2019 Garden Thread

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They still look good. You're into your second season already. We only get one shot.

We tried a very small fall garden the first year we moved in, but that was before we realized that we needed to take drastic measures to protect it from deer. We didn’t do fall vegetables last year as we were more focused on using the cooler weather to do a lot of cleanup. This year will be our first real attempt at the second season.

The beans we planted germinated pretty well and are beginning to climb their trellises. I told my husband this morning while we were watering that I really love plants that twine or have tendrils. For some reason seeing that grasping curl really makes me happy.

The cucumbers have all come up, and the corn is just beginning. I’m trying to soak the surfaces both morning and late afternoon until things germinate and their roots develop enough that I can let our submerged watering system sustain them. With our heat and sun the surface dries out pretty fast, and I wear out pretty fast taking water to them when it’s hot.

I planted some dill in the spring, and it grew, but we never had huge harvests as it’s really not a summer crop in Texas. I wanted it to go to seed, though, so that it would come up on its own this fall. I guess my surface watering for the cucumbers did the trick because this morning I found a whole patch of seedlings. Hurray!
 
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I planted some dill in the spring, and it grew, but we never had huge harvests as it’s really not a summer crop in Texas. I wanted it to go to seed, though, so that it would come up on its own this fall. I guess my surface watering for the cucumbers did the trick because this morning I found a whole patch of seedlings. Hurray!
Yes, our dill, anise hyssop, arugula and cilantro are self-seeded.
 
Harvest time happening. Corn, tomatoes, and super-sized celery.

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The weather is finally really cooling off here in Texas (it was downright cold one day). The pepper plants that I started from seed in January and planted out in March lasted all through the summer and rewarded me with the occasional pepper but no abundance. Now that the temperatures are more moderate, though, they are loaded with tiny fruits. I hope they have time to mature before any real freezes blow in.

I made a big batch of pesto yesterday from basil that needed to be cut back, and we have some beans and butternut squash maturing. I picked one cucumber the other day that was still a bit on the small side, but I needed some crunch in tuna salad, and it fit the bill. There are other flowers, and it’s still pretty warm, but I don’t know that this second round will have time to do well. This is my first real fall garden here in Texas, so it will be interesting to see what happens.

I also have one Brussels sprout stalk that grows slowly but steadily. I had to pick some worms a couple times recently, so I’m watching it carefully.
 
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A real freeze is blowing in. I woke up to 47, and the temperature dropped from there. When it got light, I decided to see what I could do with frost cloth over some larger plants. I covered the peppers, though I don’t know if it will be enough protection for them. I also filled the ollas with warm water for a little extra help.

My sweet potatoes are growing up a trellis, and I couldn’t get the cloth down to the ground without wrapping those vines, too. The wind is roaring over the house now, so we’ll see if things stay closed up till morning. It’s supposed to drop to 29.

Next week daytime highs should be back to the 70’s. I’m just trying to keep some of the plants alive for a couple more weeks.
 
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A real freeze is blowing in. I woke up to 47, and the temperature dropped from there. When it got light, I decided to see what I could do with frost cloth over some larger plants. I covered the peppers, though I don’t know if it will be enough protection for them. I also filled the ollas with warm water for a little extra help.

My sweet potatoes are growing up a trellis, and I couldn’t get the cloth down to the ground without wrapping those vines, too. The wind is roaring over the house now, so we’ll see if things stay closed up till morning. It’s supposed to drop to 29.

Next week daytime highs should be back to the 70’s. I’m just trying to keep some of the plants alive for a couple more weeks.
Hope things are ok. We've had a week of just below freezing temperatures which is very unusual for us. Mostly kale left in the garden but it doesn't mind the cold. A few weeks ago we had a hail storm pass through, lasted about 15 minutes and left everything looking like it had been hit with buck shot - lost most of our squash and pumpkins.
 
I’m sorry to hear about the hail. That’s not uncommon around here, but thankfully we haven’t had any since spring, and those storms were pretty minor. We’re you able to harvest and preserve any of the squash or pumpkins?

We just ate up our last pumpkin this week in the form of pie (I planted a couple in the spring, and harvested just three months ago. It was very strange for me to do that in hot weather.) The cold weather made me willing to use the oven this week.

The cold here was definitely a killing cold for the vegetable garden.I was surprised things didn’t look worse after the first night, but after the second even some of the protected plants were done for. The trellised sweet potato vines died, and I could have cut them off, but I decided to harvest this morning. My seven-year-old daughter helped me, and she was so excited to find the potatoes. We have them curing in our oven now (not turned on, just as a place to provide some warmer and moister air for them).

The peppers seem to be holding their own. I still have the frost cloth on. It isn’t supposed to freeze tonight, but it will still be clear and cold, and I figure any additional warmth will be beneficial. My worry is that almost all of the plants had to touch the cloth some areas, and so they won’t come through unscathed. We’ll see how they do when we get back to warmer days and nights. I’d just like to get some of the set fruits through to coloring up.

The parsley looks relieved to have cold weather again. The Brussels sprout was unphased by the cold, but I’m still finding worms. I wish they had frozen.

We have plans to expand the garden fencing a bit and put in some more beds this winter. This attempt at least showed that we could learn how to manage this climate zone, so we’ll keep working on improving soil and growing what we can. The only new planting at this time of year will be some garlic and shallots.
 
Getting ready for garlic...
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Getting 1500 cloves of garlic ready for planting is a lot of work!
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One of my favorites is "Rod Stone", developed locally here on Saltspring Island about 20 years ago. Very large heads, large cloves.
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Wife's favorite is Nootka Rose, also a local variety developed on the San Juan Islands.

