the protection of the grow tunnel and tree kale leaves.   I have to tell you that I am more and more impressed with the tree kale plants.   They were looking very stressed during the multiple days of mid 20 temps, but as soon as it warmed up the plants just perked right up and now look like the winter weather never occurred.   Apparently tree kale is just as hardy as regular kale plants.   They produce abundantly too.         

Harvest totals for the week of January 16th through January 22nd (rounded to the nearest ¼ pound).

• Kale 0.25 lbs
• Leeks 0.50 lbs

Total For Week 0.75 lbs

Total Year to Date 2.75 lbs                                          

Eggs collected this week – 8                                               

WINTER DOINGS

Saturday morning, I took the time to create my annual Seed Starting Schedule.   I also set up the 2012 Harvest Tally page, although for now it is blank, as I only post the totals on a monthly basis and January is still a work in progress.   As you can see from the schedule, the seed starting process for 2012 is now underway in full force.   There will be a steady stream of seed starting from now until late spring.   Last week, I started the celery and celeriac and the main crop of onions.   Saturday I got the ultra-early start tomatoes seeded.   Unfortunately, I am already struggling for room under the grow lights and things are just getting going!   Part of the issue is that I am also starting seeds for the Giving Garden so I have more than my usual number of flats vying for space under the lights.   I am just going to have to move the more cold hardy items out to the unheated greenhouse a lot faster this year in order to free up space for items yet to be seeded.   First items moved out to the greenhouse were the Ailsa Craig Exhibition onions I started late last year.   Hopefully these plants will continue to grow in the greenhouse with less warmth and light then they had indoors, but it’s a chance I had to take as they needed to be moved to make room for the tray of soil blocks seeded with tomatoes.                

The greenhouse at the moment has several items growing in it.   I have some containers that I seeded with some spinach last week.   It may yet be too cold for them to germinate but if that proves to be the case, I will just reseed them again later.   In the other large containers I have some baby napa cabbages, baby carrots, dwarf pac choi, and some young lettuces.   The lettuces are looking pretty tough after the string of below freezing days last week.   They may (or may not) bounce back from that set back.   The dwarf pac choi plants are looking good though.              

That’s the way it goes with mid-winter growing efforts, some efforts fail and some thrive.   The trick is to keep a steady stream of new items coming online to increase your odds of success.                              

Laura

kitsapfreedomgardener

HARVEST MONDAY

Each Monday, Daphne’s Dandelions hosts “Harvest Monday” where everyone submits links to their blog posts summarizing their harvest for the week.   It’s fun to see what people are producing from gardens from so many different regions, and how they are using it.   Check it out and join in too!       

Not much fresh harvesting occurred this week other than some beets I pulled on Sunday.   We did use stored, frozen, and canned items a great deal, but the fresh harvests are somewhat limited at the moment because the kale and chard have been previously harvested pretty hard and are not bouncing back quickly during these darkest days of winter.   There are some green onions, parsnips and beets available for harvest, and coming along in the green house are some young lettuces, Napa cabbages, and dwarf pac choi that will not be too much longer of a wait before ready.   In the meantime, we are leaning heavily on our stored supplies and are very glad to have previously put by an ample supply from the prior year garden. 

Sunday afternoon I harvested both red and golden beets.   I really did not need them for the Sunday dinner preparation, but thought I would harvest them in the light of day and put them in the fridge to use early next week.                

Harvest totals for the week of January 2nd through January 8th (rounded to the nearest ¼ pound).                                                  

• Beets 0.75 lbs

Total For Week 0.75 lbs

Total Year to Date 1.75 lbs                                  

Eggs collected this week – 7                                          

SOME WINTER GARDEN PROJECTS

This winter is actually shaping up to be a “normal” winter for us (so far), which is a pleasant change from the past two winters which had significant periods of below normal temperatures.   Two good things come from this.   First, the perennial plantings and the crops being over wintered are faring well, and second, the mild daytime temperatures affords the ability to do some garden projects much earlier than a harsher winter would allow.   So long as the weather continues to hold, I intend to take full advantage of that good fortune.   Sunday was a particularly mild day with a high temperature that reached a balmy 50 degrees so I definitely spent some time in the garden and tended to a few winter projects.       

