Garden 2017

Garden 2017

Built new 4x10' rasied bed on 2/26 and filled it with horse manure compost from Equestrian Center - did not amend the soil with anything else

Potatoes

12/29/16 - Potatoes from spring '16 harvest were sprouting in the house - planted aprox half the east bed and back row of Fonda bed - mixed 1tbsp Epsom salt & hand full of rabbit manure in each planting hole --- 3/22:  Harvested back row of Fonda bed and half the east bed - a few big ones but mostly small - 10 LBS

1/12 - Planted "mole" bed with 12 seed potatoes from last years harvest - mixed 1 tbsp Epsom Salt with a hand full of rabbit manure in planting hole.

1/23 - Planted more in the east bed and west end of Fonda bed

2/5 - Planted 12 in Fonda bed after pulling the last of the carrots

Tomatoes

1/15 - Planted 4 Husky Cherries - dipped each root ball in fish emulsion and mixed 1 tbsp epsom salt and handful of rabbit manure in the planting hole

2/1 - Planted 2 Cherokee Purple - mixed 1 tbsp epsom salt and handful of rabbit manure in the planting hole - dipped root ball of the white bucket in fish emulsion and no fish emulsion for the red bucket - both plants with mushroom compost soil base

2/3 - Planted 2 Cherokee Purple - mixed 1 tbsp Epsom salt and hand full of rabbit manure in the planting hole - Plant in Lowe's bucket had root ball dipped in fish emulsion, Home Depot did not - both plants with horse manure compost base

2/11 - Planted 4 Grape - All planted with mushroom compost mix - hand full of rabbit manure and 1 tbsp Epsom salt in planting hole

2/11 - Planted 6 Super Sweet 100 - Several starter plants had 2 plants in one container - attempted to separate - possible that some plants suffered root damage in the process - All planted in mushroom compost soil mix with rabbit manure & 1 tbsp epsom salt in planting hole

2/27 - Planted 2 Super Sweet 100 - 1 in new raised bed and one in bucket - Epsom salt and rabbit manure in planting hole of both.

3/5 - Planted 6 Sun Sugar - 4 in the new raised bed with horse manure compost and 2 in buckets with mushroom compost/peat moss mix.

3/6 - Planted 2 Biltmore in container using horse/mushroom compost/peat moss mix with Epsom salt and rabbit manure in planting hole and one in new bed

3/7 - Planted 1 Roma in bucket using horse compost/mushroom compost/peat moss mix - added rabbit manure & Epsom salt.

3/18 - Planted 1 Mr Stripey

3/26 - Planted 1 Green Zebra - Chef Jeff

3/26 - Planted 1 Jubilee - Chef Jeff

Jalapenos

3/4 - Planted 6 in new raised bed - Epsom salt only in the planting hole

Eggplant

3/6 - Planted 1 Black Beauty and 1 Ichiban eggplant in containers using horse/mushroom compost/peat moss mix

Radishes

2/13 - Pulled collard greens from west end of new raised bed - amended soil with mushroom compost/peat moss/perlite mix and planted White Icicle Radishes - Harvested aprox 13 lbs on 3/25 - Sold to Apple Market for $15 - $1.50/lb

2/20 - Planted 3 rows in Pooka bed - Harvested aprox 4 lbs on 4/5

Beets

2/15 - Amended beet box and cooler with horse compost and planted red & gold

2/19 - Planted 3 rows gold beets in big bed

Carrots

1/15 - Planted 3 grow bags full of Imperator - final harvest 3/26 - very sweet - get Imperator next year

Okra

3/26 - Planted 12 in new bed

Edamame

3/26 - Planted 3 grow bags

Cucumber

3/26 - Planted 2 grow bags Boston Pickling

Garden 2016

SPRING GARDEN

Harvested 8 heads of Red Cabbage from the north bed on 1/23/16.  Amended the north bed with dried leaves and ground up rabbit manure on 1/25.


YUKON GOLD POTATOES

1/25 - Planted three rows of YG's in the new bed and two rows in the north bed - broke the dirt 2/18 - amended west half of new bed with Epsom Salt 2/21
1/30 - Planted south bed, two more rows in north bed and large containers
2/21 - Planted three small containers - Epsom Salt mixed in with soil with seed potatoes

4/23 - Harvested 78 lbs of YG's from the three raised beds (not including the containers).  Biggest potatoes and healthiest plants were in the new bed in the yard.  For 2017, mix 1 tbsp of Epsom salt with rabbit manure in planting hole and water leaves and soil with Epsom salt after 30-40 days at a rate of 1 tbsp/gallon of water.  Also, fertilize with Garden Tone 3-4-4 every 14 days.  Potatoes are big with good flavor.

