Tomato Blossom End Rot

It's August of what is turning out to be the driest year on record.  The garden is suffering!
In spite of the deep watering I'm doing in the tomato bed, I'm seeing blossom end rot on some of the Health Kick tomatoes.

Blossom end rot

I've seen this a lot in plum-type tomatoes in my garden when they haven't had adequate water,  but Health Kick tomatoes have been better at withstanding the problem in the past.  Not this year!  I think it's because the crop is so heavy. I've never seen so many tomatoes on plants before!  Most of them are sound, but if I turn over smaller, stunted tomatoes, there's the rot starting.  I pull those ones off right away and discard them.  I know that the bed was well prepared with home made fertilizer, compost and SeaSoil, so I don't think that nutrition to the plants is the problem as it usually is with blossom end rot.  In my case, I think it's just that the crop is so huge that the plants can't keep up moisture-wise.  So I keep watering and pull off the ripening fruit and finish the ripening in baskets in my kitchen so the plants have less fruit to cater to.

Aphids

The kale is also struggling.  In the Russian Red Kale, whenever I see a leaf curling over, it's got aphids inside.  Unfortunately, it's the tender young leaves that are most affected, so today I'm going to pull up the Russian Red Kale.  Blasting the aphids off with strong water streams is not keeping the problem in check.  So far, the Lacinato and Siberian are managing to avoid it, but in this dry heat, I don't think it's going to be long before I see aphids on them as well.

Sprawling butternut squash vines

The three butternut squash planted in the compost bin have been doing their best to escape into the garden.  Every morning the vines look happy and healthy, but by afternoon the leaves are drooping.  I give this bin a good, deep watering every day and spray the leaves as well, but it seems to make no difference to the afternoon droop.

Big squashes!

Fortunately, it hasn't seemed to affect the fruit of the plants.  These have to be the biggest butternut squashes I've ever grown!  I guess the plants are putting all the energy into the fruits!

Italian heritage beans under the bean arbour

The only bed that's been able to maintain a good moisture level is the corn/beans bed.  We've had a wonderful crop of corn and its pretty much finished now, but the beans are just getting going.  They are so rampant, that I'm going to see if my husband will tie ropes from the bean arbour to the fence so the vines can have more areas to sprawl to and make picking easier.  It seems that all in all, my vision of the bean arbour is going to work.  There are beans hanging down underneath the arbour already waiting to be picked.  I'll put them in tonight's butter chicken dish!

Confetti Cole Slaw and Garden Update

I make a mean cole slaw - even if I do say so myself!  I apply the "kitchen sink" method - I put in whatever I have on hand, and the more ingredients the better.  Tonight my husband is grilling a steak and baking a couple of our Pacific Russet Potatoes.  A cole slaw is a great addition to the menu.

Ingredients for Confetti Cole Slaw

Tonight's batch will have purchased red and green cabbage, Cripps Pink apple, kohl rabi from jollityFarms and from our garden onion, 3 kinds of kale and carrot.

Veggies prepared

All of the vegetable ingredients  are chopped into pieces except the carrots, which I grate.

Confetti Cole Slaw

The dressing is simple and the amounts vary with the size of the coleslaw.  To salad dressing I add a squirt of liquid honey and drizzle apple cider vinegar to thin the dressing down.  It's all tossed together and put in the fridge until dinner time.  A great addition would be toasted sunflower seeds, but today I didn't have any on hand.

While out in the garden gathering the ingredients, I snapped some pictures to show progress.

Corn, bean arbour, 2 pots of basil and leeks behind them

The corn is growing by leaps and bounds.  In hot weather, you can practically see it grow.  It's now taller than the bean arbor, which has vines snaking all over its top.

Corn silks

The tassels crown the plants now and silks are bursting from the stems where the cobs are forming.  It's hard to believe that the corn was just planted out 7 weeks ago!

Health Kick Tomatoes

We've already had a couple of Gold Nugget and the Health Kick tomatoes are just about big enough to start colouring up.

Yellow onions curing in the sun

Today I pulled up the yellow onions and left them on the surface of the bed to start the curing process.

Butternut squash

In the compost bin, Butternut Squash vines are spilling over the edge.  I placed planks to help them to the ground, but they're ignoring them, choosing instead their own path.

