Garden survives freeze and keeps on producing

I have been watering and covering plants for weeks now as each cold snap comes through but I think it has been worth it in preserving the plants that we eat. I did not count on all this cold when I bought the cheddar and purple cauliflower. They are nice but don't do the cold as well as the snowball. I am surprised to see how much moisture the soil is holding (see my cute moisture meter) as I was ready to pour more water on an already adequately moist bed. The brussels sprouts though needed water and got a good gallon.

Inside the greenhouse I have a mix right now--peppers and tomatoes in large containers that continue to give up a few fruit every week or so and new seedling that are in their growing pots. I have over 15 tomatoes out there and many celery and broccoli and chard too. The broccoli and chard will move out in a week or so but the tomatoes will live in there until March.

Spring is slow to settle in--plants are loving it

I keep going out to look at the plants because my tomatoes have NEVER looked so good. I have taken lots of advise about how to grow good tomatoes and what varieties to grow and am having a great year so far. every plant on the lot (20+) was grow by me from seed except for 2 that I got as transplants. I am pleased that the Early Girls are living up to their names--each has cascades of blooms and are setting most of them. So far most plants look to have 5-6 or more tomatoes on them. The San Marzano's are just behind them and since they went in 2 weeks later--doing great. They also have lots of blooms and have set 3-4 tomatoes per plant already. The Supersweet 100s and black cherry are also ramping up as is the Thai Pink Egg (top corner above) We are excited that the new Jaune Flammee(center), an orange tomato is setting clusters of 5-6 tomatoes and is blooming like crazy. They are getting measured water and fertilizer each week and had protection from the cold winds a few weeks ago with row cover. I was really worried as I waited and still they got a bit more cold than I thought they would do.


The herb area and the front part of the garden are getting a real facelift this year. It is fun to make it so colorful and unique. The cucumbers seem to love their rales and the scarlet runner beans are already blooming on the bamboo trellis. I am still not pulling out the peas as it is cool and they are still producing enough to keep us eating a time or so every 10 days. 












The onions I planted last fall are really getting big. I have been scraping back the soil from around the bulbs and think the harvest will keep us in onions for months. I have harvested about half of the green cabbage but none of the purple yet. The heads are doing well and getting big. I was able to trade a couple of heads of the green for eggs and make 3 - 1/2 gallon batches of kraut plus slaw. We intend to eat some cooked too. Brocoli is going well but will bolt if the heat comes on too fast. good thing it is getting within days of picking. I am already planting beans where I had beets this winter. There are only a few beets left out front but I am replanting in the back were there is more afternoon shade. Lettuce too in shadier spots so we have it until bad heat.

New growth as garden goes from winter to spring

I have been so busy trying to rearrange the plants and cope with the crazy weather we are having. Hot days in early spring confuse the plants and are making me cover and uncover to keep things on an even keel.  Got all the tomatoes in just after the last freeze date around March 10th only to have very cold nights a week later--37-39 is not freezing but way too cold for the little guys. I did a different thing in up-potting them that I will do again. I put the seedlings into 4" round pots that fit into quart yogurt containers and had self watering seedling pots. Roots came down, plants grew great and transplanting went really well. No root bound plants.

I put in a second round of broccoli from the nursery and am encouraging the brussel sprouts to make little heads--fighting the bugs. We will see how it goes. Peas are just about done and need to come out so I can plant the blackeyes there or peppers there and blackeyes where the cabbage is.
Was lucky to get another variety of eggplant at the sustainable harvest spring event and put them in and got one more in a plant exchange.
I harvested 3 beautiful cabbages this morning. Biggest yet--around 4-5 lbs. each. I am going to shred some for slaw and kraut and cook some for dinner. well worth planting!

Fall gardening into full swing with brassicas and root crops

I couldn't wait for fall so I could replace the under-performing plants that lived through the heat with the broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage and beets/carrots that we seem to be able to grow in great profusion. I started all of the plants except cabbage from seed and am spending time fine tuning the soil with my little test kit and transplanting the little seedlings into the garden. I am also looking closely at companion plantings. The cool mornings are enticing me from many other tasks but the rewards are going to be many.

I found an interesting lettuce tower on Pinterest and got it made up with a few sprigs of red sails lettuce. should be fun if nothing else. I am trying fall green beans and peas to see if they do better. Seems that last fall the green beans did pretty well. I have a new really short season variety to try. 

The herbs are going strong compelling me to find recipes to utilize all of them. Sage stuffed pork roast was terrific, the Thai basil and garlic parsley butters are great on bread, potatoes, rice --the list goes on and on. I have  dozens of packets pesto in the freezer waiting to be  spread on pasta, bread, crackers and more. The lemon basil has appeared on chicken and on a zucchini torte.  George is using a lot more mint in his tea too. I haven't tried out rosemary dishes but will go there next. Garlic cloves are on their way from the grower so next year we should have really tasty garlic to use too. 

I participated in a few plant swaps in the last few weeks and have added a number of perennials to the beds and bringing in new color and textures. I got half a dozen coleus plants of various leaf types and rooted most of them to double or triple the plantings. Looks pretty good out there even with all the heat.