BEETS

1/30 - Planted beet box - nice beets harvested 5/9 - be patient with seedlings that look like they're struggling - they'll come around.
2/1 - Planted blue cooler

ONIONS

2/18 - Planted three containers
2/21 - Planted beet box and another small container - amended all onion containers with Epsom Salt - decent flavor but very small bulbs.

CARROTS

2/1 - Planted several containers - very slow coming in and slow to mature, but very good flavor.  Main harvest 6/7

TOMATOES

2/1 - Husky Cherry Red:  Planted 4 (3 in HD buckets and 1 in Firehouse bucket) - dipped rootball in fish emulsion.  Mixed ground up rabbit manure in around root ball and added a layer with every layer of dirt - Decent harvest, but the plants didn't do well, probably because of the old soil.

2/20 - Super Sweet 100:  Planted 5 - soaked rootball in fish emulsion.  Mixed Epsom Salt and rabbit manure in the planting hole.  Mixed ground up rabbit manure in around root ball and added a layer with every layer of dirt - First fruit 3/20 - First color 4/24 - planted 1 more on 7/3

2/20 - Homestead:  Planted 1 - soaked rootball in fish emulsion.  Mixed Epsom Salt and rabbit manure in planting hole.

2/20 - Grape:  Planted 5 - soaked rootball in fish emulsion.  Mixed Epsom Salt and rabbit manure in the planting hole.  Mixed ground up rabbit manure in around root ball and added a layer with every layer of dirt - First fruit 3/20 - First color 4/26

3/5 - Sun Sugar:  Planted 6 - soaked root ball in fish emulsion.  Mixed epsom salt and ground rabbit manure in soil.

3/5 - Roma:  Planted 1 soaked root ball in fish emulsion and mixed epsom salt and ground rabbit manure in with soil - First fruit 3/24

3/10 - Cherokee Purple:  Planted 3 7/1 - dipped root ball in fish emulsion and added 1 tbsp Epsom salt & hand full of rabbit manure in planting hole.

End of year - big harvests started in late May and continued through the end of June.
Good:  Sun Sugar, Homestead & Sweet 100
Bad:  Husky & Grape
2017:  continue with same soil recipe and using Epsom salt, rabbit manure and fish emulsion.

PEPPERS

2/20 - Red Peppers:  2 planted in clear containers - Root ball soaked in fish emulsion - ground up rabbit manure and Epsom salt mixed in with soil.  Transplanted one into bigger container 4/27.  First harvest was late May.  Really good, sweet flavor.  Both plants died off in late June.

6/19 - Yellow Bell Pepper - Planted 2 in small raised planter - dipped root ball in fish emulsion.

2/20 - Jalapeno - Planted 6 - plants were smaller than usual - started in small pots and transferred week of 3/14 - used ground up rabbit manure and Epsom salt in soil of transplants - Transplanted from buckets to raised beds mid-July and plants flourished - Pulled plants 10/23

4/17 - Pepperoncini - Transplanted 4.  Mixed 1 tbsp Epsom salt and a hand full of rabbit manure in planting hole - Transplanted 1 from bucket to raised beds mid-July and plants flourished - Pulled plants 10/23

CUCUMBERS

4/16 - Boston Pickling - Planted 8 in brown grow bags.  Mixed Epsom salt and rabbit manure in with soil in planting holes - Plants really struggled this year.  Decent cuckes came in late May/early June, but plants fizzled quickly after that.  Maybe bring them out of full sun in 2017.

WATERMELON

4/27 - Ice Box - Planted 12 in north raised bed.  Amended soil with two wheel barrows of mushroom compost.  Fertilized every couple weeks with a dusting of Garden Tone 3-4-4 along with an occasional fish emulsion/Epsom salt bath.  Not sure if that did much good.  First melon picked in late June.  Great flavor.

CANTALOUPE

6/11 - Planted 4 in old black berry bed.  Soaked root ball in fish emulsion and added a decent amount of our compost which was full of weed seeds.  First flowers 6/28.  Bugs got every fruit and plant.  Total loss.  No melons harvested.