June in the Garden

It's been a very dry growing season so far.  Since the end of April we have had precisely 7.4 mm of precipitation.  As I noted in July 2013, I now water mostly by hand.  I used to have watering systems in place, but since our garden water comes from an irrigation pond, as the season rolls along, weed grows in the pond and chokes up the nozzles of the watering system.  Plus, I really enjoy watering by hand.  I know exactly which plants need water and it allows me to keep a watchful eye on the garden.  And it's relaxing!

Salvia Forkoahcei next to cattail rushes - it's tall!

Today while watering I was struck by a plant at the end of the pond.  Salvia Forkoahcei came from seed I purchased through Salt Spring Seeds a number of years ago.  It's a rare perennial that gets really large - almost shrublike - and has tall spikes of blue-purple flowers.  This particular bed has received no water other than the above-mentioned rain water and yet it's doing extremely well in very dry soil.  One reference I found mentioned that deer didn't like it.  It has sown little plants elsewhere and I can see that this might be a valuable plant to have in the garden!

Another view of the pond

The vegetables are the only plants that get watered in our yard, and because we are blessed with a big irrigation pond, they are well looked after.  And in the warm spring we've had, everything is doing well and ahead of where they usually are.

The bean arbour with corn in front of it.  Basil in pots

The beans are scrambling up their new arbour and the corn is growing by leaps and bounds.

Suyo Cucumber and Patty Pan Squash

In one of the 4x4 concrete raised beds I planted a Suyo Cucumber and a Patty Pan Squash.  I put a bit of fencing behind the cucumber for it to climb on.  You apparently get straighter cucumbers this way and the cucumber is definitely doing its part to scramble up the fence.

Gold Nugget Tomato truss

All of the tomato plants have fruit on them.  Gold Nugget is always the earliest to ripen in my garden,  and it won't be long until we can help ourselves to delicious sweet little tomatoes.

The celery is doing well.  I'm making sure it gets lots of water so that the stalks don't become hollow. I imagine lack of water would affect the flavour as well as the texture.

We could sure use more rain and none is in the forecast.  In the meantime, I'll keep watering by hand, observing the garden and thoroughly enjoying myself!

Butternut Squash in the Compost Bin

About 5 years ago I had an extra tomato plant and nowhere to put it.  I finally decided to try it in one side of my compost bin.  I was astounded with how huge it got and how productive it was.  I've grown something in the compost bin every year since.  The last 2 years I tried cantaloupe which was marginally successful.  The vines were delicate and I had quite a battle with wood bugs.  This year I've decided to plant a couple of butternut squash plants.

I started the seeds a month ago from the last 3 seeds in my Waltham Butternut Squash package.  I hadn't realized I had so few seeds.  Fortunately 2 of the seeds sprouted, and I decided that today was the day to plant them.

One side of the bin had finished compost in it.  There were some self-seeded plants growing which had to be pulled out first.  Luckily for us, there were several potato plants which yielded tiny baby potatoes - and we enjoyed them with our dinner tonight!  The compost was surprisingly dry.  We have had quite a warm, dry spring, but I had no idea that it was that dry.  A thorough watering moistened the soil.

Waltham Butternut Squash

I dug 2 big holes, watered them well, then backfilled so that the soil around the plants would be thoroughly moistened.  The plants were popped in, protected with water bottle sleeves and container soil was added around them for weed suppression.  And another thorough watering.  Another day I'll mulch the compost with shredded maple leaves.

May is an amazing month for flowers.  The rhododendrons are mostly finished by the end of the month, but the the peonies and bursting into bloom.  Above is a closeup of Bowl of Beauty, which certainly lives up to its name.  Having grown bomb varieties for so many years and endured the staking required to protect them from the rain, I now really appreciate varieties like Bowl of Beauty which look gorgeous and are not as labour-intensive.

Plan 2015

Today it suddenly occurred to me that it might be a good idea to have a plan for the garden.  What a novel idea!

The first step was to go up to the garden, pen and paper in hand, and sketch out a rough plan of the garden.  Most of our beds are concrete and so are permanent installations.  The perennial bed in the centre of the plateau and the asparagus beds are also permanent installations.  Our original wooden beds have just about outlived their purposes and are rotting away.  Two half barrels will also have limited life.  Then there are tire stacks which can be considered transitional as well.