About a week ago I had given the bed of cranberry plants a good weeding and finished the job on Sunday by following up with a trimming of the longest runners that were trailing over the edge of the bed, which not only keeps the bed tidy but also encourages the plants to put energy into development of uprights (where the fruit is formed).   I sprinkled some garden sulfur around the plants because a quick test with the PH meter indicated the soil could use some acidification.   This was then followed with a sanding which helps the many long runners to root and establish a more solid mat of plants from which more uprights can eventually form.   This bed is in its third year and the plants are finally really developing a decent foundation and have some nice uprights formed, so I have some reason to hope that this may be its first year to produce berries (usually takes 3 to 4 years).                    

Another project tackled on Sunday which is not nearly as much fun as tending to a promising bed of cranberries – was the removal of dead pole bean vines from the support structures.   Is there anything more tedious than unwinding the vines of pole beans from netting?!   It really has to be a fine day and I really have to have nothing better to do to get in the proper mood to tackle that particular winter task.   I had run out of excuses however to ignore it any longer and the weather was indeed fine, so I completed it for yet another year.   The funny thing is that I will happily plant more pole beans just as soon as the soil warms sufficiently and blissfully forget the royal pain in the butt that those longed for vines will give me come next winter.   It’s a good thing our garden memories are shrouded in the springtime by a haze of green shoots and warm sunshine - or pole beans would never get planted and enjoyed for dinner!     

Laura

kitsapfreedomgardener

HARVEST MONDAY

Each Monday, Daphne’s Dandelions hosts “Harvest Monday” where everyone submits links to their blog posts summarizing their harvest for the week.   It’s fun to see what people are producing from gardens from so many different regions, and how they are using it.   Check it out and join in too!                                      

My daughter flew back to Pennsylvania late Friday night, which brought to an end our week of celebrating the holidays and enjoying her being home for a visit.   We ate out quite frequently in the past week but did prepare some home cooked meals too.   Most of those home cooked dinners however, used items in storage or frozen rather than fresh harvest items from the garden.   I did harvest some lettuce leaves to top our New Year’s eve blue cheese hamburgers with, and on Friday I harvested some green onions to use in combination with frozen red peppers (diced) and garlic from storage to make spaghetti and meatballs.   The lettuce leaves and green onions were not enough to make my minimum harvest tally weight however, and I never got a picture of them.                                  

Sunday afternoon I dug up some parsnips.   These will be cooked by simply peeling and slicing them and then sautéing them.   If I don’t use them for the Sunday night dinner preparation, I will use them for Monday’s evening meal.                                    

Harvest totals for the week of December 26th through January 1st (rounded to the nearest ¼ pound).

• Lettuce & Greens 0.00 lbs (not enough to make harvest tally weight)
• Onions (green) 0.00 lbs (not enough to make harvest tally weight)
• Parsnips 1.00 lbs

Total For Week 1.00 lbs

Total Year to Date 1.00 lbs                                           

Eggs collected this week – 10                                                 

KICKING OFF THE NEW YEAR

I spent the first day of 2012 kicking off the new garden season.   First thing I did was to go through my seed box and discard the used up packets (with just a few seeds remaining) and items that were getting very old and shop worn.   I had donated much of my extra seeds to the Kingston Farm and Garden Co-op Giving Garden throughout 2011, so there was only a small amount of usable items to carry forward into 2012.    I then did an inventory of my other supplies noting what needed to be purchased to restock.   There actually was quite a good supply on hand of most regularly used items so the list was pretty small this year.   Last week, I had prepared my 2012 garden plan/layout so my seed requirements were established.     Armed with all of this information I then placed my annual seed and supply orders.     

On Sunday afternoon I spent an hour or so out in the garden and weeded the bed of cranberry plants and removed spent vegetation from two containers of strawberry plants.   While I was out puttering in the garden, I checked on the lettuce and dwarf pac choi seedlings I transplanted out on Friday afternoon.    These seedlings had spent about a week being hardened off before transplanting by leaving them for longer and longer periods of time in the unheated greenhouse.    All of the lettuces and a few of the dwarf pac choi plants went into the containers in the greenhouse.   The majority of the dwarf pac choi were planted into an open section under the long covered grow tunnel.   I took the precaution of sprinkling some Sluggo around the newly transplanted items because the slugs have been particularly fierce this winter.    The young plants seem to be doing okay despite the colder weather the past few days.   