OKRA

4/27 - Clemson Spineless - Planted 15 in south raised bed.  Amended soil with 2 wheel barrows of mushroom compost.  First harvest early June.  Harvested 6 gallon bags that were cut up for gumbo, plus able to can aprox 15 - 20 pint jars.  Fertilized with Garden Tone every two-ish weeks.  Final harvest 8/19.  Plants were just over 6' at the end of the season.

POLE BEANS

4/30 - Planted 4 rows Louisiana Purple Pod in west end of new bed and 4 rows Kentucky Wonder in east end.  Purple pod matured first with huge harvests beginning June 12.  KW beans came in very slow and far fewer than LPP.  Both had great flavor but KW had strings in bigger pods and LPP did not.  2017, plant only LPP.  Pulled beans from raised bed 7/17 and transplanted peppers & tomatoes in the bed.  Planted more LPP beans in grow-bags and cooler 7/30.  First harvest 8/18.  Very few beans harvested in 2nd planting.

FALL GARDEN

RADISH

8/26 - Planted 1 row white radishes in Mole bed - all radishes flourished - harvested beginning Oct 1

COLLARDS

10/6 - Planted 6 plants in east bed - put blood meal and ground up rabbit manure in planting hole for each - first harvest 12/24 - lots of apphids
10/16 - Planted 9 in new south bed - put blood meal and ground up rabbit manure in planting hole for each

BEETS

10/16 - Planted 3 rows golden and 4 rows red in new south bed - fertilized with GT 3-4-4 every few weeks with good results

LETTUCE

10/6 - Buttercrunch - planted 6 in east bed - blood meal and rabbit manure in planting hole for each
10/6 - Arugula - Planted 3 - blood meal and rabbit manure in planting hole for each
10/16 - Iceberg - planted 9 in Mole bed - blood meal and rabbit manure in planting hole for each

ONIONS

10/8 - Planted 5 Bonnie sprouts in grow bag - amended soil with Epsom Salt and rabbit manure

CARROTS 

10/8 - Planted 2 rows in Fonda bed - final harvest 2/5 - fertilized every few weeks with GT 3-4-4 with good results.

Garden 2015

Garden 2015

Amended new raised bed with dried leaves on 1/1/15 and with a 40LB bag of mushroom compost and 50LB bag of cow compost on 2/3.  Amended raised bed on patio with dried leaves and rabbit manure on 1/23. Brussel Sprouts and cabbage that was planted on 9/7/14 are still growing in old raised bed.

Built new raised bed to protect from tree roots 2/16.

All container soil is left over from last years tomatoes amended with cow/mushroom compost, dried leaves and rabbit manure.


****End of Year****

Had great success putting ground up rabbit manure around root ball when transplanting tomatoes.  Husky cherry tomatoes that were planted in August did well.  HCR's should be good to plant all summer.  No luck with "heat tolerant" varieties for the third consecutive year.  Mulch container tomatoes with dried leaves from the start.

Okra season was terrible.  Only about a half gallon of okra all year.  Tree roots in south raised bed probably sapped the nutrients out of the soil.  2016 - plant in same spot after making sure roots are out.

Cucumbers did good but need to find a solution to keep the bugs off.

Beets did well in tan grow bag using Garden Tone and fish emulsion to fertilize.

2016 winter fall/winter garden, focus on radishes and arugula.

Temps were still in the mid-70's all the way through the month of December.  Only four nights below 35 so far this fall.

VEGGIES

Onions:  Planted 9 white onions and 9 red onions in old raised bed 1/23.  Soil not amended.

Yukon Gold Potatoes:  Planted 21 seed potatoes in new raised bed on 2/3 (full moon closest to Valentine's Day) and 6 seed potatoes in the patio raised bed on 2/3 - Planted containers and north raised bed 2/22 - Fertilized with 0-0-60 - amended soil with Cow compost and dried rabbit manure.  First plants broke through the dirt on 2/28 - Planted two large pots 3/8 - four more containers planted 3/21 --- First harvest 4/28 4lbs --- South raised bed harvested 5/2:  23lbs (120+ potatoes) ---  12LBS Containers 5/7 ---  9 LBS Raised Box 5/9 ---  13LBS North bed 5/10 --- 12LBS Containers 5/10  
TOTAL:  Planted 13LBS Harvested 73LBS     Planted 6 in the small raised bed 8/15

Jalapeno: One plant started from seed - transplanted seedling to big pot 3/1.  Bought two plants from Walmart - planted 2/28 --- First harvest 4/29 - peppers on seed plant were very mild - planted 2 more 7/20 - planted 4 more 8/3 soaked root ball in fish emulsion

Green Bell:  Planted 2/28 - first pepper 3/28 --- First harvest 4/20

Okra:  Clemson Spineless - 20 - planted 5/5 - harvested 4-5 pods per day from late June thru late July and then the plants shut down at aprox 4' - fertilized with 10-10-10 on 7/23 - plants fizzled out in early August probably because of the tree roots invading the bed.