Sketch done, I made a better job of it in the house and scanned the result.  Then out came the seed packages to make sure I have everything accounted for.  And here's the result:

Gardening Plan for 2015

One half of the asparagus bed will be dug up this year as it's nearing the end of its productive life.  These were our first asparagus plants and are about 15 years old.  We'll replace them with new plants and then next year or the year after, do the same to the other side of the asparagus bed.

Beds 10, 11 and 12 will be dismantled after this growing season and at this point we're thinking of replacing them with 3 4x4 concrete beds.  Between 11 and 12 there's the top of a massive rock which prevents us from constructing one long bed.

I've left one 4x4 bed and 2 tire stacks empty at this point as you always forget something.  And in half of the compost bin this year, I'll grow Waltham Butternut Squash.  They should be very happy!

So that's the plan.  We'll see if I actually follow it!

Looking Back - 2014

Now that the main gardening season is coming to a close, it's time to take a look back at what worked, what didn't and how things can be improved.

SUCCESSES

Onions - the best crop ever!  Huge onions and only 2 transplants failed.  In view of what I discovered when I turned over this bed after harvest, I'm not sure why the onions were so successful.  The bed was full of cedar roots!  Perhaps it was the soil itself.  Last year this bed held tomatoes.  The tomatoes themselves weren't that successful mainly due to the fact that the varieties I chose weren't what I really wanted.  A lot of tomatoes fell and were turned into the soil.  So perhaps this bed got some extra nutrients other beds didn't.  Likewise, the shallots and multiplier onions were also good crops.  I have a nice basket of fat shallot bulbs and lots of multiplier onions to start next year's crop.  In addition, I planted 5 multiplier bulbs in the winter bed as an experiment.

Tomatoes - again, the best crop ever.  This time, I'm crediting the success to the varieties I grew.  Principe Borghese always gives me lots of little tomatoes for dehydrating.  Classica turned out to be a good producer as well.  The star of the tomato bed was Health Kick.  I have lots of packages of roasted tomato sauce in the freezer, 2 batches of salsa tucked away in my canning shelves and plenty of dried tomatoes in the pantry.  I'll be growing more Health Kick plants next year - not so much for myself, but because those I gave plants to had similar successes and would like more plants.

Squash - 4 Waltham Butternut plants gave me an abundance of squashes - 20 to be exact and 2 more that may yet ripen before frost.  Next year I might grow squash in the compost bin as I'm going to stop the Three Sisters experiment - more on that later.  Although my husband is not crazy about squash, I love it.  The squashes I have will keep nicely and at Thanksgiving, I'll be using at least one to make butternut squash pie which beats pumpkin pie hands down.  Recipe at a later date!

Swiss Chard - I grew about 5 each of Bright Lights and Silverado.  The Bright Lights plants have huge, colourful leaves, much bigger than the Silverado, so the production is much better on the Bright Lights.  I'll be keeping the plants through the winter.  These 10 plants have given us lots of meals and bunches to give away as well.

Strawberries - This is the first year I can really count strawberries as a success.  This was mainly due to the fact that the raccoons didn't discover them and we netted them against the birds.  We had many lovely desserts of strawberries and ice cream!  The variety is Totem and they are in one of the 4x4 beds.  This fall, I'll have my husband weed-eat the leaves off them, give them a good drink of fish fertilizer and the last of the SeaSoil so that we can have a good crop of strawberries next year.

Grapes - again, this is due to the fact that we beat out the raccoons.  This is only the third time we've done it and I can't hazard a guess as to whether next year we get a crop.  I have one quart jar full of raisins in the pantry and 6 trays in the dehydrator.  And there are lots more waiting their turn!

DISAPPOINTMENTS

Potato Grow Bags - I went into the experiment with high hopes, but this hasn't worked out.  I think growing the plants so close together doesn't give them enough nutrients.  Also, it was difficult to keep sufficient moisture on them.  I will grow potatoes again, but I'll grow in them in the raised beds instead.  We particularly liked Pacific Russet (for baked and mashed potatoes) and Seiglinde (wonderful for potato salads) and were disappointed in German Butter but perhaps that's because they were grown in the bags.

Beets - not sure why they didn't turn out the way I'd hoped.  A friend tells me her beets were disappointing, too.  Perhaps the soil wasn't rich enough.  The beets were small and didn't grow well at all.  I'll prepare the soil better next time.

