The Display Vegetable Garden in October

The first hard frost finally arrived in mid-October. That frost finished the growing season for the Black Beauty zucchini, the beans, the tomatoes and the squash vines. So sad to see the last remnants of the once-flourishing garden shrivelled beyond all recognition. With the bountiful harvest of squash, zucchini, tomatoes and beans we’ve been too busy freezing and processing to mourn the loss of our vegetable garden.

Successful Vegetables

The Anna Hubbard squash were the stars of the October vegetable garden. Seeds were sown directly into the soil at the end of May and produced four vigorous plants. A couple of weeks ago, under threat of a hard frost, we harvested 13 very fine looking squash. Each squash weighted in at about 3 to 5 lbs. The Anna Hubbard squash have a very dense flesh. Once baked in the oven for 30-40 minutes the squash becomes soft enough for eating or baking. This vegetable is really delicious when slathered with maple syrup.

Surprisingly the Black Beauty Zucchini continued to producing new zucchini despite the light frosts. The zucchini leaves showed damage but kept right on producing until the first really heavy frost in the second week of October. We harvested about a dozen zucchinis and stuck them in the crisper of our refrigerator. Black Beauty seems to be a very good “keeper” as the larger zucchini are still nice and firm though picked 2 weeks ago.

Carrots continue getting fatter and fatter. They are still producing nice looking and tasty carrots. The October frosts haven’t damaged the carrots at all, though we did cover them twice so far. At this time of year, we usually see some slug damage, but curiously, we haven’t seen any chewed up carrots this year.

Ironically, the parsley, which finally started sprouting in late August, is now lush, green and delicious. Parsley is frost-resistant, so it’s a great fall crop that will hopefully keep producing until November. Chard is still growing though very slowly. Since only one of the four chard plants bolted we still have a decent amount of fresh chard to add to our soups and salads.

October has turned out to be a lovely month with today’s temperatures reaching a unexpected high of 68 degrees (or 19 Celsius) . The color of the leaves was just magnificent this year providing this wobright colorful backdrop to the farm. Frosts have been light enough to allow the hardier vegetables to continue growing, so we’re still eating those fresh salads we’ve become addicted to. That won’t continue for long, so we’ll enjoy every minute while it lasts.

Happy Gardening!
Annie Rose

Footnote: Our Nikon D40 suffered “irreparable water damage” according to Nikon which apparently can happen simply by taking the camera into a “humid environment”. The pictures this month were taken with the Google Smart Phone, the Nexus HTC. It’s a wonderful phone, camera, personal organizer, compass, GPS, toy and in a pinch – like now – a real life-saver.

The Display Vegetable Garden in August

August was a perfect blend of heat and rain. The vegetable garden has flourished into a tangled jungle. The regular rains made it totally unnecessary to lug heavy hoses around. Since the garden was really overgrown, the weeds never had a chance. Basically all we do now is harvest our bounty of crops.

Successful Vegetables

Our plan to pick only the larger carrots and leave the little ones has worked out fabulously. The remaining carrots are now all a decent size. We pick a couple every day, and there still seem to be a good number of remaining carrots.
My Black Beauty zucchini have gone bionic. The main zucchini plant simply dominates the other two plants, but has steadily produced 5 to 6 zucchini each and every week. I’m very pleased with Black Beauty as even the larger zucchinis tend to be nice and tender .

The beans now have lovely big, fat, tasty and juicy pods. We love the mottled beige and brown color of the pods in salads. Because of the overcrowding the bean plants never reached their expected height, but with this years bounty, it hardly matters.

The first crop of lettuce has been purged from the garden. For our second crop we had planted only Romaine lettuce in early July which has done surprisingly well in the heat.

Vegetables with Issues

The second crop of parsley barely came up, probably due to a combination of too much shade, too much competition and the evil slugs. Lettuce has all bolted now, expect the latest crop of Romaine.

Happy Gardening

Annie Rose

The Display Vegetable Garden in July

What a difference a month has made. The 12 x 12 foot display garden is now producing quite nicely and has begun to look like a bit of a jungle. July has continued to be delightfully warm, with just-in-time rain showers. Though it’s probably a great exercise for me, not having to pull around those 100 foot hoses has been such a relief

Successful Vegetables
The couple of remaining radishes inter-planted among the carrots have now gone to seed to provide next year’s crop. The carrots have graduated to “baby carrot” size. The carrots are still pretty closely planted, but I regularly thin them and add the baby carrots to my salads.