Cucumber:  Boston Pickling - 3 planted in grow bag 4/26 - plant died early August - Planted 3 more 8/3 and soaked root balls with fish emulsion

Sweet Potatoes:  Beauregard - 18 slips planted 5/14 - Harvested 53LBS 8/14

Red Peppers:  2 - Planted 5/30

TOMATOES

Husky: Planted 3 HRC's on 2/22 - new growth on all three have leaf curl - first fruit seen 3/29 --- First harvest 5/2

Sweet 100's: 3 - Planted 3/1 - placed dried, ground up rabbit manure around and under root ball - new growth on the top of all three plants are seeing tight leaf curl, possibly too much nitrogen in soil - first fruit seen 3/29 --- First harvest 5/3 -

Grape:  3 - Planted 3/8 - placed dried, ground up rabbit manure around and under root ball - first fruit 3/30

Sun Gold:  3 - Planted 3/14 - placed dried, ground up rabbit manure around and under root ball - first fruit 3/30 --- First harvest 4/29

Cherokee Purple:  3 - Planted 3/29 - placed dried, ground up rabbit manure around root ball of the plant in the biggest container only - no additional additives to the other two

Super Sweet 100:  2 - Planted 6/7 - plants growing great in July/August heat but take on bad taste

Sun Gold:  2 - Planted 6/14 - plants growing great in summer heat but take on bad taste

FALL GARDEN

Beets:  Planted seeds 8/15 - Moved beets to full sun and they took off.  No problem growing beets in containers.

Bell Peppers:  Planted Seeds 8/15

Cherokee Purple Tomato:  Planted seeds 8/15

Husky Cherry Tomato:  Planted 3 8/16 - dipped root ball in fish emulsion

Yukon Gold Potatoes:  Planted seed potatoes 8/14

Snow Peas:  Planted north bed 8/18

Georgia Collards:  Planted south bed 9/5 - four good harvests as of 1/1/16.

Red Cabbage:  Planted north bed 9/5 - harvested 8 heads on 1/23/16

TREES

Satsuma: Fertilized 3/1 with Citrus Tone - dead

Fuji Apple: Fertilized 3/1 with Citrus Tone

Wisteria:  Plant in trees got first buds 3/14 - flowers 3/24

3/31

3/17

3/21

4/5

First pick - 4/27

South raised bed full harvest - 5/2

5/9

5/10

4/1

4/20

4/5

4/20

6/13

6/13

3/17

4/5

4/11

3/19

4/5

4/25

4/5

4/26

5/17

Okra - 5/5

Blackberries transplanted 5/16

Sweet Potatoes planted 5/16

Harvest day - 8/14

53LBS Beauregard Sweet Potatoes

5/15

6/22

Garden Notes 2014

2014 Garden

Amended last years tomato soil with dried leaves, organic 3-3-4 Garden Tone, Bone Meal and rabbit manure.  

Made new garden soil with equal parts peat moss & compost and half part of perlite.  Used this mix in the new raised bed and mixed with last years tomato soil for this years tomatoes.

**LAST FROST 3/12

Fertilized Satsuma and Apple 2/15

TOMATOES

-SWEET 100's - 3 planted 2/15 - plant in orange pail had root ball dipped in rabbit tea - first fruit 4/15 - first harvest 5/18 - MG slow release 10-10-10 in first 2 plants on 6/7

-ROMA - 2 planted 2/15 - plant in black container had root ball dipped in rabbit tea - crushed egg shells in both - first harvest 5/29

-HUSKY CHERRY RED - 4 planted 2/22 - Plants in orange containers had root ball dipped in rabbit tea - first fruit turning orange 5/5 - MG slow release 10-10-10 in first 2 plants on 6/7 - Osmocote 14-14-14 added 6/7

-CELEBRITY - 3 planted 3/1 - plant in orange container had root ball dipped in rabbit tea -first fruit 4/18 - First harvest 5/31