Parsnips - the germination rate was very poor.  I was using year old seed and perhaps parsnip seeds don't keep well.  I'll buy new seeds for next year.

Herb Pots - another experiment that didn't turn out as I'd hoped.  It seemed like such a good idea to grow these closer to the kitchen, but I think they'd all be better for being in the ground.  I think that our deck didn't receive enough sunshine for the plants.  I'll stick to flowers on the deck in future!

Three Sisters - another experiment that I thought was working out well, but in retrospect have decided that the three plants are better off on their own.  The corn did okay except that because I was growing it with other plants, I didn't seed as much as I would have liked to.  The squash was very happy.   The beans were disappointing.  I hardly got any for picking as they were too hard to find in the foliage.  I think that next year I'll use half a bed for corn and grow a few beans in amongst them just for the stability they provide.  Squash will grow elsewhere.

VEGGIES THAT NEED IMPROVEMENT

Asparagus - my plants are nearing the end of their productive lives.  I have 2 beds a couple of years apart in age, the oldest of which is probably about 16 years old now.  We'll pull up them and replant with new stock after enriching the bed.  Then next year, we'll change the other bed.

Beans - while the beans were productive, my bean rack is too tall for me to reach them.  I'd like to set up some kind of arbour for the beans to grow on so that it will be easier to pick them.

Peppers - the main problem here was the soil in the pots.  One pot had some of the soil I used to fill the potato grow bags.  This plant (a cayenne) grew well and produced lots of attractive red peppers.  The other pots had a different brand of soil and you can really see the difference in the health of the plants.  The plants that were in the raised beds grew well.  Next year I might set aside half a bed for peppers and create some kind of plastic tunnel over them to give them more heat so they produce earlier and last longer.

Roasted Butternut Squash

There always seems to be a glut of something in a garden!  The tomatoes are slowing down - in fact they've almost stopped.  Whew!  But now there are a lot of butternut squash to deal with.  Fortunately, they'll keep throughout the winter but as my husband is not a squash lover, I need to find ways to cook it so that he'll eat some.  Squash is so good for you!

Today I tried Roasted Butternut Squash.  As it's virtually candied (caramelized!) I'm sure he's going to make an exception for this one.

First the squash must be peeled, seeded and cut into 1" cubes.

Next it's mixed together with oil, brown sugar and spices.

Finally the squash cubes are spaced out on a cookie sheet lined with foil (for easy cleanup) and baked.  Make sure the cubes are spaced out.  If not they'll steam rather than bake and you won't get the caramelization.  The resulting delicious little morsels are good hot or even cold the next day.  Worth a try!


Roasted Butternut Squash

1 squash; peeled, seeded and cut into 1" cubes
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt

Mix squash cubes with oil and spices.  Space out on a foil-lined cookie sheet.  Bake at 425F for 40 to 45 minutes.

The Dog Days of Summer

Our weather pattern in the Pacific Northwest seems to bring us hot dry summers and this has been definitely one of them.  The water level in the irrigation pond has dropped alarmingly, but there still seems to be enough water for the garden.  Nothing is particularly pretty right now.  Plants are getting tired and many are reaching their maturity.  The tomatoes have stopped flowering in the heat and are concentrating their resources for the fruit that is already there.  Onions and garlic are finished - plants pulled up and the bulbs are drying for winter storage.

The one plant family that is thriving in the heat right now is squash.  The leaves do wilt in the heat of the day, but I can't believe how many butternut squash are hiding under the leaves.  It looks like a bumper crop!

Two butternut squashes hiding in the cotoneaster

The vines have snaked their way all over the garden - even down the hillside to the pond where I located at least 3 nice-sized fruits trying to hide in the cotoneaster that cloaks the bank!

Waltham Butternut Squash

All are a good size and I can see that we won't be able to cope with them all - the family will have to help out!

Cantaloupe

Even the cantaloupe in the compost bin is doing well.  I'd given up on it as I hadn't seen any fruit forming, but a careful check today amongst the leaves has disclosed at least 5.  This year I plan to keep a watchful eye on the cantaloupe as last year, afraid to pick too soon, they were almost overripe when I finally summoned the courage to pull the fruit.