The snow peas stand about 3 feet tall now, rapidly outgrowing their initial supports. The snow pea pods are a lovely yellow, and provide nice color in salads. The pods on shelling peas are starting to get nice and fat, and should be ready for picking any day now.

Zucchini plants do not seem to like transplanting. The untouched Black Beauty Zucchini is doing very well with 3 small fruits, whereas the transplanted zucchini has yet to bloom. The third zucchini, planted from old seed, looks like it’s picked up a powdery mildew problem and will have to be pulled. No beans, cucumbers or squash yet, but lots of leaves, flowers and hints of things to come.

The lettuce is fabulous. The three lettuce types chosen were brilliant and we’ve eaten salads every day since the middle of June. Surprisingly the Grand Rapids lettuce has retained its great taste though it’s just starting to bolt. The Iceberg lettuce still looks and tastes like a leaf lettuce and shows no inclination of bolting. The Romaine lettuce is now just starting to “close” into that lovely core of lettuce. We expect the Romaine lettuce to reach its prime in another week or so.

Vegetables with Issues

It’s tough being green. We lost round one of the tatsoi versus flea beetle battle. Beetles: one – gardener: zero. We’ve brewed up a batch of garlic/hot pepper spray and will let the beetles have it. We are going to try surrounding the new plants with coffee grounds as well, to see if this makes any difference.

Replanting the peanuts was in vain. Some critter dug up all my freshly planted seeds and ate the whole lot. We give up – no peanuts this year.

July has been just lovely, sunny and warm – a great year for the garden and one to remember for years to come.

Happy Gardening to you all.

Annie Rose

Related posts:

The Display Garden in June
The Display Garden in August

The Display Vegetable Garden in June

It’s been a month since we planted the 12 x 12 foot display garden. In the last week of May we hit some record high temperatures for the Ottawa, Ontario region and the garden is now coming along very nicely. In fact this week, we actually managed to pick our first garden grown veggies for our salads.

Successful Vegetables

Tatsoi has been the biggest surprise in our trial veggie garden. We purchased the seeds at an organic growers meet simply because we had never grown this vegetable. The tatsoi grew extremely fast, has a lovely mild chard-like flavor and makes a great crunchy green in a salad.

The interplanting of carrots and radishes worked out perfectly. The little carrots are now setting their second set of leaves and the radishes are ready for picking. In the next couple of days we’ll have harvested the last of the radishes from the carrot patch, giving the baby carrots plenty of room to grow.

Peas, beans, cucumbers, zucchini are all up and doing well. The snow peas are now about 6 inches tall, and will need to be supported. Supporting poles for our peas, cucumbers and beans are already in place, so it will be a simple job to staple the netting in place. Curiously, the squash plants that grow with a companion squash right next to them seem to be doing much better than squashes growing alone.

Vegetables with Issues

The peanuts and parsley never came up. Both sets of seeds were about 5 years old. I really should have run a germination test on both sets of seeds. The birds love sitting on the bean supports, but the ingrates nipped the leaves off 1/3 of my baby bean plants. Their thinning job is a bit erratic, so I’ll replant in the spare spaces in a couple of weeks for the second bean crop. The flea beetles seem to love my tatsoi just as much as I do. We are going to try a row cover on the tatsoi to see if that will discourage those little gourmets.

We had a spot of cool weather around the first week of June, so delayed planting the tomatoes until around June 12th.

Happy Gardening to you all.

Annie Rose

Grow Carrots in Your Boots! Book Review of: Growing Stuff

Growing Stuff  An Alternative Guide to Gardening will charm anyone with a sense of fun and a love of gardening.  The book contains creative projects on growing vegetables, herbs and flowers.  Most gardening projects in this book require few tools, are easy to do and inexpensive.   Both novice and experienced gardeners can discover numerous innovative ideas in the short and original articles.

The Projects

The projects presented are extremely creative and will delight experienced to novice gardeners.  Northern gardeners will find a wide variety of projects that can be used for indoor winter vegetable gardens such as growing carrots in boots, growing vegetables in containers and raising herbs in teapots.  For teachers there are easy classroom projects like “Cartoon Cress” and “Mini Window Garden”, using recycled containers and fast sprouting seeds like water cress or sprouting seeds.   Instructions are short; one or two pages, easy to understand and nicely illustrated.

