The Modern Victory Garden

For the past two weeks, other than harvesting I have had to largely ignore my garden.   Last weekend, I was traveling on business and the weekend before that we spent the whole weekend doing the annual landscaping rejuvenation and maintenance work.   In between I was quite busy at work.     So this evening when I did stroll in the garden to assess work priorities for the next few days, I found a lot of things that were begging for some attention.

Things have been growing lushly recently due to the alternating weather pattern we have been in for several weeks now.   We seem to get two or three days of bright sunshine and temperatures in the upper 60’s and even low 70’s, followed by three or four days of cool and rainy days.   The plants seem to love this - soaking in the sun and then rehydrating with the wet rains.   Even the tomatoes are doing fine with this as they are all still kept under cover during the cooler and damper days and as a result are staying relatively dry (which is truly one of the tricks to growing tomatoes in my cool and damp maritime climate).   I planted the tomatoes out three weeks ago and they have all settled in really well.   If the weather warms up and stays warmer these plants are poised to really take off with good growth.

On warm, sun filled days, I pull the cover off and let them enjoy unobstructed sunshine.   I noticed tonight that I have some suckers that need to be removed and I really need to prune some of the lower branches already.   Sunday we are supposed to alternate back to the couple of days of warm and sun in our pattern and I will take advantage of it by removing the cover and getting to the needed pruning.

The garden plants are not the only ones liking the weather pattern though.   I have a lot of garden beds that really need some cultivating and weeding and the walkways need to have the grass and weeds mowed down.   Here’s a picture of some young Bright Lights chard and behind it are some onions and you can see the abundance of emerging weeds that are growing in the bed.

The peas have been really growing well and are actually reaching the first of the two horizontal support layers. 

I will probably pull the bird netting off of the pea patch this weekend.   The plants are big enough now that the danger from birds is now past.   Notice in the pea patch pic that there is lots of grass growing in the walkways that needs to be trimmed and also notice the leaves scattered about.   The leaves are from a nearby tree that had a heavy load of ivy growing on it.   About a month ago we used a chain saw to cut the thick ivy vines growing up the tree – effectively killing the ivy in the tree.   In the last two weeks the ivy plant has finally given up and is dying and falling out of the tree which is good (and what we intended) but the darn leaves have been dumping into my garden on a steady basis as a result.   The older vertical grow bed is closest to this tree and has really been carpeted with dead ivy leaves.

This bed has the snap peas (very back portion next to the vertical support), lettuces, kale, tatsoi, cabbages, and celery growing in it.   You can see from this picture that I have been trying to clear the leaves out of the beds as much as possible, but the walkways are covered with them.   We are not done yet, as there is about half as much leaves yet to fall from the tree.    What a mess we created for ourselves!

The carrot patch has been growing under the cover of a lightweight garden blanket.   They look good but are in need of some weeding and some thinning - another task to add to my weekend “to do” list.

I did thin and weed the first planting of radishes recently during a morning garden walk before work.   They look happier for the attention and are growing well.

So here is the final list I have come up with of things that need attention in the garden:

• Prune the tomatoes and let them enjoy as much sun exposure as the weather allows before covering them up again
• Deliver the rest of the extra tomato starts to the Giving Garden on Saturday and then move the cucurbit family starts out to the greenhouse to start hardening off
• Remove the bird netting cover from the pea patch
• Weed and cultivate several beds where needed
• Use the push reel mower and knock down the grass in the walkways
• Keep removing the dead ivy leaves from the garden beds
• Thin and weed the carrot patch
• Give the onions, garlic, and artichokes a fish emulsion tea drench
• Prepare garden beds and plant (or transplant) – pole beans, bush beans, beets, more carrots, and corn

It’s a fairly long list but some of these will only take a few minutes to get done.   After largely being away from the garden for two weeks, I am anxious to spend what promises to be a pleasant weather weekend – getting caught back up on normal garden maintenance.

Laura

kitsapFG

PLANTING TOMATOES

My planting schedule had this weekend named as the one to plant out the hardened off tomatoes (with protective covers until the spring rains slow down and the temps warm up).   I always wait for a dry and warmish day in mid to late April to plant them out and I lucked out and got the perfect weekend to get this task completed.   I start my tomatoes early and set them out early (with protection) because I have found that with our region’s mild summer weather, having plants that are more mature and have fruit set going into the brief window of warm weather we typically have each summer, results in a greater chance of getting a decent harvest of ripe fruit before the cold rains of fall arrive in early September.   Our zone 8b average last frost date is mid-March, but the soil is not warm enough to plant out the tomatoes until mid-April. 