Every year when the end of August rolls around, I find myself longing for the cooler days of fall.  By then the need for watering will have eased and it will almost be time to start again - planting the garlic!

Time to Harvest the Garlic

Recent family events have put the garden on hold and there has only been time to water and grab a few items for dinner.  The garlic has been waiting patiently for its turn to be harvested and today I finally had the time.

I've been allowing the ground to dry up which will help the garlic bulbs in their curing process.  The dry ground made it easy to pull up the bulbs which I stacked in 2 piles to keep the varieties separate.  They mostly look a good size - not like last year's production which was a bit on the small size as that bed hadn't received the SeaSoil that this bed did.

Once the garlic had been all pulled up, I separated them into 4 sections and tied them with twine with a loop at the top.  This year I've hung the bundles on the end of the woodshed to dry in the shade.  They'll be out of the sun, but get lots of drying breezes.  It's important not to leave the bulbs drying in the sun, but to get them into shade as soon as possible.  This is the opposite of onions, which you cure in the sun first, then once they have nice papery outer skins, bring them inside to finish curing.  And for both garlic and onions, never wash the dirt off.  Allow it to dry completely for a few weeks and then you can trim off the roots and tops, and then brush away any remaining dirt.

The Three Sisters Garden is growing apace!  Four butternut squash seeds are certainly taking up a lot of room and are even starting to scramble down the bank towards the pond.  I see lots of little squashes forming on the vines.  The corn is tasseling out nicely and flowers are forming on the beans.  The two old wooden beds will definitely have to be replaced this year as the wood is rotting out.  A good project for winter.

Things are exploding!

We are in the middle of a little heat wave.  People in regions that are used to hot summers will laugh but 32C is pretty hot here on the coast!  The garden, however, is loving it.  I'm out there watering twice a day just to make sure that everything is happy.  This year I've abandoned my watering systems in favour of hand watering.  Now that I have more time to devote to the garden, it makes sense to pay more attention to what actually needs the water.  Early in the morning when the garden is still in the shade seems to be the best time with a selective top-up in the evening.

Copra Onions

I think these must be the best onions we've ever grown.  It's only the first part of July and already they're bulking up nicely with no sign of slowing down.  This bed had tomatoes in it last year, received lots of SeaSoil and had a good dusting of homemade fertilizer before the seedlings were transplanted.  We only lost 2 seedlings and none of the plants show signs of going to seed, which is the result of a cool, wet spring. So far this year, we've been fortunate.

Corn and beans!

The Three Sisters Garden is a veritable jungle!  There are only 4 squash plants in the beds this year and all are positioned to sprawl out of the bed - which they are definitely doing.  I see lots of little Waltham Butternut Squash forming.  The Fortex Beans are scrambling up the corn stalks and they're a much better choice than the Italian heritage beans, having smaller leaves.  Hopefully they won't break the corn stalks.  The Italian heritage beans are starting to form flowers, so it won't be long now before we can have beans for supper!

Sweet Millions

The tomatoes are also very happy with the heat.  Sweet Millions has fruit starting to change colour.

Classica Tomato

All of the tomatoes have heavy crops and I can see some busy times ahead processing the bounty.  Both Classica and Health Kick have lots of tomatoes and while both are bush varieties, Classica seems to be a bit more compact and the fruit are more elongated.

Cantaloupe

I placed a piece of fencing behind the cantaloupe which is growing in the compost bin.  This way, the vines will climb up the fencing and the fruit will be much easier to find and keep clean.  Here, too, small fuzzy balls are starting to take shape.

I pulled out the snow peas yesterday and we carefully removed the zig zag fence so as not to damage the sunflowers.  Several were staked as I'm not sure how stable they will be now that the fence has been removed.  Then I transplanted 2 of the peppers to this bed and today seeded kale for a fall crop.  If the wood bugs leave the seedlings alone, I'll transplant them to the small bed that had Seiglinde Potatoes in it.  When the garlic has been pulled - in a week or so - I'll plant a fall crop of snow peas in their place.

I may not enjoy the hot, hot days, but the garden certainly does!

Three Sisters - Year 2, Planting Beans

Today has turned out to be a gorgeous hot day - in spite of the weatherman!  We were forecast to be cooler today and indeed, this morning was breezy and cool, but the wind died down and this afternoon it's lovely and warm.  As we're expecting at least a week of nice weather, time to plant the rest of the beans.