It’s hard to see in the last picture, but if you look carefully you can see baby carrots which are also growing in several of the containers in the greenhouse.   I just tucked a few of the lettuces and dwarf pac choi in with them where there were some open spots.                                

I also checked on the onion plants I direct seeded late in August that are over wintering in the garden (unprotected).    They are doing remarkably well.   I hope they hang in there through January, which is usually our coldest month of the year.                                                    

The last thing done to wrap up the old year and ring in the new, was to finalize the 2011 harvest tally recap and set up the harvest spreadsheet for not only the new month but for the new year as well.   While a bit of a hassle to keep these kinds of records, I do find it useful to have comparative information to refer back to periodically.     2011 was a particularly low production year for the garden due to the abnormally cool summer we had.   I certainly hope 2012 gets us back to a more typical level of production.                                                               

There will be more onions and some early spring greens to start in the weeks ahead.   Keeping a pipeline of hardy greens going to plant out in the covered grow tunnel and the unheated greenhouse as other items are harvested and removed is important to keep fresh harvests coming as we slowly crawl our way out of the darkest days of winter towards the longer and warmer days of spring.   It should be noted that we put the shortest day of the winter behind us last week, so it is all uphill from here!    

Happy New Year Everyone! Let’s make it a great one.                   

Laura

kitsapfreedomgardener

My blog posts of late seem to be largely confined to the weekly harvest and cooking recaps, which could lead one to believe that there is nothing going on in my garden at the moment.   While it is true that things are largely quiet right now, there is still a certain level of activity that is happening.   It is hard to give garden photo updates to show you though, because the winter crop beds are largely under the cover of grow tunnels and unless I am getting into them to do some harvesting they are not readily visible.   Easier to see are the containers in the greenhouse that have some greens and carrots I direct seeded late this fall.   They are growing slowly and should provide some early spring harvest items.   The plants are all quite small at this time (and a little hard to see) but they seem to be doing quite well.   Here are some of the carrot seedlings.      

This year I am making the switch from using plastic cell packs to start my transplant seedlings in – to using soil blocks.   I bought the block makers earlier this summer and have been just waiting to start using them until this winter when I had more time to learn and practice.   Today I did my first effort at using soil blocks.   I started with some flats of mini blocks and planted the following:

• 20 Arctic King – lettuce
• 20 Autumn Blend – lettuce
• 36 Ching Chiang – dwarf pac choi
• 80 Ailsa Craig Exhibition – onion

I am not that great yet at releasing them smoothly into the trays but practice will eventually make me better at this.   I used clean empty chicken stock boxes cut in half (length wise) to create trays for the mini blocks.                

These were then placed on a heat mat under the grow lights in the house.                                   

When the seeds are germinated and grown a bit, I will plant these into the medium sized soil blocks and grow them on from there.   The lettuces and the pac choi will eventually be planted under the grow tunnels or in the greenhouse.                       

I had another garden task to do today as well.   The tree kale/collard plants have been growing beautifully.   The original plant is now over 8 feet tall and the young plants I have rooted from cuttings are several feet tall as well.    Unfortunately, the bamboo pole I used as the main support for the original plant was both not tall enough and not sturdy enough to properly support this really tall plant.                                              

With my husband’s help, we used a 10 foot stick of 3/4 inch metal conduit and just slipped it over the original bamboo pole and then drove it deeply into the ground to anchor it well.   Added a few additional tie wraps (loose) on the top most portion of the plant to provide better support and the whole thing was in much better shape afterwards with virtually no disruption to the plant itself.   

I have some pole bean vines that are dead and need to be removed from the grow support structures and I have leaves to rake up and compost from the front yard.   Both tasks are things I will do when the weather gives me a bit of a break.   What garden tasks have you been doing lately?          