Our garden is a destination

Twice in the last week people actually came by to show off my garden--people we  did not know! My husband was working out in the garage when a man and his son came into the yard. The man was pointing out the different types of vegetable to his small son--that is a cabbage, that is carrots, etc. Quite interesting to observe. The second time a woman brought her mother by in the car to see that the garden was in the front yard. We are managing to share more growing information than we otherwise could. Every day someone walking by stops to comment on the plantings. I have the tomatoes out now and am ready to start taking cabbages in. Most of the kohl rabi are already pulled but there are quite a few yet to bring in.

There is also a fair bit of interest in the rain barrels and how to build them and use them. So much fun!

A very bountiful winter

I have to admit that I planted a few too many seeds in my little starters. Never in my wildest imaginings was I prepared for all of them to germinate and thrive. The winter crops have been incredibly bountiful enabling me to share with friends and put some bags of cauliflower and broccoli in the freezer for later in the year. Now the kohl rabi is starting to head up and the cabbage is heading nicely. Should hold us for another 6-8 weeks, maybe more. We even made our first batch of sauerkraut and several batches of slaw--from the cauliflower leaves and bok choi. Fabulous tasting and better than just composting the leaves. My husband says we are on a cabbage diet and maybe we are as we are focusing on eating what I am growing.

The Malabar spinach and new Zealand spinach that did not do well last year both have seeded themselves and are thriving.  Even the regular spinach which we can only grow over the winter and early spring here is much more productive this year than it ever has been. I am also having a bumper crop of peas that I planted last October and suddenly took off with the rains this winter. Chard, of course is thriving and so pretty.

I wound up with 4 different kinds of cherry tomatoes/small tomatoes so they are going to stay in large pots and sit next to the greenhouse. I tried to find tomatoes that would thrive in the heat of our summer and am trying a couple of Porters and Porters Pride, Creole, Heatwave, super Sioux, and Arkansas traveler. I may have a couple of Romas or not. They did so poorly last year that I am about given up on them. I have both Black beauty and oriental eggplant, one that wintered over is blooming to beat the band--now will it set fruit? I haven't figured out where to put the green beans but they are so good fresh that we have to put some in. I am going to put more cucumbers in the greenhouse with row cover to try and avoid the bugs.
If I can find room for most of the plants I will be lucky. Maybe I'll have to share a few of the little guys with friends to turn them on to gardening too.

Fall gardening expansion and peppers

Following our plan to convert more of the front lawn to gardens, I tilled up a section about 10' wide and 27' long next to the existing bed and am using it for the cabbage, cauliflower, spinach, chard, and kohl rabi. I bought more of the purple cabbage that did so well in the spring and had to buy broccoli as well when the critters dug up all the ones I grew from seed. I was able to grow my own cauliflower and have added kohl rabi to the front and back gardens. I remember liking it as a kid and it is supposed to be a great fall crop. It will also look very interesting in the front garden.
The peppers are finally setting fruit and ripening now that we have had a bit of rain and cool weather. Even the habeneros are setting and ripening although not as well as I had hoped. We will grow enough cherry peppers to can, maybe enough jalepenos and anaheims but will be saddly short on green peppers which we use a lot of. The 2 celebrity tomatoes I bought in August are full of fruit and hopefully will begin to ripen soon. They are set up with plastic for covers if the nights get a bit chilly until they have to go to the green house. Eggplant are full of blossoms and little fruit so we get enough for dinner every 4-5 days or so. The okra is still trying but I am ready to pull it and plant 3 times as much next spring.
I planted a fall crop of green beans in August and am getting a couple of meals a week from them too. They did poorly in the spring but are doing quite well now. I am even getting a few cucumbers which are about the best I have ever tasted. I think everything is liking the rainwater. Now if it will hold out a while and rain a bit every week or so.

cabbages and bee baths

The cabbage continue to get bigger even with the temperatures over 101 every day. They are making little cabbages at the leaf junctions so I cut the top head and some of the huge leaves. I want to make more cabbage rolls and slaw but found some of the bottom leaves have created little water wells--bee baths to be precise. Coming into the garden around 6pm there were dozens of bees under and around the cabbages landing on the leaves and taking a sip from the water that accumulated in the leaves. If I had laid soakers, I never would have created these havens for the bees.

The  purple basil is going to see and blooming like crazy right next to the cabbage providing lots of spots for the bees in addition to the cosmos on the other side. Here's hoping they keep coming.

Growing the monster red/purple cabbage in Texas

This has been one of the most interesting vegetables to grow in the garden.When I was a teen we grew Brussels Sprouts and they really got our attention although I do not remember them doing really well. I put the cabbages into the front yard garden and used the square foot garden spacing--a foot apart but they have been WAY TOO close!
They spread out so that two feet on centers would have been close enough! They have attracted a lot of attention though as my neighbors walk by and monitor their progress. The weather this year has gotten far too hot for them but I have managed to bring all four of them to a harvest-able size. Never did I expect them to get this large!  The inner head is not so big, maybe a pound or so but each leaf junction is making tiny heads too so I'll keep babying them along as long as possible to get those to grow too.
We made stuffed cabbage rolls with the first leaves and will have more in a few days. The chard growing around the border of the cabbage is thriving too and giving us many meals.