The book begins by offering a basic explanation of soils, plants, containers and composting. A third of the book is really a vegetable gardening planting guide on starting a vegetable garden indoors.  The balance of the book touches on growing herbs, flowers and unusually plants like living stones and carnivorous plants.

Conclusion

Growing Stuff is one of the most enjoyable gardening books I read in years.   This book is a standout in terms of creativity, layout and illustrations.  Its simplicity is refreshing.  The ideas presented are practical and can be used for gardening indoors, on balconies and in containers.  Flipping through the projects, I kept thinking “What a great idea, now why didn’t I think of that?”   And… it’s a lot of fun – especially with the two feet of snow at my doorstep.

Testing Vegetable Seeds for Germination

Can you use last year’s vegetable seeds for this year’s veggie garden? In 99.9% of the cases, I say “Yes, you can. You go gardener!” Most vegetable seeds keep for a year or two and even longer with no problems. The older the seeds get, the less viable they become, or the less they will tend to germinate. To avoid wasting time planting vegetable seeds that just won’t grow, it’s best to test for germination if your seeds are older than two years.

Vegetable Seed Germination Test

We use a very simple method to determine the viability of our older vegetable seeds. We simply take our seeds, place them between sheets of moist paper towel, place the damp paper towel into a plastic sandwich bag and place the sandwich bag in a warm location. After about 5 to 10 days, we count the number of seeds that have sprouted, and use that as our guide to calculate the germination rate.

Step 1: Read the seed package information
Read the vegetable seed package to determine the days to germination, and whether to germinate the seeds in a dark or a light spot. If the package suggests a planting depth, then the seeds will usually do best in a warm dark spot. If the package states that the seeds need light to germinate, make sure to place them in a warm spot that receives indirect light.






Step 2: Gather your testing supplies
Next you need to gather your supplies. For the seed test you’ll need the following:
• 10 seeds for testing
• Paper towels
• Plastic sandwich bag
• Ball Point Pen
Once you have all your supplies, you are ready to start the seed test.

Step 3: Setting up the seed for testing
Tear off a sheet of paper towel and fold it into a square. Write the name of the seed to be tested and the expected germination date on the paper towel. Dampen the paper towel. The paper towel should be just damp, but not dripping. Be careful not to over wet the paper towel as this will cause the seeds to rot. Open the towel and place 10 seeds on it. Fold the paper towel into quarters, ensuring that the seeds are well covered by the paper towel. Place the paper towel with the seeds into a sandwich bag and seal the bag. Place the bag in a warm (60 to 70 degree), but not hot area.

Step 4: Checking the seed for germination
Check on the seeds every one or two days. If the paper towel starts drying out, add a few drops of water to the towel. After about 5 to 10 days the first seeds will start developing little white roots.

Once you’ve reached the germination date, open the paper towel and count the number of seeds that have developed roots. Divide the number of germinated seeds, by the number of seeds you started with, and then multiply the answer by 100 to calculate your germination rate.

Example: Pepper Seed Germination Test
6 germinated seeds divided by 10 test seeds = .6 multiplied by 100 = 60%. Therefore the germination test gives me a result of 60% germination. That means that just over half of my seeds can be expected to germinate.

Conclusion
At 60% it’s still worthwhile planting the seeds. Since only about ½ the seeds will germinate, you’d just use twice as many seeds when you actually plant in the garden. If the germination rate goes below 30%, you’ll have to triple the number of seeds you actually plant, as only 1 in every 3 seeds will germinate. Doing a seed test before you actually plant the seeds ensures that you use enough seeds to get a decent crop of fresh vegetables for your garden.

Happy Veggie Gardening
Annie Rose

Ordering Vegetable Seeds

With spring approaching, it’s time to order those vegetable seeds without delay. At this time of year the seed houses are going to be flooded with orders in the next little while. Getting your order in as early as possible ensures that you get first dibs on the vegetable seeds you want and need.

Your Vegetable Garden Plan should be complete, so you’ll know what you are planning to grow and how much that space will take. Check your existing seeds by doing a germination test, to ensure that the seeds are still viable. There’s nothing worse than planting rows of beans, only to have a couple of plants come up. Been there, done that.

When deciding which seeds to purchase, stick to seeds that are known performers. If you’ve kept garden journals, consulting the journals is a great first step. Your soil and growing conditions are unique, and a journal is the very best way to determine what does and does not work for you. Once you’ve ensured that you have an adequate supply of the old favorites, consult the vegetable gardening web sites for your locality and growing zones to see what other varieties work in your area.