Laura

kitsapfreedomgardener

I grew artichokes for the first time ever this year.   Started them from seed during the late winter months, gave them a suitable period of “chilling” in colder outdoor temps to force first year bud development, and then planted them up in large outdoor pots.   They produced a light harvest for me, which was most satisfying and whetted my appetite to grow more of them and improve the harvest levels.   When I started out on this small adventure of planting something new (to me), I did my usual practice of reading up on the matter to educate myself on this plants particular needs and requirements.   I learned a lot about this interesting plant in the process, but the most important thing I found out was that the ideal growing conditions for artichokes are cool and moist summers with mild winters.   I am in zone 8b (maritime pacific northwest) and the best description of our climate is “cool and moist summers with mild winters”!   Obviously this is a plant that is well suited to my region's growing climate.   In fact, if I use sufficiently deep winter mulch, the artichokes may survive as perennials.   The mulch is needed to protect the roots from deep freezing during the few weeks a year that we get below freezing temperatures.   Even if I am unable to successfully grow them as a perennial, I ( and others in climate areas colder than Zone 8 ) can easily grow them as annuals, so long as they are started ahead of time and the transplants have 90 to 100 frost-free days to grow in.                          

Since I want to keep growing these, I created a permanent new bed for them earlier this fall and transplanted my large container grown plants into it.   It was heavy work to get them out of those large containers and set in place and the plants got knocked about a lot during the process, but they bounced right back and gave me some strong new shoots.   Here they are approximately two months later on November 6th.                      

Artichokes are heavy feeders and need consistent and thorough watering.   Growing them in containers this past summer worked just fine but I expect that the plants will do better growing in the ground with the soaker hose on them to keep them well hydrated.   I used worm casting compost to amend their new bed and planting holes with.   Now, to put them to bed for the winter, I top dressed the bed with a thick layer of rough finished compost and then layered on lots of fall leaves for insulating protection.   I used quite a bit of compost because it not only served the function of adding a layer of insulating mulch, but it also will provide a slow release of nutrients and soil improving humous to the growing bed.        

Notice the hens helping me out there?!   They are wistfully looking at that newly laid down compost wishing they could get to it so they could scratch out some worms and bugs.                                

Next, I took the wheelbarrow out to the front yard and raked up some fallen leaves from one of our Japanese maples.                        

These were then layered on above the compost mulch to create a deep blanket of insulating mulch.                                        

Another hen in that picture, just sure there are bugs to be had in that pile of leaves – if only she could reach them!   This covering is more than sufficient for most winters, but we are in for year two of La Nina this winter and odds are good we are going to be colder and wetter than normal (again), so I would prefer to cover this twice as deeply for extra protection.    I am going to have to wait though, as I raked up all of the leaves for tree number one and the remaining two trees are still largely hanging on to their fall leaves.                                      

We are forecasted to have some gusty winds on Friday, so I won’t have to wait long to get another load of leaves to finish off that bed.   What leaves I don’t use for the artichoke bed, I plan to use for mulching the tree kale/collard plants.                               

In addition to tending to the artichoke plants, I have also been working on ripening my pumpkins off of the vine.   I had a horrible squash year in 2011.   The abnormally cool summer caused everything to be delayed by at least two to three weeks from normal, and the long growing season warm lovers like pumpkins and winter squash were even more impacted than the other garden crops.   My butternuts just started really setting fruit just in time for the cold fall rains to arrive.   The pumpkins at least set their fruit earlier but were still very late and definitely not ripe when the cold rains started taking the plants down.   At first I moved them into the greenhouse hoping the temperatures inside would be warm enough with the passive solar to finish ripening them off.   This picture was taken on October 23rd.

Not long after this picture was taken though, I determined that the night time temps were dipping down too low to allow the ripening process to progress, so I brought them inside the house and put them on my front window sill.    Here they are on Sunday November 6th.                  

The largest continues to quickly ripen and will likely be ready for cooler storage (or use!) and inclusion in the harvest tally by the end of this coming weekend.   Obviously, I much prefer to have my pumpkins ripen in the patch, but they definitely can be ripened off the vine if needed -  so long as  they were sufficiently mature enough and if placed where they are exposed to sunlight and warm temps.   The extra effort is worth it to maximize my pumpkin patch production despite our strange summer season.                                                      

Laura

kitsapfreedomgardener

The mid-week blog updates are getting more challenging lately.   The leaves have turned on our trees but are largely still attached to the branches.   Once they are off the trees I will be raking them up and composting them, or using them to mulch and protect the artichoke plants, but for now it is not time yet to do that.                                       

The garden beds with winter crops are growing (albeit very slowly now) under the extra protection of a grow tunnel; or in containers in the greenhouse; or for extra hardy items - exposed but covered with bird netting to keep my hens out of them.   The fall and winter crops do not require much care during the dark days of winter as the weeds are not growing much either, and the soil stays moist for long periods (even when covered) due to the colder temps and damp conditions.   There will be very minimal watering and weeding chores for the next four months.          