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Are these cloves from your flooded plantings last year? What do you do with so much garlic?
 
Are these cloves from your flooded plantings last year? What do you do with so much garlic?
Yes, it's the flooded garlic! It actually did quite well. We eat a lot of garlic now, but the plan is to get our seed stock up so we can plant 3000+ per year and sell locally.
 
Yes, it's the flooded garlic! It actually did quite well. We eat a lot of garlic now, but the plan is to get our seed stock up so we can plant 3000+ per year and sell locally.

Wonderful that the garlic not only survived the flood but appears to have flourished! We eat a lot of garlic in our family, too, and we just planted a small bed of it in our garden area.

My husband and I spent much of the day outside. We’re expanding the garden area, so we worked on the exact placement for the fence to allow for new boxes by the old ones. We succeeded in driving some t-posts into the ground, which is quite a feat here where rock is often at the surface or just a couple inches down. The garden will still be quite small, but it will be nice to have some additional space come spring.
 
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That's awesome. I still have to plant mine. I may need to figure out a time to get up to your island and buy some garlic
 
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“Sadness and Despair!”

That’s what my children and I said this morning after discovering that a buck had damaged one of our young mission olives and broken off about two feet of its biggest shoot. (It’s from A. A. Milne, by the way, when Winnie-the-Pooh is stuck inside a honeypot in the Heffalump trap.). At least that made it slightly easier for me to put up some freeze protection. I just hope the winds aren’t strong enough to blow the pots over.
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I decided at the end of last week that the peppers just weren’t going to manage any longer in the garden, but I wasn’t totally ready to give up on them. I decided to see if they could handle a transplanting, a drastic pruning, and a winter in the garage. No real loss if they don’t make it, but I figured I could see what would happen.

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The frost cloth and former doghouse and grill cover) are now being put to use to protect our young citrus trees. There’s a Persian lime and two Meyer lemons. I wasn’t sure quite how low the temperatures would drop, but we’re forecast for mid twenties tonight, low twenties tomorrow. Since these are all relatively young trees, we’re trying to give them some extra protection.


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Freeze protection has worked so far, but it’s not even December yet. Our family has been sick for a while, but I’m hoping to be well enough tomorrow to put some fencing up to protect those little olives from the deer. I had been encouraged that they didn’t seem to nibble, but I had forgotten about rubbing. The one in the center is a Greek Koroneiki; the two on either end are California Mission Olives.
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The peppers in the garage are ripening and don’t seem stressed. They’ve probably been happy that it’s been sunny and in the 70’s this week.

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The citrus is also looking good. The Meyer lemons are small but getting more yellow. The frost cloth was pulled down by ice or blown off the lime tree cage some time during the first night, but it must have stayed up long enough to do some real good. We replaced it and used even more clips and rocks, and it stayed put after that. (But we also didn’t have more ice blowing in at 40 mph the next few days.). You can see what the cold weather did to the Esperanza/yellow bells behind the lime.


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I just noticed some potatoes with crazy eyes.

How do you think winter potatoes would do? I wonder how much light they actually need? Would they do well in a south window with a CFL on them for supplemental light?
 
I just noticed some potatoes with crazy eyes.

How do you think winter potatoes would do? I wonder how much light they actually need? Would they do well in a south window with a CFL on them for supplemental light?


A quick google search did bring up articles about growing winter potatoes indoors with LED grow lights. I didn’t see anyone actually posting a personal experience, but I didn’t look long.

Were you the one who was going to grow tomatoes or cucumbers or something like that up your peach tree? Did you ever try?
 
Oh, I've grown both of them successfully up the peach tree.

I didn't do it this year, the garden never really got in. Wife and kid didn't like the lack of produce and pledged to help more next year.
 
I think I'm going to try pie pumpkins this year. It should really trip some people out to see pumpkins in mid air! I think they'll be small enough to not need support.
 
Some last minute harvesting before the hard frost hits this week. It's great to go grocery shopping in the back yard!
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...and it's sour kraut season!
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I tried to make kraut once. I had less than ok results. I should try again.
We've had pretty good success over the years. Made a small batch this summer and it went moldy on us- I think it was too warm. I use 1.5% salt to cabbage and a good five minutes of kneading and squeezing to get the brine developed.
 
I asked my woodworking board for advice on how to make it, and followed ALL of it, lol. That was a bad idea.
 
We just had a freshly opened batch of sauerkraut for dinner tonight. I find it helpful to mix the cabbage and salt in a large covered bowl and let it sit for a few hours, then pack it tightly into one of my European canning jars using a wooden tamper. I weight it down with a rock. I’ve fermented in all weathers, even in summer in Texas when my kitchen is pretty hot. I don’t think I’ve ever had a batch go moldy. (We won’t talk about the kombucha Scoby that I let go.) I do find that my kids definitely prefer the texture of my hand-chopped kraut over my using a food processor.

I was delighted today to find some new growth on the olive shoot that was damaged and broken by the deer last month. There is some fencing around those pots now.

The shallots and garlic are all coming up. The dill seedlings and parsley are happy in the cooler weather, and I’m enjoying a break from the work of it. We’ve picked five little peppers from the garage plants, and a bunch of tiny one are coloring up.

My seven year old brought me the mail the other day, but she kept a seed catalog for herself. She then sat down with a clipboard and made a list of varieties that she wanted me to consider (radishes, pumpkins, and tomatoes). We have most of the seeds we’ll need, I believe, but we did use the last of the pumpkin and watermelon, and we might add a couple of things if we get the new beds in. I just thought it was funny how eager she was to get started again.