This year, I'm not planting nearly as many beans with the corn.  I have the Italian heritage beans planted in two spots elsewhere, but this year I'm planting Fortex beans in with the corn.  This is a bean I've grown every year except last year.  It produces an abundance of filet beans about 10" long which freeze well.  While the vines are vigorous, the leaves aren't nearly as large as on the Italian heritage beans and since I'm only planting 6 beans per bed, there shouldn't be nearly as much strain on the corn.

The corn germination has been quite disappointing.  As noted earlier in this blog, I usually start the corn in the potting shed and transplant it.  A mouse (or mice) destroyed all my Bodacious seedlings so I've had to plant directly outdoors and then didn't have enough corn seed left to completely plant the beds.  A final row was seeded with Peaches and Cream.  I now have 34 Bodacious plants and 15 Peaches and Cream.  As I'm not saving seeds, there should be no problem growing the two varieties together.

Bean seeds protected with a water bottle collar

To plant the beans, I pulled back the Remay cloth and seeded 6 Fortex beans per bed, 3 on each side.  Four of the seeds were protected with water bottle collars and 2 were planted without.  It's an experiment!  As I pushed each seed into the ground I could feel how hot the soil was - perfect! While planting the seeds, I discovered an extra butternut squash plant.  I had seeded 2 seeds per pot when I started them in the potting shed and once they were up, discarded the weaker one.  I guess a seed was late coming up!  One of the beds has a bare spot at a corner, so - waste not want not - I transplanted the little squash there.

Three Sisters beds with the transplanted squash seedling in the closest bed bottom right

Now the Three Sisters beds are complete.  For now it's just wait and watch.  For the next little while, I'll continue to cover the beds with Remay cloth at night and remove it during the day so that the soil can get nice and warm.  Next year these beds will be dismantled as the wood in these old beds is rotting.  We'll replace them with one big concrete raised bed but this time without a bottom as cedar roots don't seem to have reached this far - yet!

Three Sisters Year 2

Last year, the Three Sisters garden was quite successful and so warranted trying again - with some changes.

This year, I planted the corn in the potting shed as I've done for years now.  As can be seen from earlier posts in this blog, mice have decided I'd given them a banquet!  I therefore had to plant the seeds directly in the garden and after trying twice in the potting shed, didn't have enough Bodacious corn seeds to fill the beds.  Unable to find any of that seed, I planted a row of Peaches and Cream.  It will be a week later than the Bodacious, but this year I'm planting my rows in diamond pattern so hopefully if they tassel out at different times, there won't be much of a problem with pollination.

Remay protection on cool days and at night

The first seeding of corn is up and about 4" high.  I'm covering it at night with Remay cloth and opening it up during the day.

Remay off on sunny days until the weather is reliably warm.

At the same time that I planted the corn, I set out 3 butternut squash plants.  2 of these are at the south ends of the beds and 1 is in the centre.

Bodacious corn seedling

As I said above, the corn is about 4" high now.  When it reaches 6", I'll plant the Fortex beans and protect them with water bottle collars.

So what am I doing differently?

Last year the beans were so lush and heavy that they broke the corn stalks.  This year, I'm growing Fortex beans in the corn.  It's not as big-leafed as the Italian heritage bean which I'm growing elsewhere.  I planted it at the same time as the corn last year, but this year, I'm giving the corn a head start - which I was supposed to in the first place.

Last year, I grew too many squash plants and the ones at the back of the beds didn't do nearly as well as the ones in sunnier spots.  This year,  I'm only growing 3 plants and all are placed in the sunniest spots.  In addition, I didn't seed corn to the end of the beds at the inside where the 2 beds meet.  Hopefully this will give the squash enough room to grow.

I grew zucchini in the tires at the back of the bed last year.  This year, the zucchini is planted in a concrete bed in front of the Italian heritage beans seeded at the bean rack.  I'll plant impatiens in the tires as they like a bit of shade - and we always need flowers in our lives!

Frameworks for Tomatoes and Beans

Today's garden chores were all about providing support for tomatoes and beans.

Italian heritage beans in a half-barrel

The framework for the Italian heritage beans planted in the half-barrel was already in place.  The tripod of stakes had 6 seeds planted around it and all are now up.