It’s a great practice to try out several new types or breeds of vegetables for vegetable garden. Check out the new AAS winners in the vegetable category. Different types of seeds add novelty and interest to your vegetable garden, and you might just discover a new great performer for your particular growing conditions.

If you stay away from treated vegetable seeds like we do, make sure that you order sufficient quantities of seeds like beans, which can fail to germinate if growing conditions are too cold or wet. Crop failures happen to even the most experienced of growers, and you should expect the occasional failure in your own vegetable garden.

Purchase your seeds only from reputable seed houses. With vegetable seeds, expect to pay a fair price for disease-free good quality seed. The fastest way to get your seed orders into the seed houses is to place the order via their web sites. If ordering via the web makes you nervous, most seed companies support ordering by either Fax or snail mail as well.

And then comes the really hard part, waiting for that seed order to arrive!

Happy Gardening

Why Plant a Vegetable Garden?

There are many reasons for planting a vegetable garden. The first would be the satisfaction of growing your own food.

Working outdoors and getting much needed excercise is also a big plus. With a minimal effort you can produce enough vegetables to make a significant dent in your grocery bill. Still others garden just for the fun of it. Whatever your reason for starting a vegetable garden, you’ll soon realize that gardening is easy, enjoyable and a great learning experience . A vegetable garden quickly becomes more than just something to tinker with, it becomes a way of life.

When you raise food crops, you tend to follow the weather a lot more so that you can plan planting, maintenance, watering and enjoyment of your growing vegetable garden. You also tend to take more attention of the condition of your soil. Whatever the weather you have to adjust to what you are dealt with to produce your nutritious vegetables.

 During the season as you start to harvest your vegetables that’s when you get to appreciate the fruits or should I say vegetables of your labour. Nothing beats the taste of freshly picked vegetables right out of the garden, it beats anything you can buy from your supermarket.

You’re bound to have some occasional disappointments, but on the whole, you’ll get full-size, well formed, tasty vegetables you’ll be proud to feed your family and friends. If you get a good crop you may also have enough to be able to store as well as freeze and can for latter use. During the dead of winter it’s always a treat to be able to serve those great tasting vegetables that you were able to store fresh. Other vegetables that must be frozen or canned are also wonderful to get into when fresh vegetables are unavailable.

The Basics of Planting Vegetable Gardens

First of all soil preparation is very important. This is one of the most basic things that any new gardener will have to learn. Whether you choose a spot in your backyard or start a vegetable garden in plant boxes, soil preparation plays an important role in whether your vegetable garden will survive or not. There are three types of soil that you need to be familiar with; sand, clay and loam. Sandy soil provides good drainage but dries out quickly. Clay soil retains water but turns rock hard when it dries out. Loam is a mixture of sand and clay particles and is the prefered combination for a good vegetable garden.

When preparing the soil for your vegetable garden, dig up the soil and break up the lumps. Take out the rocks, roots, and weeds while you’re at it. Loam should contain about 40% sand, and 20% clay, to provide ideal growing conditions and good drainage. One good way to test whether the composition of your soil is good is by scooping out a handful and forming a ball with it. The soil should hold the shape of a ball without too much difficulty. If the soil cannot hold the shape, you might have too much sand in the mixture. If the soil holds the shape but does not crumble easily when you poke it, it might have too much clay in it which you need to balance out with a little sand.

Now that you have finished cultivating the soil, select the variety of vegetable to grow. Keep in mind that some vegetables don’t grow well when you plant them too close to certain types of other vegetables. Potatoes, for example, shouldn’t be planted too close to squash or tomatoes because it inhibits their growth. They can be planted in the same garden, just don’t plant them beside each other.

After you have decided on the kind of vegetables you want and planted them you’ll have to learn about how to water them properly. Vegetables need to be watered consistently. When planting vegetable gardens in a big space, you might want to consider using a soaker hose. A soaker hose has many holes along its body that waters your garden by letting the water seep through its holes.

Planting vegetable gardens require manual labor and a lot of patience. Make sure your first vegetable garden is not too big in your first year as it can get out of contol in a hurry. Very important, you will have to keep a real good contol of the weeds to give your plants the best chance of survival.
 

Planning a Vegetable Garden

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