-GRAPE/TAMI G - 3 planted 3/1 - plant in orange container had root ball dipped in rabbit tea - plant in largest container used egg shells around root ball - first fruits 4/17 - first harvest 5/29 - MG slow release 10-10-10 in first 2 plants on 6/7

-BILTMORE - 2 planted 3/7 - Plant in orange container has worm castings mixed in with soil

-SUN SUGAR - 5 planted 3/11 - plants in white buckets have worm castings mixed in with soil - first harvest 5/12 - MG slow release 10-10-10 in first 2 plants on 6/7 - Osmocote 14-14-14 added other 3 plants 6/7

-CHEROKEE PURPLE - 3 planted 3/14 Worm casting used in biggest pot - egg shells used in all 3 - Osmocote 14-14-14 added 6/7

-BLACK KRIM - 2 planted 3/14 - Osmocote 14-14-14 added 6/7

-HEATMASTER, SOLAR FIRE & PHOENIX - planted 5/17 - Osmocote 14-14-14 added 6/7

****Didn't see any benefits from the worm castings.  Plants stopped producing around mid July.  Next year place plants on east side of the house.  Cut the bottom out of a bucket and plant it in the raised bed.  Mulch with dried leaves.  Use Osmocote slow release fertilizer from the very beginning and side dress with Jobe's or Tomato Tone Organic.

VEGETABLES

-YUKON GOLD POTATOES - Planted half new raised bed 2/15 and other half 2/24 - containers planted 3/1 - planted seed potatoes deep and added soil mix as the plants grew - yield was about 10 - 12 lbs.  Raised bed produced lots of small, cracked and rotten tomatoes because of all the rain.  Soil was too wet for too long.  Containers did much better.  Harvested when plants were thinning out and starting to turn yellow.  Next year, wait until the plant completely dies off for bigger potatoes.

-PEAS - Planted 2/15 and replanted 3/1 - Plants in the bed on the left did much better.  Pulled the pea plants in the bed on the right on 5/17, added one bag of mushroom compost and small amount of rabbit manure and planted cucumber starter plants on west side and seeds on the east side.  Final pick 6/7

-BEETS - Planted seeds 2/15 and replanted seeds 3/1 - rectangular container planted 3/18

-ONIONS - Planted bulbs small raised bed 1/20 and raised bed 2/22

-RADISHES - Planted seeds 2/20
first harvest 3/31 - Chinese Rose were very good

-CARROTS - Planted 4/4

-SWEET POTATO (beauregard) - planted 8 slips on 5/17 - Osmocote 14-14-14 added 6/7 - Harvested aprox 15lbs mid/late August.

-CUCUMBER - Burpless hybrid planted 5/17 - National Pickle seeds planted 5/18 - Planted Boston Pickling cucumbers in the north bed 6/13 - first burpless picked 7/2

-SPINELESS OKRA - planted 5/25

-SWEET CORN - Planted two rows of Peaches & Cream 6/13, another planted 6/28 - plants produced ears that were no bigger than 8".  Possibly held back by the tree roots in the raised bed.

****Pulled corn stalks on 9/6 and found the bed was FULL of tree roots.  Dug and sifted all roots out and amended soil with 4 bags of mushroom compost.  Used landscape fabric on the bottom of the bed to try to keep the roots out.

****WINTER GARDEN

-SNOW PEAS - planted in new bed 9/3 - Didn't do well at all.  No harvest.

-ARUGULA, BEETS, BRUSSEL SPROUTS, CARROTS, CAULIFLOWER and RADISHES - planted in north bed 9/7/14 - Brussel Sprouts did well but were full of bugs - use Sevin or something similar next year.

4/12

Sweet 100's - first tomatoes 4/15/14

5/5

First tomato:  5/11

6/22

My faithful assistant, LaFonda

Onions & Potatoes 3/30/14

4/12/14

5/5/14

1st radish harvest 3/31/14

5/18

China Rose Radish 6/1

Last radish 6/7

Potato bed 3/31/14

Peas & potatoes 5/5

First flowers on peas 4/14 - first harvest 5/7

5/30

6/7

6/7

Final harvest 6/12

Container potatoes 4/1/14

4/12/14

5/5/14

First harvest:  5/10 - largest container and part of small raised bed

Second harvest:  5/11  three black containers and big blue tub

4/15

Satsuma in full bloom 4/21

Sweet potatoes & cucumbers:  5/17

Sweet Potatoes and Cucumbers:  6/11

6/23