Zucchini and Italian heritage beans.  Potatoes in the background.

Since a mouse has decided that the potting shed is a great place to grab a meal and that beans are next to corn in deliciousness, I thought it best to plant out those beans now.  We have an 8' framework that sits on the end of any of our raised beds and is easily moved from bed to bed.  Six of the Italian heritage beans which were started in the potting shed were transplanted to grow on the framework.  Two zucchini seedlings were planted in front.

Bean seedlings are protected with water bottle collars

The bean seedlings were protected with plastic water bottle collars and a bamboo stake was placed beside each plant.  The collars protect the bean seedlings from wood bug predation and they can grow up the stake and then grab onto the framework.  By the time they reach that height wood bugs won't be any match for the beans.  The final step was to liberally dust under each framework "foot" with diatomaceous earth.  This is a natural material composed of tiny exoskeletons.  The sharp edges of the exoskeletons pierce the bodies of wood bugs and earwigs, dehydrating them.  Harmless to humans, plants and animals.

Sweet Million tomato growing in a barrel

The other job for today was making the framework for the tomatoes.  The one tomato growing in a half-barrel this year is a Sweet Million and as it's indeterminate it requires sturdy and tall staking.  Three tall stakes were placed in the barrel, lashed together at the midpoint with short bamboo stakes.  One upright provides support for the tomato until it reaches the first horizontal framework point.

All of the rest of the tomatoes in the garden are in one raised bed.  Each tomato has a wire cage around it and a 6' stake beside it.  These stakes are lashed together with bamboo stakes horizontally.  The tops of the stakes are tied together with twine.  It looks pretty rickety but it's surprisingly sturdy and I've been growing tomatoes this way for years now.  As all these tomatoes are determinate and not too tall, the one horizontal framework will probably be enough.  I can easily add another layer if needed.

Chives

Next week after we get rid of a small system coming our way, I'll seed the corn and plant out squash and melons.

The Seeds Are Here!

Seeds for the 2014 Garden

So that must mean that spring is fast approaching.  At least I'll tell myself that.  It's the end of January and there's still a lot of winter left.

I ordered seeds from T & T Seeds this year as they carry Health Kick Tomatoes.  I ordered 2 packages of them in case they're hard to find next year.  In addition, I'm trying out another paste tomato, Classica.  Just to finish off, I ordered a package of Pink Swirl Impatiens from the Super Elfin series.  Every garden needs some flowers and these will be great in pots around the pond.

The West Coast Seeds order is, of course, the big one and they had everything I asked for:

Beets - Cylindra
Carrots - Royal Cantenay and Scarlet Nantes
Corn - Bodacious
Kale - Improved Siberian & Redbor
Leeks - Bandit
Lettuce - Drunken Woman (!), Red Sails and Simpson Elite
Onions - Copra
Peas - Oregon Sugar Pod 2
Squash - Waltham Butternut
Swiss Chard - Silverado and Bright Lights
Tomato - Principe Borghese and Sweet Million

So now the planning begins!  Today I turned over another bed and mulched the garlic which is well up.  We checked out the Three Sisters bed which is on its last legs.  We'll be able to get one more year out of it and next year it will be replaced with one long bed which will be at least 4' wide.  I also checked out the bed that has cedar roots creeping in through a crack and sure enough, there are lots!  That bed will have to be dealt with next.  Then I need to sit down and decide what will go where.  Crop rotation is important and root crops need to be followed by non-root crops.  One of the new 4x4 beds will be for potatoes - just enough to satisfy the craving for those delicious new baby potatoes!

Plans!  The bed which is growing garlic will also host some early spring planting and I'm going to try getting some lettuce going now.  I'll start it in the house and once it's up, transplant it to pots in the potting shed.  When they're strong enough, they'll be planted in the garlic bed and protected with hot caps.

In February - that's next week! - I'll start kale, leeks and onions.  Near the end of the month, I'll get the tomatoes started.  I won't grow as many as last year, but concentrate on cherries and romas.  This year I'm determined to get several batches of salsa to go with the pasta sauces.  I also want to grow some on the deck and bought some really big pots from Lee Valley last fall along with special grids to go under them to protect the deck.  They'll grow cherries tomatoes and basil.

This is the really exciting time for gardeners - planning!  Soon enough will come the hard work.