As with any planting process, the greatest amount of work in planting up the tomato patch is in the preparation of the garden beds.   I follow the same process I do with all my garden bed prep – starting with layering on some finished compost and broadcasting some balanced organic fertilizer.

Then I use the broadfork to aerate the soil, working down each side of the bed until it is fully worked up.

I then use a sharp hoe and cultivate the top few inches of soil to mix in the compost and the fertilizer.   The final step in bed preparation is to use a rake to smooth and level the entire bed.

It took me two hours of steady work to get the beds to this state of readiness.   After breaking for some lunch, I returned and began the tomato planting process by laying out the soaker hoses on the long bed that will have red plastic mulch on it.

The soaker hoses are then covered by the red plastic mulch, which is anchored with earth staples.

I then cut holes in the plastic at the locations where I will be planting tomatoes.   This is a 4’X24’ bed and I put 12 tomatoes in it – staggering them so they have good air circulation and have unobstructed exposure to the sun.

I then proceed with the transplanting.   I dig the holes and place the dirt in a small bucket.   Each hole is amended with a heaping tablespoon of ground up oyster shell (adds calcium), a level tablespoon of Epsom salts (water soluble magnesium), and 2 tablespoons of balanced organic fertilizer.   The amendments are mixed into the soil at the bottom of the hole and then the plant is put in place and the dirt is filled back in using the soil I set aside in the small bucket.   Any excess soil in the bucket is put in another garden bed that is currently empty.

The long bed was planted with 2 Stupice, 2 Purple Cherokee, 4 Defiant, and 4 Legend tomatoes.   The shorter bed ( 4’X12’ ) was planted with 6 Heinz 2653 tomatoes (paste/sauce variety).

The next step is to carefully place the cages into place.   With more mature transplants like I use, this can indeed be tricky as the plants are quite large and have more leaf branches.   Real care must be used in order not to damage the plants.   For the indeterminate tomatoes, I also place a ladder inside of the cage to provide more overall support to these taller plants.

The last step is to put the protective cover of plastic on over the long bed of tomatoes.   I have used this same sheet of plastic on the tomato bed for three years now and it is still going strong.

The 6 plants in the shorter bed were covered with individual tomato greenhouse covers.   Usually I would just cover these with some plastic as well, but I am trialing a new item this year and thought these would be good candidates for this single plant protection.

The 2 Window Box and 2 Silvery Fir tomatoes and the 2 Early Jalapeno Peppers I planted in containers on the deck on Saturday were also covered with these tomato greenhouses.

The container plantings were easier to put the covers on because the cage supports are smaller, which made sliding the covers on much easier.   The larger square cages in the garden were a tight fit and I ended up with some small tears in the plastic as a result.   I will be able to reuse the red plastic covers from the container plantings but sadly, I will have to cut it off of the larger cages in the garden bed - making it a one-time use item only for those.

During warm days the ends of the grow cover is opened up to allow cross ventilation and then closed back up again at night.   The tops of the tomato greenhouse covers can be opened up to similarly allow good ventilation.   On really bright sunny days, I remove the plastic cover altogether and let the tomatoes get as much direct sun as is possible – covering them back up before nightfall.   Once the weather consistently warms up and the spring rains are behind us, I remove the covers for the rest of the growing season.

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!

I harvested a few small pickings of lettuce this week that did not make harvest weight minimums or get photographed, but were enough to use in making soft tacos and to dress some blue cheese burgers with.   In addition, twice this week I harvested some fresh tatsoi leaves.

The first harvest was sauteed and used as a bed for chunks of chicken breast stir fried and tossed in a spicy Thai peanut sauce (served with cooked rice on the side).   The second harvest of tatsoi was chopped up and sautéed as part of a spaghetti and meat sauce that included the greens and some sautéed fresh sliced mushrooms.   Both were delicious meals and I am appreciating how fast the tatsoi bounces back after a harvest.

Harvest totals for the week of April 9th through April 15th (rounded to the nearest ¼ pound).