The spent summer crops have been removed and the plant debris added to the compost bin.   The garlic has been planted.   The pumpkins have been brought into the warm house to finish ripening since they were so late setting this year and did not quite make it to the finish line before the cold fall rains arrived.   To summarize, there just is not that much going on out in the garden at the moment worth talking about.   However, the food production garden still occupies my mind quite a lot during the late fall and winter season even if I am not physically in it very much at this time.   If you are serious (like I am) about providing for all of your family’s vegetable needs from the garden, there are several important management issues to stay focused on during this low period in the garden season.               

First, I have to really be careful to avoid overharvesting the winter hardy and protected crops.   A fall / winter garden is really nothing more than plants that have been grown to a mature state prior to the arrival of the really short and dark days of winter and then held in a state of near dormancy for fresh harvesting as needed.   If the plants are mature enough and hardy enough to survive winter conditions (usually with the assistance of some protective cover) they will provide a fresh source of food.   However, with the diminished strength of the sun, much shorter day length, and cold winter temperatures, these plants may survive but are certainly not going to continue to grow much (if at all) and therefore will not bounce back after a harvest with new growth.   Particularly if your garden is like mine and goes into heavy shade during the winter months  because the winter sun sits so low on the horizon that it causes the trees that edge our property to block the sun for much of the day.   Given this fact, a sufficiently large amount of crops must have been grown to provide adequate fall / winter supply and harvesting must be done judiciously to spread the benefit of the fresh harvests out over the greatest period of time possible.   The trick is to use stored and preserved items for the most part, but to augment that with regular infusions of fresh harvests.   Having enough of both supplies and knowing how to pace yourself through each of them during the winter season is something that you pretty much have to learn through personal experience, because every garden's capacity to produce, and every family’s needs, are going to be different.   Unfortunately, just as you start thinking you’re getting pretty good at balancing both parts of the equation (fresh harvests and stored items) something changes to mix it up again!   In our case, our daughter moved away to attend college and suddenly the household I was feeding was down by one person.        

Another critical component of keeping the garden working as much as possible throughout the year is to keep the pipeline going that adds new items to the growing mix.   There is a window of time in the late fall where I stop planting anything and I am currently in that time period, but it does not last very long.   By the end of December or first part of January, I am starting hardy greens inside under grow lights and in the warmth of the house or shop, so that they are ready to be tucked in under the protection of the grow tunnel or greenhouse in early February (or soon afterwards) to take advantage of the gradual increase in day length and sun strength that starts really happening after Imbolc (most of us know it as Ground Hogs Day and is the mid-point between winter solstice and the spring equinox).   Plants begin responding to the increasing day length and sun strength and slightly warmer conditions by once again growing (although slowly in this early period).   Having some new crops coming along is a real help as the winter storage foods start becoming depleted in March and April, and the summer garden crops are still many months away at that point.   The steady schedule of regular succession planting really gets started thereafter and keeps going until once again late fall arrives.   While it is too early to start these next generation transplants, it is not too early to assess whether the seeds needed for this mid-winter seed starting are on hand.                                                                                

What is happening in your fall / winter garden and how are you doing on the levels of fresh harvests and stored items?   Are they keeping up with your vegetable needs?              

Laura

kitsapfreedomgardener

Sunday was overcast but generally a dry and comfortable day – perfect weather to knock a few more of my fall “to do” items off of the list.   First up was to finish clearing out the spent crops from the back section of the garden.  Two weeks ago, I pulled out the bush beans and the snap peas from this area of the garden, but the tomatoes and cucumbers were still in place.   On Sunday I tackled the not so fun chore of clearing out the tomato patch.   The plants were starting to go down from disease and molds caused by the cooler temperatures, increasing rain amounts, and decreasing sun strength and day length.   It was time to bid them goodbye for yet another year.   Here’s what this part of the garden looked like before I started doing any of the fall clean up in the back garden area.                        

