Wednesday, May 25, 2022

Quick Update

I planted only the right half of that "Kale" planter with kale. The rest is... I dunno, maybe a couple tomatoes? Planted the cukes in alphabetical order - Beit Alpha, Dar, Early Fortune (left to right). Need to put in some stakes and twine for them to climb. Probably planted too densely. May thin them, or just see how it goes. Also cleared out the squash area, not quite certain what I'll put there, there's not a ton of room. Maybe one of each? I will have to check and see how much space each needs.

Ha! Just noticed, already more updates this year than in the last two years.

Tuesday, May 24, 2022

Plans: 2022

 So I've got a rough idea of what I'll be planting this season. Here's a quick sketch.

2022 garden plan

To flesh this out a bit, the garlic was planted last fall and is still growing. Honestly not doing too great, about a dozen bulbs, though I planted quite a bit more. When that is done and harvested I may put in some sugar snap peas later in the season. 

The raspberries are volunteers. Looks like quite a vigorous patch. We'll see if the chipmunks let me have any. Might not be them stealing them. Not certain.

Zucchini - I added some compost there. They did ok last season and I think they'll do very well this year. They are already springing up and I just planted the seeds. 

Squash will either be hubbard, butternut, or zucchino rampicante (like a zucchini variant that does not have hollow stems and does not succomb to vine borers). If I can clear out some of the old rock garden behind the house I may plant some more of these back there.

Sunflowers are really nice, spruce up the house nicely and make the birds happy. Also a tribute to Ukraine! I need to dig this bit up before I can plant.

Kale will be from my own seeds that I saved from previous years. Kale does really well. In fact I got some that sprung up in last years bed that I transplanted to the Kale/Long Beans patch in the back. In that patch long beans are against the fence of chicken wire with kale in the front.

Cucumbers got a few varieties, mostly pickling types. Maybe lactoferment them if I get a nice haul. Tried that over the winter and they turned out pretty great.

Tomatoes I have planted most of the numbered ones. Brandywine is all but dead, I have some replacements, we'll see how they do. Overflow and extras in the bed along the driveway, will plant 4-6 in that. Also will plant some cherry tomatoes in pots on the front porch. Varieties I've got - Hungarian, Roma (only one of these came up - disappointing!), Beefsteak, A Grappoli D'Invierno (didn't even order these, just a free gift with my seed purchase. They are BOOMING!), Cherokee Purple (best tasting), Mortgage Lifter, Brandywine, Spoon (tiny tomatoes, like berry sized apparently), Black Cherry, Barry's Crazy Cherry, and a couple others. Should make for an interesting variety. This year I am getting my act together and getting the cages up early, so they should do better. Right? Maybe?

Green beans did very well last year.

Small brick planters near the house - two of them have flowers, peonies and lilies that I want to leave. They don't require any effort and come back every year. The other 5 are in varying states of occupied, 2 just have weeds that can easily be pulled, two have move of a lush overgrowth, and one has the stump of a huge old bush. Realistically that one is a lost cause without a ton of effort. Anyway, these will be home to some herbs. Tomatoes didn't do all that well there, lets see how herbs do.

In the back I will have hot peppers in buckets. I kept 7 or 8 over the winter and they all seem to have survived, though some barely clung to life. We'll see how they do compared to the seedlings. Jalapenoes were the ones I overwintered, and I should get a nice haul of those. Couple other varieties, we'll see.

On the side of the house I am going to build a planter with some old beams that were originally part of a fenced in backyard garden. That fell into disuse since there really was not enough sunlight. It's about 12 or 13 years old, and one of the posts fell over, so I need to take it down and clear it all out. Anyway, this will provide 10-11 posts about 8' long that I can use to build a raised bed on the side. Again this is a bit of a high effort project, so we'll see how far it gets.

Tuesday, May 17, 2022

As Usual, A Bit of a Slow Start

Started garlic last November. Doesn't look as super lush as it has in the past, but I'll hopefully get some decent bulbs.

Garlic doing its thing

I brought strawberries in over the winter. Not 100% sure why, I suspect they like being out in the winter, but, well, I did it anyway. Here's how they look today.

Yup, got flowers already

Brought in jalapeno peppers over the winter. They were doing ok until a couple months ago when they started getting, well, not quite sure what it was? Fungus maybe? Brought them outside And it seemed like 3 out of 5 did not make it, but today after some rainy days looks like we have some leaves on the seemingly dead ones. So maybe 5 out of 5!


It LIVES!


The old leaves on the other three look unhappy, but new leaves a-burstin'.


You go lil pepper

 I got my seeds started late (early April), but things are coming up. Here's April 13th.


Lil' green poking up
More starts

Today they look substantially beefier, but not quite up to bought-from-the-garden-center standards. As usual, I will do better next year! Right? RIGHT?


Going a bit

Flagship tomato

My starts so far.

I should definitely take better notes

In other news, I set up zucchini mounts in the front trough, hope they're happy there. Planted Black Beauty (3 hills closest to the driveway) and Fordhook in the next two. May put in some more, I do love zucchini.

Still to be done - beans, cukes, kale, and lots of transplanting. Oh, and basil. Hoping to grow a toooooon of basil this year.