• Lettuce 0.00 lbs (not enough to make harvest tally minimum)
• Tatsoi 0.50 lbs

Total For Week 0.50 lbs

Total Year to Date 10.00 lbs

Eggs collected this week – 18

Laura

kitsapFG

It is almost mid-April and everywhere I look there is a surge of new growth occurring.   The cucumber and corn seeds I started indoors late last Saturday are already emerged, and a few of the pumpkin and a single winter squash has emerged as well.   I am pleased with the good germination so far, and hope the summer squash and the rest of the winter squash join the group soon too.   The real growing action is happening outside though.   We have had a few days of sunny and warmer weather interspersed with cooler days with rain.   The net effect for the outdoor garden beds has been a real acceleration of growth.   For instance, the chives have had a harvest haircut at least twice now this spring, and yet tonight they are growing lush and tall and are even setting a few chive blossoms, which the bees will appreciate.

Speaking of bees…. my husband was fortunate enough to be outside in the vicinity of our mason bee house which has five tubes of dormant bees sitting on top, during one of the warmer days we recently experienced.    It was fortunate because he was there to watch several of the bees emerge from their tubes.   It was pretty exciting for him to be there at just the right time to see them launch forth.   Now we can only hope that they will make our garden their home and use the nest box to start a future generation.

While the garlic and the rhubarb have been up for quite some time now, the level of growth that has occurred in this past week or so has been truly amazing.   The two clumps of rhubarb will soon be ready for us to begin harvesting.

The garlic has also really put on a lot of growth.

There is lots of other growth happening in the garden as well.   The carrots, peas, radishes, and turnips are all up and growing.   The tatsoi, lettuce, and spring planted kale are producing light harvests.   There will soon be spinach and spring planted kale and swiss chard to enjoy too - they just need a little more time to fill out.   The broccoli and cabbages are healthy and growing but have a way to go before they will produce their first harvests.   The onions are getting fuller top growth; particularly the extra early started Ailsa Craig onions that I planted in containers on the deck.    However, the real indications of the significance of the recent growth spurt can be found in a few particularly precocious plants.

I was doing a morning walk in the garden today before work and was very pleased to find a young artichoke bud forming deep in the center of one of the three plants.

That was indeed a happy surprise, but even more interesting was what I found in the greenhouse.   There are tomatoes and pepper starts living there gradually being hardened off.   The peppers have been blooming lately and apparently the Early Jalapeños take the “Early” part of their name quite seriously because I found a pepper fruit already formed!

I suspicion there will be more of them right behind this because these are blooming rather profusely.    Of the pepper plants I am keeping for myself, most will be planted in containers in the greenhouse ultimately so they won’t have much adjusting to do once permanently planted up.   Also in the greenhouse are the tomato starts.   The ultra-early started tomato plants are quite large now and will soon be planted out with protective covers.   A new variety (to me) that I am growing this year is Silvery Fir Tree.   Silvery Fir Tree is a rather compact growing tomato with lacey foliage and a reputation of being an early producer.   So far, I have been quite impressed with the robustness of this variety.    I guess that should have prepared me to find that they are the first out of the chute (in April mind you!) to form fruit!

My initial admiration for this tomato variety keeps growing.   The real test of course will be its actual production level of ripe fruit and their taste.   So far though, it has good marks for hardiness and early production and the fact that its lacey leaves are pretty to look at - works to its favor as well.   All in all, it appears I have some particularly precocious plants in the garden at the moment.

Laura

kitsapFG

Suddenly I am quite busy with garden activities.   There is such a long period during the winter that we are left with minimal things to do (or can do) in the garden, that when the first early spring activities start-up the contrast from doing hardly anything to doing quite a lot can feel a little intimidating.    As much as I try to spread out the work load and pace myself through the peak planting season, there really is only a certain window of time to get things done.   I have found it works best to make steady progress on more intensive work tasks during the weekends and use some mornings and evenings before and after work to manage less time consuming tasks - particularly those that can be done indoors like starting seeds, or potting up earlier started seedlings.                                      

I have been removing extra seedlings from my trays of starts a little at a time by quickly dealing with one tray in the morning before I get ready for work.   I will similarly be potting up the youngest bunch of tomato starts in the evenings in the coming week.    This leaves my weekend more available for more strenuous and time consuming tasks like preparing garden beds for planting etc.                 

My  mornings and evenings have had a little bit of extra time taken out of them lately because I am shuffling seedlings in and out of the greenhouse as I harden items off.   My typical mornings of late involve carrying a tray of the ultra-early start tomatoes out to the greenhouse (where they are residing during the day) and then moving several trays of cold hardy items from the greenhouse (where they spent the night) outside where they can get more sun and be exposed to wind, rain, etc.    In the evening after work, I just reverse the process putting all the plants back into a more protected environment for the night.   I find this is a great way to get my plants hardened off but it does require me to build in some time in my morning and evening schedule to do the “seedling shuffle”.          

