Kale is a Weed

 I love how hardy and resilient kale is! I transplanted maybe 20 volunteers from last year's kale bed and they are taking off. There are even a few in the grass nearby, but they fell prey to the mower. Today I just noticed a huge flowering plant on the other side of the driveway. Yup, more kale. I guess it bolted and is not getting busy trying to make more seeds. If there's one thing I don't need it's more kale seeds, heh.

Progress

 So things have kind of taken off the last few days. I failed to properly harden off the Brandywine tomato I planted the other day and it has since passed away. Sorry lil plant! It may be cold to speak of replacing it so soon, but I have a couple others that fared better. So the #8 spot from my garden layout map will remain Brandywine.

I had another mishap with a Black cherry tomato - the stem snapped in high wind. I don't have too many of them, so it was a disappointment, but I decided to take a chance on it anyway and bury it well above the break point and see if maybe it would survive. It was touch and go the first day, but by the second day it looked pretty good. I think it will make it. But for added confusion I placed it in spot #5 (was labelled Cherokee Purple, I thought I'd put on of those there.

TL - Dead Brandywine, BR - snapped stem Black cherry!

The TL Hungarian is flourishing. A lot of Hungarian starts did really well! 

The zucchini has come up very fast, seems like I was waiting a long time last year for the sprouts to appear. Not so this year. I think it's much warmer than it was last year. I have 6 hills of zucchini. 5 of them were sourced from leftover topsoil, the last was compost that had been sitting for... 5 years? The compost looks much darker. I think once the sprouts get a little bigger I will put down some straw.

Cucumbers are sprouting. Again, pretty fast. Looking good so far.

Cukes

The overwintered peppers are doing a lot better, really bursting out in green leaves. Even have a few flowers already. The old leaves have not dropped off yet, so they do look a little odd.

Peppers planted in a reused 2 liter plastic bottle. I imagine they need a bit more space! These were grown from seed.

The garlic is getting ready to be harvested. I'm not too confident that I'll get very much.

The raspberry bed seems very happy. Although calling it a raspberry bed suggests it was planned and I did any work at all on it. I did not.

The long beans and kale are doing well. All the transplanted kale survived. And the beans are really popping. Covered it all with chicken wire.

These are Spoon Tomatoes. The tomatoes they grow are tiny. More fun than productive.

I need to pick 4-6 tomato plants to put in the driveway bed. Not sure which. Lots to choose from! Will also probably put a few in buckets as well.

Strawberries are flowering as well. Last year I think they were starved for water and they definitely need to be repotted or planted somewhere. The berries they produced were tiny and not tasty. Been generously watering for now as I consider where they might go.

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.

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.

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.

Nice progress!

The weather has been hot and sunny and the plants are loving it. I'm babying them and making sure they have plenty of water. I'm very happy I got those four tomato plants out early, they are really flourishing.

The basil is starting to overgrow it's planter. Now I get to see how well it transplants.

Something ate a few bean plants, so I hopped into action and built them their own fortress.

Rutgers. Getting very bushy. I should probably prune a bit to keep them happy.

Brandywine in back, Cherokee Purple in front. Lots of flowers!

  

Like this!

Strawberries still hanging out in the basement.

Garlic starting to get close to being ready for harvest.

Kale bolted. They did survive the winter.

Most of my peppers look like this. After transplanting they slumped over, then recovered in a day or two, but kept their bad posture.

Back in Action

 Last year with the COVID and mom's declining health were not good for garden exploits, I didn't even grow any tomatoes for the first time in... 10 years maybe? But I did get set up for future garden exploits. I bought a load of cement bricks that could, from a distance, in the right light, look like stones. They make much more attractive planters than I could have managed with wood. And they will be there for years to come with little to no maintenance, which is a huge plus. And it was a nice outdoor project for me and the boys.

So now I have 5 stone planters, each about 5' x 3', suitable for raised bed gardening. I'm slowly enriching the soil with compost and leaves stolen from neighbors leaf piles left at the curb for collection. Last years crops were fairly unexciting. Zucchini, another zucchini, Kale, potatoes, and cucumbers. Zucchini did fairly well before it succumbed, as always, to bugs. Potatoes, as usual, was a fairly paltry crop. I need to do more to figure out how to make them happy. Cucumbers were nice, did not get a ton of them, but a nice supply for salads. Kale? OMG. I ate so much kale. A direct seeding of basil utterly failed. Maybe the seeds were old? Not sure where it went wrong.

I did end the season strong though with one planter loaded with garlic planted a week or two into November. They not only survived the winter, they flourished. I put down a little straw to keep the weeds at bay, and I did weed a bit once, but otherwise they are pretty contented.

Garlic looking happy.

The kale not only survived the winter, it seems happier this year. Did my first mini harvest today.

Kale going nuts.

Tomatoes are back this year for another run. They have done VERY well under lights this time around. I didn't even use the fan for airflow, but they aren't leggy. Also growing are some peppers and eggplant. Not growing are some strawberries.

Tomatoes about 45 days old +/- a week

I had enough starts that I risked putting a few out early. Four on the left are Rutgers, back right two are Brandywine, front right two are Cherokee Purple. Of course, I put them out and the weather turned briefly cold, allegedly down into the 30s. But I guess their cozy nook kept them a little protected, they seem fine.

Tomatoes in the flower nooks.

Also have some Black Cherry tomatoes growing and a planter full of basil. My next task is to get some zucchini going, and perhaps get some space cleared out in the front planter for more tomatoes and zucchini.