As mentioned before, the bush beans and snap peas came out two weeks ago.   This weekend, I took out the tomatoes and the cucumbers.   The red plastic mulch was removed; the soaker hoses coiled up and put away; and the tomato cages and ladders were rinsed off and also put away.   Once done, the back section of the garden was in large part laid bare.                 

But it is not entirely bare.   Back in the far corner of this garden area is a new bed I created quite a few weeks ago as a permanent home for the artichoke plants.   I had grown them in large pots all through the summer but moved them to a permanent bed to try and continue growing them as a perennial.   In the course of transplanting these very large plants (out of even larger pots) I had to manhandle them pretty badly and I was fearful they were damaged in the process and might not make it.   But take a look at the plants now!         

Lots of new young shoots coming up, so obviously I did not manage to actually kill them – just roughed them up a bit!   The plants have a protective barrier of wire panels around them to keep my flock of hens out.   Once the weather starts getting a lot colder, I plan to place a thick mulch of fall leaves over the bed to insulate the roots from really deep freezes.   Hopefully, these protective actions will help ensure that these artichoke plants survive over the winter to grow on and produce for me as a perennial crop.                       

Behind the greenhouse is a bed that has my two ultra dwarf apple trees planted from bare rootstock earlier this spring.   Underneath and between the two trees (which are growing very well), I have a patch of green onions growing that I direct seeded in mid to late summer.   They have put on quite a bit of good growth and should provide some usable green onions for fresh cooking needs after the leek patch has been all used up.                

 The other fall chore I got taken care of on Sunday was the planting of the garlic patch.   I completely emptied out the left hand bin of the worm box and got a good wheelbarrow load of gorgeous worm casting laden finished compost.                 

I spread this thickly over the 4’X8’ section of bed that the garlic was to be planted in and then mixed it in to the top few inches and raked it smooth.        

The soil in this bed is just beautiful.   In fact, I think it is rapidly becoming the best on the property, because I have used it for the pea patch every other year since it’s creation and the soil in this location had a little more sand in it than elsewhere on our property, which when combined on a regular basis with exceptionally nice compost becomes a very light and humousy loam.   I used my 6 inch planting jig to mark the prepped soil and then initially placed the garlic cloves into the designated spots.   I waited until all of them were laid out to make sure I had them properly set before going back and pushing them down into the soil and covering them.                 

I planted most of the bed in Music, which is a hard neck variety I grew in 2011 with good success.   I really like its flavor and it produced nicely for me.   I also planted some Silver Rose, which is a soft neck variety that I have also grown with good success in the past.   The garlic is planted right next to a section of bed that I direct seeded in mid to late summer with a storage onion variety (Top Keeper).   I am experimenting again with over wintering onions to try and improve my onion yields.   By direct seeding mid summer rather than transplanting starts, I am ending up with more sturdy seedlings going into the winter and hopefully they will be more successful at surviving the winter than some of my previous attempts at this have.   I may opt to cover this bed with plastic later to keep it protected during the coldest part of the winter months.   They are looking pretty good right now though.              

The last task I did before calling it a day, was to direct seed some hull less barley that an online friend (Thank you Cherie!) provided me last fall along with the tree kale starts.   I did not manage to get them planted last fall so the seed is a year older.   This year, I found a section of garden bed that was unused (but under netting cover so the hens will stay out) and scratched in the seed to do a mini trial to see how it will do in my growing climate.    Hopefully the seed did not lose much viability by being held for a full year before planting.   It is always fun to experiment a little.                    

Managed to clear quite a few things off my fall “to do” list last weekend.   However, I still need to clean the greenhouse panels to ensure as much feeble winter sun can get in as possible.   If it is not raining too heavily this coming weekend, I may try to get that one done soon too.   Eventually, I will have a few more crops to clear out from the side garden area but they are producing harvests (or are about to) yet – so those will be waiting a while.   Otherwise, I think the garden is largely ready for winter now.              