The ultra-early started tomatoes are looking good.                                

The Defiant, Silvery Fir Tree, and Heinz 2653 varieties in particular are very robust.   This is my first year growing Silvery Fir Tree and I am impressed with the vigor of the young plants.   These are a Russian heirloom variety with a pretty lacy structure to their leaves (hence their name).   It is an early producer and a dwarf tomato plant, which makes them ideal for container growing.   The fruit is smaller sized (much like Stupice) but a good size for salads.   I intend to grow these in large pots on my deck this year.   Here’s one of my Silvery Fir Tree plants and you can see that it has unopened blooms already formed on it.                                  

I have a flat of celeriac, celery, and various hardy greens that have been hardening off for some time now and are very much ready to be planted into the ground.                                                                                         

I took Friday off from work because a tree removal contractor was scheduled to come out and give us an estimate for removing some trees for us this spring.   He ended up rescheduling to Saturday afternoon at the last minute, so I was off from work and had no other appointments to keep.    The weather was overcast and a bit windy but relatively warm and no rain, so I took advantage of the opportunity and did a thorough cleaning of the hen yard and chicken coop and got the celery and hardy greens planted out.   The bed these plants were destined for is the second long and narrow vertical grow bed.   I also wanted to get the Cascadia snap peas planted in this bed at the same time, so while I worked on the bed preparation, I let the Cascadia pea seeds soak in some water to begin hydrating and softening their seed coat.   My preparation of garden beds is pretty much always the same. I layer on compost, broadcast some organic balanced fertilizer, and then use the broad fork to aerate the soil.   The final step is to use the hoe to cultivate and mix the top few inches of soil and then use the rake to smooth and level the seed bed.   It is always rewarding to see a bed all prepared and ready to plant up.     

I planted the pea seeds on the back most part of the bed so that they will grow up the trellis support.   I am living a little dangerously here, as I did not put bird netting over the newly planted peas.   Some years I get away with it, and other years I lose the first planting to birds and have to reseed.    Keeping my fingers crossed that the birds are finding more interesting fare elsewhere.   In the front section of the bed, I transplanted out the celery, hardy greens, and some of my lettuce starts that were also in need of being planted.                       

In the course of preparing this bed, I found a few nice sized parsnips that I had missed before.   I will be using them to make some soup this weekend.   Hopefully, I can get another section of bed or two prepared and planted over the coming weekend as well.   I find if I just tackle one bed a day during my available time in the garden, it all gets done and keeps the pace and amount of work to a manageable level.   The garden eventually all gets planted up – one garden bed at a time.    

Laura

kitsapFG

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 apologies for not posting a mid-week blog update this week. I was away from home on a business trip for several days and decided it was just easier to wait until this weekend to do an update.                                           

Saturday I spent a few hours working at the Giving Garden along with another of our regular volunteers.   Together we did a rejuvenation of one of the long grow tunnel beds.   There is kale (several varieties), green onions, spinach, lettuces, radishes, pac choi, turnips, and swiss chard growing in this first tunnel.   We weeded the existing plantings; transplanted some young pac choi, napa cabbages, tatsoi, and lettuces (that I had previously started and hardened off) putting them in areas that had been opened up from harvesting; fertilized; and watered everything.   We were both pretty tired and grubby by the time we put the plastic covering back in place, but the winter crops look really good and continue to provide periodic harvests for the Kingston Share Net food bank.     Next weekend, we intend to similarly rejuvenate the second large grow tunnel bed.               

Sunday afternoon I worked a few hours in my garden while the hens enjoyed some supervised free ranging time.   The large bed that I spread compost on last weekend was the subject of my attention.   I used a garden fork and turned over the top layer of soil to mix in the deep compost I had previously put on the surface.   This bed was last year’s potato patch, so as I worked the length of the bed I periodically turned up a few potatoes that were missed during last fall’s big potato lift.   Only one of them was good sized, but there was a nice amount of them when all was said and done.   In addition to the potatoes, I cut some young celery that had regrown from a plant I had harvested last year (leaving the root and crown in the ground), and pulled a few green onions.   The onions and celery were used to make a sage/bread stuffing for the roast chicken we had for Sunday dinner.   The potatoes were rubbed with olive oil and roasted and were served as a side dish with the roast chicken and stuffing.                                          

Harvest totals for the week of February 6th through February 12th (rounded to the nearest ¼ pound).

• Celery 0.00 lbs (not enough to make harvest tally weight)
• Green Onions 0.00 lbs (not enough to make harvest tally weight)
• Potatoes 1.50 lbs

Total For Week 1.50 lbs

Total Year to Date 5.25 lbs                                                            

Eggs collected this week – 13                                                                

GREEN SHOOTS

Mid February is the peak of my annual spring seed starting season.   I have quite a few things that must be started on or around Valentine’s Day in order to be ready in time for the proper planting out dates for my area.   To prepare for this wave of seed starting, I had to first do some maintenance on items previously started to make room for the new plantings.    First up, the ultra-early start tomatoes needed to be potted up to large containers.   I have at least a few of every variety (except Cherokee Purple which did not germinate well for me on this first round) that I am growing this year as an “ultra-early” start.   I have found that ultra-early started tomatoes work very well with my region’s cool and sometimes gloomy summer season.   We only have a brief window (if at all) of warm and sunny summer weather.   The trick with getting tomato production in such an environment is to have them well grown with good sized fruit set PRIOR to that brief window of summer weather, so that they are poised to launch into ripening fruit when the temperatures rise up to a sufficient level.   I would have preferred to have had my entire tomato crop started ultra-early but unfortunately I had rather spotty germination in the soil blocks.   I always start a second round of tomatoes in mid-February which fills in for losses; provides tomatoes for my annual give away to my employees; and to the extent I have any remaining they will go to the Giving Garden.   The transplanted tomato seedlings look like they will bounce back quickly from the potting up process.                 

The next task was to plant up micro soil block started items into medium soil blocks and consolidate trays of seedlings where possible.   I had kale, cabbages, tatsoi, and pac choi plants that needed to move into bigger soil blocks.   Some of them joined the half tray of celery and celeriac creating a full tray.   Here’s the celery and celeriac plants which are growing along nicely.   Next to them (but not pictured) are some of the newly transplanted up hardy greens.                     

Earlier this week, I did the same process with more of the micro soil block started tatsoi, cabbages, and kale.   Here they are about five days later looking quite happy with the additional root room.                                    

In order to make room for new trays of seedlings, I moved a big tray of mixed greens that I have growing - out from the lights and warmth of the house to the unheated greenhouse.   This is a jumbled planting of lettuces, kale, and spinach which is intended to provide some young salad greens.   They will stay out in the unheated greenhouse from here on out and hopefully will  continue to grow and produce fresh baby greens in the next month or so.   

With all this preparatory work, I was able to open up room under the grow lights for three more trays of seedlings.   On Sunday morning, I planted one full tray of tomato starts (Legend, Defiant, Cherokee Purple, Heinz 2653, Stupice, Window Box, and Silvery Fir Tree); a tray of lettuces (Valmaine, Merlot, Green Deer’s Tongue, Super Gourmet Blend, Crispino, and Summertime) and peppers (Lady Bell and Early Jalapeño); and a tray of broccoli (Umpqua), cabbages (Ruby Ball and Parel), kohlrabi (Koliribi), and swiss chard (Bright Lights).                   

Soon there will be lots more green shoots under the grow lights, but there is also noticeable growth happening elsewhere in the garden.   In the unheated green house, the napa cabbages have suddenly gotten quite a bit larger and are filling out.   They obviously are enjoying the slightly longer days and the warmer temps we have been experiencing.                                     

Outside in the garden beds, the garlic patch is really taking off.   These shoots are coming up through a very thick layer of mulch.                         

I noticed this weekend that the rhubarb plants have new growth just starting to emerge.   The artichokes have been green all winter but since I pulled back the deep leaf mulch, they have started putting out new shoots too.   While it may still be winter, there is the definite promise of spring in the green shoots of the indoor started seedlings and early emergent plants in the garden.   Green shoots are a definite tonic for those of us that are weary of the dark days of winter. 

Laura

kitsapfreedomgardener

While the vast majority of the United States has been sweltering this summer, the Pacific Northwest has remained a dark blue blob amongst the sea of deep red on the weather maps.    Our weather has been much cooler than normal this year, which is saying a lot because we are known for our mild summers and winters.   In fact, it has been at 80 degrees or warmer in the Seattle area this year for only a total of 78 minutes - 12 minutes on July 2, and 66 minutes on July 6.   If you are willing to settle for temperatures that at least climb above 75 degrees, the statistics improve, but not by very much.  We had a total of 18 hours and 48 minutes of temperatures above 75 this summer.   Yes, you read that correctly, less than a day cumulative of temperatures above 75.   You can read more about it HERE.         