Laura

kitsapfreedomgardener

Each Monday, Daphne’s Dandelions hosts “Harvest Monday” where everyone submits links to their blog posts summarizing their harvest for the week.   It’s fun to see what people are producing from gardens from so many different regions, and how they are using it.   Check it out and join in too!                          

The harvest this week is definitely shifting into fall crops.   There are still some pole beans but they will not be lasting too much longer and I picked the last of the cucumbers on Sunday as the plants are giving in to the powdery mildew.   I have some pumpkins that are still maturing.   Once the pumpkin vines start dieing back, I will move the pumpkins into the sunny and warm greenhouse to finish ripening off the vine.   Until then though, I want to leave them on the vine as long as possible.                             

On Monday, I harvested the largest of the remaining green tomatoes and moved them into the house to begin ripening off the vine.   I also picked the last of the peppers, one of which was a nice sized ripe one but the rest were small and green.   I managed not to weigh or photograph the peppers so they are not included in the weekly tally.                             

These tomatoes will not go into the harvest tally until they are ripened, as many of them will likely not make it.                     

The harvest on Tuesday was a colander of broccoli and some fresh chives which did not get photographed or weighed - something that usually happens with herbs as I pop out and grab a bit while cooking and never stop to weigh or photograph them.                         

The broccoli and chives were used along with the red pepper harvested on Monday and some potatoes from storage to make that night’s dinner.   The menu was small steaks (pan seared) topped with a finely sliced ripe red pepper that had been sautéed until roasted and beginning to get soft and then cooked further with white wine on high heat until the wine was fully evaporated and reduced and the peppers tender.  The steaks topped with the peppers and wine reduction was served with steamed broccoli dressed with just a bit of butter and a sprinkle of salt, and a baked potato topped with sour cream and fresh snipped chives.                       

My garden shopping (otherwise known as harvesting!) for Wednesday night’s dinner was a large colander of beautiful large spinach leaves.            

 This was used to make boneless/skinless chicken breast chunks in a spicy Thai peanut sauce served on a bed of cooked spinach (also known as Swimming Rama) with cooked rice served on the side.                      

I worked at the Giving Garden Saturday morning and then came home that afternoon and did quite a bit of work in my own garden to get it ready for the hens to return for the winter.   This entailed transplanting some kale and cabbages from beds that were not destined to be protected from the hens and moving them to the large bed that would be covered with a grow tunnel.   All of the beds that have perennial plantings (rhubarb, bush pie cherries, strawberries, tree kale, and the ultra dwarf apple trees) were protected with either a fence of chicken netting ( using bamboo as the “posts” ) or covered with PVC hoops and bird netting.   The bed of broccoli, cabbage, and leeks as well as the bed of overwintered onions were also covered with PVC hoops and bird netting.     The 4’X4’ bed section with red beets was covered by hoops and plastic sheeting.   Finally, the large 32’X4’ bed (where the majority of the winter crops are growing) was covered by a large grow tunnel.   I added a ridgepole of PVC pipe this year along the top of the PVC hoops (secured using tie wraps) to give it more rigidity and help shed snow and rain more easily.        

This bed has swiss chard, more spinach, mache (corn salad), lettuces, pac choi, kale, two kinds of cabbages, and golden beets.   After the grow tunnel was in place, I shut the door on the greenhouse to keep the containers of lettuces, napa cabbages, and carrots growing there safe from the hens.   With that the garden was buttoned down and ready for the hens to return to forage and graze through the fall and winter months.   I opened the two gates that connect the hen’s year-round grazing area to the garden…              

…and within minutes all six of them were returned to the garden paradise of plenty for the off season!                       

 Before I covered the bed of beets, I harvested several of them for the evening meal.                             

The beets were roasted and then diced into large chunks and tossed with some butter and a sprinkle of salt, and served with roasted pork chops and shell pasta in a creamy and very garlicky Parmesan sauce (garlic from storage).    Nice hearty dinner to end a day of hard work in two gardens.    

On Sunday I harvested the last of the cucumbers and a few carrots both of which I put in the fridge for later use or snacking.   I also picked some pole beans and pulled a few ripe tomatoes from the group of greenies that have been ripening indoors.                           

The green beans were used along with potatoes from storage to make the Sunday night dinner of roasted turkey breast, mashed potatoes and gravy, and steamed green beans dressed simply with a bit of butter and a sprinkle of salt.                                        

Harvest totals for the week of October 3rd through October 9th (rounded to the nearest ¼ pound).                           