Despite all this, I have a Legend tomato plant that is determined to produce a ripe tomato.                                           

This morning as I was doing a garden walk about, I noticed that this plant was seriously breaking color on a single fruit.   I am not so sure it is actually ripening normally or just coloring up from old age!   Regardless, I admire the plant's persistence and hope the rest of the tomatoes will follow suit and defy the weather too.                                

For those of you suffering through the widespread and horrific heat waves, many of us here in the Northwest would be glad to take about 10 degrees off of your hands to help out.   Or at least I would, if I could!                      

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 in so many different regions and how they are using those harvests.   Check it out and join in!                                       

Monday was a holiday so I harvested some rhubarb to make a festive Fourth of July dessert.                                  

I used the rhubarb to make a Rhubarb/Blueberry Fool.   This is a recipe from the America's Test Kitchen cookbook.   I halved the recipe and used fresh rhubarb (1/2 pound soaked in cold water for 20 minutes and then dried and sliced into 1/2 pieces) and frozen blueberries (1 cup).   The soaking of the rhubarb removes some of the extra tang.    A half cup of sugar with 1 TBS removed and 1/8 cup of orange juice are brought to a boil in a non-reactive pan and then the heat is lowered to bring it to a simmer.   A pinch of powdered ginger is added to this and a few grains of salt.   The rhubarb is then added and cooked for about two minutes before then adding the blueberries and cooking for about five more minutes.   This is then placed in a glass bowl and chilled for more than an hour - until the fruit is thick and chilled throughout.   Just before serving, whip 1 cup of organic heavy cream with 3 TBS of sugar on low until the sugar is dissolved and then on high until the cream is thick and doubled in volume.   Layer the fruit and whipped cream in alternating layers in parfait glasses - ending with a large dollop of sweetened whip cream. These were beautiful, tasty, almost red, white and blue desserts for the Fourth.   Unfortunately, I never got around to taking a picture of them to show you - so you will have to just imagine how pretty they looked.                       

I also harvested the rest of the Tronchuda cabbage on Monday because it was starting to bolt to seed.                       

This was cut up and then blanched and frozen for later use.                     

The rest of the workweek schedule was really crazy for me and I ended up not doing very much cooking (other than reheating leftovers and making omelet’s).    Harvesting was not happening either, so it was not until Saturday that I did any substantial harvests this week.    On Saturday I harvested a large amount of broccoli side shoot florets and a big pile of turnips.             

The broccoli was used to make a broccoli/bacon/raisin/sunflower seed/onion salad (dressing - 3/4 cup mayo, 1/4 cup sugar, and 1/4 cup white wine vinegar whisked together) and the turnips were quartered and roasted.   Both of these items were on our Saturday night dinner menu along with some grilled steak.                         

On Saturday I also pulled the Music hard neck garlic.    It is not included in the harvest tally this week because it needs to dry down and have the tops removed before I can weigh it.                       

On Sunday, I harvested a large basket of kale and lettuces as well as a few radishes (not enough weight to make the harvest tally).   The kale was the last of the spring planting of this variety (Improved Dwarf Siberian).  It was starting to bolt to seed so after I harvested these leaves, I removed the kale plants from the bed and composted them.    I have new kale seedlings started which will be planted later for the fall/winter crop of kale.                 

The kale was sauteed with onions as part of our Sunday evening meal.   The lettuce and radishes were made into a large green salad to be used over the next few days.                             

Harvest totals for the week of July 4th through July 10th (rounded to the nearest ¼ pound).

• Broccoli 1.00 lbs
• Cabbage 2.00 lbs
• Kale 1.00 lbs
• Lettuce 0.50 lbs
• Rhubarb 0.50 lbs
• Turnips 4.00 lbs

Total For Week 9.00 lbs

Total Year To Date 94.50 lbs                                

Eggs collected this week – 31                                       

Tomato Progress Report

JamesG recently requested that I provide some progress pictures of the tomatoes.   So here they are!                            

The Sun Gold, Legend, Siletz, and Defiant plants all have green fruit on them.   The Market Miracle tomatoes are blooming but have yet to set any fruit.   The Sun Gold has actually produced a few small ripe tomatoes already but they were eaten in the garden and never made it to the weekly tally or in a picture.   The Defiant tomatoes (see last picture above) have fruit that looks like it is breaking color.     This may be my first full sized tomato to ripen for 2011.                                  

You may have noticed in the previous photos that I have heavily pruned the lower portion of the indeterminate plants.   This is to increase air circulation and to avoid any leaves touching the ground or being splashed upon from the ground.   I also periodically prune out the obvious suckers as well.                

So there you have it, the pictorial tomato update as requested!                

Laura

kitsapfreedomgardener

Wednesday I blogged about the worm box we ordered, which arrived and was assembled by my husband.    It was just waiting to be put in place and initialized with some food waste/bedding layers and the first red worms.   Here’s what it looked like fully assembled in the shop on Wednesday night.                       

The 2 lbs of red worms we ordered arrived on Friday.   We went with 2 lbs because we are now only a family of 2 people and although the garden produces a lot of trimmings, we also use much of those for the regular garden compost and for the chickens.   According to the Washington State University (WSU) Extension Service, 2 pounds of worms are required for each pound of kitchen waste produced per day.    So in order to feed 2 lbs of worms, we need to layer in 7 lbs of food wastes on a weekly basis.   Between our weekly kitchen compost pail amounts plus other food scraps, and trimmings from the garden as needed, we should easily be able to produce that amount for them on a consistent basis.  

On Friday afternoon my husband dug the spot for the worm box and set it down into the ground, backfilling around it.   Next to it we placed a large black tub full of thoroughly dampened peat moss.   The peat moss is the bedding layer needed.    Having it close by makes it easy to add several inches of damp bedding material on top of each thick layer of food wastes placed in the bin.   The bedding layer helps keep the bin from getting smelly and also gives the worms some additional insulation and protection from light (which they don’t like).   We can also use wetted shredded paper as well and intend to do that in the future, but for now we went with a large bale of peat moss.   We situated the worm box behind the house in a strip of land between the house and the back sidewalk (under the eaves of the house) that gets shade virtually all day and is unsuitable for growing any plants in.   Here’s a picture of the worm box as finally positioned and set up.   As you can see, it is largely buried below ground level, which provides insulation for the worms during colder weather months.                               

It’s kind of hard to see in this next photo, but the left hand bin has been filled about half full with several thick alternating layers of damp bedding and food wastes.   It is topped with a layer of the damp bedding material.   The worms were added into this prior to adding the top most layer.                    

 We will continue to layer on food wastes and bedding in this first bin until it becomes full and then we will shift to adding the materials to the second bin on the right.   Once the worms have exhausted the food supply in the first bin, they will migrate through the slats in the center divider to the new bin and begin working that side.   That is when the first side should be ready for us to begin harvesting worm castings.   Eventually the first bin is emptied out and the worm castings are used as a soil amendment and fertilizer and the process starts all over again by filling the left bin once the right bin is full.   Everything is now in place and in operation.   Hopefully the worms will find their new home to their liking and produce lots of castings for us to use in the garden.                                     

While I am in the processing of giving you an update, let me share with you that I spotted the first artichoke buds forming on my plants yesterday.   They are tiny and down deep in the central growing area of the plant so they are hard to photograph, but here is a picture of one of them.                     

Hopefully I will get more than just these first central buds, but I am thrilled to see that they are going to produce buds in this first year of growth.   Obviously I was successful in giving them an adequate period of chill to induce budding the first year.                              

Finally, I had to share that the Sun Gold tomatoes have their first few tomatoes that are ripening.                           

There is only one cluster so far that has really broken color but several more should be right behind it.   We have a stretch of decent weather forecasted for the coming week and I expect it will push all of the tomato plants along with their production and ripening of fruit.   The full size tomatoes will be a while longer yet, but having some cherry tomatoes to enjoy will make the wait much more tolerable!                            