• Beans 0.50 lbs
• Beets 1.25 lbs
• Broccoli 0.75 lbs
• Carrots 0.50 lbs
• Cucumbers 0.50 lbs
• Spinach 0.50 lbs
• Tomatoes 1.00 lbs

Total For Week 5.00 lbs

Total Year To Date 333.50 lbs                       

Eggs collected this week – 20                                     

Laura

kitsapfreedomgardener

Fall has definitely arrived this past week.   The days are overcast and damp; the sun sits much lower on the horizon now; and the temperatures have returned to a much cooler range.   As a result, the garden is looking a bit shaggy and ready for some fall attention.                      

I was home on Monday and made use of the time to get caught up on things after being away the entire prior week.   Some of the things I attended to were in the garden.   There is quite a bit of work to be done in the garden this time of year to get the beds cleaned up and prepped for winter.   I intend to spread the fall garden work out over the next several weeks, but I got a good start on it on Monday.   One of the chores is to get crops that are spent removed and the beds not holding winter crops amended.   I have several items that need to be cleared out but the most immediate need was the bush bean patch (Royal Burgundy) which has virtually quit producing.   In addition, in an adjacent bed I have the sugar snap peas (Cascadia) growing on a slanted trellis that have been allowed to die back and mature the pea pods for the purposes of producing seed stock for the 2012 growing season.   The return of the fall rains required that I get the peas removed and inside to dry down or risk having them mildew and rot on the vine.            

I pulled the bush beans out and composted them and also pulled and composted the sugar snap pea vines after first removing the best of the matured pods.   Here’s that same area of the garden as in the prior picture but with the beans and the peas now removed.                        

The peas were hulled and the largest and best were kept to be dried down and used for next year's seed stock.   The smaller ones were given to the hens as a treat.   The seed peas were then placed on a large plate with several layers of absorbent paper towel under them and set in a warm and dry room in the house to begin drying down.   They will be "swished" around occasionally to ensure they properly dry for storage.                   

In addition to pulling the bush beans and pea vines, I also pulled three of the zucchini plants that were badly infected with powdery mildew.   You can see the powdery mildew on this large zucchini plant.                 

The cucumbers next to it also have powdery mildew but not nearly as badly and are still producing some cucumbers (at least for the moment).   Here’s that same bed after I removed that particular plant.              

I left one of the healthier zucchini plants in another garden bed and will keep harvesting from it until it either quits producing or gives in to powdery mildew too.   I also pulled up the pepper plants growing in large containers in the greenhouse.   There was only a few remaining peppers and I wanted to make room for some direct seeded greenhouse crops.   After I pulled the pepper plants, I loosened up and amended the soil in the containers and then planted them - three containers with carrots (2 containers of Mokum and 1 container of Bolero); one container with napa cabbages (Tenderheart); and one container with lettuce (Bon Vivant). The carrots will not have sufficient time to get much growth on before winter hits, but they should get a good start before going dormant and should launch quickly back into growth mode in early spring - providing fresh fare during the lean season of March/April.      

Since the fall rains have arrived and appear to have settled in for the duration, I went ahead and harvested the larger of the tomatoes off of the plants and brought them indoors to begin slowly ripening off the vine.            

I will not include these in the harvest totals until after they have ripened.   There are still more fruits on the vine and lots of cherry tomatoes but the odds are high that the plants will soon start moldering and dieing from the effects of the cooler temps and heavy rains.                     

There are still lots more tasks to be done:

• There are more crops to be removed as they wrap up their production.
• The emptied beds need to be spread with compost.
• Soaker hoses and other garden equipment needs to be properly stored for the winter.
• The overwintered crops need to have their protective covers put in place to keep the hens out of them after I open the garden up to them for winter foraging.
• In just a few weeks it will be time to plant the garlic.
• The greenhouse panes need to be cleaned to ensure as much light availability as is possible during the dark days of winter.

While there is much yet to be taken care of, I got a good start on it Monday and if I pace myself over the coming month it will all get done before the weather potentially turns more severe.   What fall preparations are you working on?                    

Laura

kitsapfreedomgardener