Laura

kitsapfreedomgardener

On April 23rd, I took advantage of a rare day of sunshine and planted up my tomato patch for the year.   I frantically got them done while the conditions were dry and somewhat warm and then got them covered with clear plastic to protect them from the chilly night time temps and the even more disastrous effects of the continued cold and relentless soaking rains.    Those tomatoes have had to continue growing under the protective cover almost exclusively ever since.   On the occasional dry and sunny days we have subsequently enjoyed, I have removed the plastic to let them benefit from unadulterated sun, but those days have been few and far between this spring.   Luckily for the plants, we have a three-day stretch of sun in the forecast starting Friday and I intend to let them bask in the sun without the filtering affect of the plastic covering.   The good news is that the plants were well grown before I put them into the ground and they have been steadily progressing despite the record breaking cool and wet spring we have had this year – probably largely to the fact that they have been kept protected all this time.   Here’s a picture of the tomatoes on the day I transplanted them.                           

And here is a picture of them about a month later on May 29th.                

All of the varieties are blooming, some plants quite heavily, and the Sun Gold tomatoes have some early fruit set.            

I don’t know if I am more excited about enjoying a few days of sunshine myself… or for my tomatoes who will get to come out from their covers for a few days!                                                          

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 in so many different regions.    Check it out and join in!                     

In addition to the chinese cabbage, kale, and lettuce that made it into the harvest tally this week, I also harvested several stalks of celery and some green onions, but there was not enough of them to make the minimum weight for inclusion in the harvest tally and it seems I did not manage to get those items into a photo either.   I have radishes ready for harvest and will probably start picking some of those this coming week.             

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

• Chinese Cabbage 2.50 lbs
• Kale 0.75 lbs
• Lettuce 0.50 lbs

Total For Week 3.75 lbs

Total Year To Date 25.25 lbs                       

Eggs harvested this week – 35                        

THE GARDEN IN LATE MAY

The garden in late May rewards the gardener for all the initial work to get the plants into the ground and seeds planted.  It’s a pleasure to see things emerge or transform from spindly seedlings into robust plants.   I recently did a garden update that focused on the various greens, so I am going to largely ignore them today and provide a late May garden update on many of the other things growing in the garden right now.   Here’s a view of the back portion of the garden as seen from our back deck.  Notice our rhodies blooming in the background?    

The front bed has the bush beans (Royal Burgundy) and the corn patch (Precocious and Bodacious).   The second bed has sugar snap peas (Cascadia) growing with a slanted trellis support and underneath the trellis are turnips (Purple Top White Globe).   In that same bed are also carrots just newly emerged and too small to see (Mokum), some onions (sets), and 6 of the tomatoes which are growing under cover (4 Siletz and 2 Legend).   The lowest of the three beds has tomatoes in it also (Market Miracle, Defiant, and Sun Gold).                     

The bush beans are just emerged and getting their first true leaves.     

The corn patch (next to the beans) has not grown significant due to the cool weather we have been having, but is healthy and poised to take off as soon as the weather warms up just a bit.                

The sugar snap peas (Cascadia) have really gotten some growth on them the past two weeks.   They are still growing upright and have not leaned over to grab the support structure yet, but it won’t be much longer before that happens.   I recently thinned the turnips growing under the vertical support and they responded well to that and are getting a lot more top growth.         

The vertical grow bed at the lowest part of this back garden area has the spring planted spinach patch.   The spinach took forever to get going this year but have just recently started putting on a lot of good-sized leaves.             

Growing in containers against the back fence are my three artichoke plants.   These plants are really getting sturdy and tall.   I hope they produce buds for me this year.               

The tomatoes are doing good under the grow tunnel covers.   They would be happier if they were in warmer conditions, but for now they keep growing and are staying dry under the cover.   There is quite a bit of new growth on them despite the cooler temps.                 

The Sun Gold tomatoes have already set some fruit.   If you look at this picture carefully, you can see several tomato fruits in this cluster.      

In the greenhouse, the Lady Bell peppers are getting quite a lot of fruit set on them already.   I have five of these pepper plants growing there in large pots and they continue to flower and set fruit.           

Next to the greenhouse is the pea patch.   The peas have grown large enough to reach the first horizontal trellis and are latching on and growing on through.                     

Next to the pea patch is a bed that has onions, leeks, and garlic. I weeded and cultivated the garlic patch Sunday and I am amazed at how big the regular hard neck garlic (Music) is.   They are almost the same size as the Elephant garlic growing right next to them.              

In other beds I have lots of newly emerged carrots and beets, some zucchini, pumpkins, and butternut squash, and the potato patch has lots of potato plants emerging.   I also have two plantings of dill that are doing well.   Now if only we could get a significant warm up in temperatures and dry out just a bit - I am sure the garden would explode with growth.      

Is your late May garden rewarding you with lots of growth?               

Laura

kitsapfreedomgardener