Monster Cauliflower

A couple of weeks ago I covered my tomatoes and chilies because a brief cold front was coming through for two day with temps down around 30 degrees after which we would have at least 10 days of warmth. This past Friday another cold front came through of a more severe nature with temperatures at 20 or below for several nights in a row. So I picked the rest of my tomatoes and chilies and let them ripen inside. That is pretty much the end of the garden except for the cabbage family. It will be interseting to see how they do as winter comes on.

Speaking of the cabbage family we picked a whopper of a cauliflower last week. The Gardener's Handbook says, "Cauliflower usually will not grow to the same size in the home garden as you will find in the store."

So who knows when I will write in this again. Until then... dream green. Not politically correct green but manure green.

Harvest Day

 Left: A bouquet of Ethan's flowers for Mom.

Right: A very large flower from Ethan garden.

Some red flowers are blooming now.

 I can't believe it has been nearly a month since I wrote here last.
I have been busy canning and getting the boys off to college. I have canned about 4 cases of peaches and given as much more away to family. So far I have put up 2 cases of salsa a case of spaghetti sauce, and a few bottles of ketchup.

Here is my biggest watermelon so far at 30 lbs.

Emily's melon

Five different chilies

Peaches

Two of my bush type cucumbers are putting on like crazy and my peaches are starting to get ripe, forcing me to ease into canning mode. I have put up 14 pints of sweet relish and six quarts of peaches.

Cucumbers

Anaheim, Banana, and Poblano Chilies

My banana chilies continue to be productive and I just harvested my first batch of poblanos (a large meaty chili) which turned out great as rellenos.The rest I roasted and froze. I have also frozen a couple gallon bags of chopped chilies and eaten a fare amount of banana chilies stuffed with cream cheese. My wife and daughter love these because they don't have heat.







My corn patch is small this year, but we are eating it several times a week. Of  course the squash and tomatoes are still producing. My new food mill should be here Wednesday. Then I can start doing something with the tomatoes. I plan ketchup, spaghetti sauce, and salsa among other things.

The watermelons continue to grow. They are getting long but not too big around yet.

Anybody need any dill seed? I think I will have a gallon when I am done and all my dill came up volunteer so I don't need it for seed. How many quarts of pickles will a gallon of dill make?

My old laptop died making it difficult to keep this blog up to date. Fortunately my new laptop is up and running, so now I am trying to get caught up.

Everyone around me is having trouble with rabbits eating everything because of the extreme drought. They mow beans and chilies off nightly. They have hit me a couple of times but not too bad. I have tried to fence them out, but I'm sure they could get in if they tried. Luckily they seem content to munch on the lawn and don't put too much effort into getting by my fences.

A few things I have learned so far: Kale grows great but the kids don't like it. Same with collards--a few will go a long ways. The cabbage family need to go in even earlier. Corn is very picky about too much nitrogen. Yellow pear tomatoes need to be separated twice as far as normal. Dill is a weed and will come up everywhere I don't have plastic.

 I have picked a few tomatoes, chilies, squash, beans, and cilantro. My corn is tasseling. Some of my chilies are 3ft high and some tomatoes 4ft. I am harvesting dill seed and coriander seed.

The watermelons and cantaloupe are just putting on.

My grapes are putting on like crazy this year

It has been a week of trials including a few in the garden. Rabbits mowed off one of my corn rows and tiny black beetles attached my chilies, bean, and cabbage plants. I applied homemade pepper spray to the corn  which is working so far on the rabbits while malathion is doing the trick on the beetles. For the pepper spray I just mix some of the hottest chili powder on hand with some water and then spray it on the corn. Rabbits don't seem to like it. Just have to be careful to reapply it if it washes off.

Emily and I eat at least one Kohlrabi every day now. Trying to find new ways to use chard. Some of the Spinach is going to seed. I ate a small carrot yesterday and I also have two zucchinis and a few chilies blooming. Need to get the rest of my beans and corn planted. Then I can sit on my butt and watch the plants grow. Don't I wish.




June 17: I have all my corn and beans planted and they are mostly up. Dill and cilantro are blooming. Waiting for that first tomato to turn red. Been eating squash flowers for a week or so.

All of my roses are blooming.

A Rose for Emily

The garden is looking very good for May 27th. I've never had this many things this big at this time of year.

We even found a couple of tomatoes.


Beets are ready. Peas have been coming off for a while. We have also been eating a few kohlbari which are quite good and easy to grow.

Can't keep up with Chard

Broccoli is blooming.

I just need some more bell peppers. The ones I planted are up but they grow so slow. I think I will buy a dozen or so, so I don't have to wait so long.

I also can't keep up with the potatoes. I need to bank them about everyother day. Half of my aspargus are finally up. The corn I planted through hole in black plastic came up much better that the plain row and is growing much faster. More heat?


Ethan's flowers are still coming along.



Roses

Friday 18th: I am at Six flags Magic Mountain with Kailab and the other seniors. Emily is the gardener this week. She claims I have a broccoli head the size of her hand and that the bell peppers have not come up yet. She is a good little gardener so hopefully everything will be good when I get back after being gone for four days.

So I think I have about everything in the ground. Of course I still have a couple batches of corn to plant but otherwise everything is planted.

About a week ago I planted a row of sorghum that Dad gave me (Happy Birthday Dad). They should give my beans something to climb on and provide some good bird watching opportunities in the fall. Oh and they are a nice treat. That reminds me--I still have to plant some more beans.

This week I put out some more cabbage, finished of the chili and tomato rows, replaced some plants that died, planted some cucumbers, cantaloupe, watermelon, and (what the heck) a couple hills of eggplant. Also planted a row of bell peppers since I can't figure out which of my remaining chili plants are bells.

This is my normal week for putting in the garden. It is sure nice to be eating veggies instead of just planting them. Now it is time for that long wait until the first tomato sets and then eventually ripens. At least I can chew on some lettuce, spinach, chard, or peas while I wait.

Roses, chives, and thyme are blooming. I even planted a few flowers (ones you cant eat) for Laura for Mother's Day

I haven't planted anything else. Getting ready to take Ethan to MCT next week but here are some pictures of my arugula, broccoli, and kohlrabi.

Arugula with chard in foreground

Broccoli is taking off

Kohlrabi is growing away

Sunday April 29th: First two squash are coming up. Also corn is peaking through. No beans yet.



Wednesday May 2nd: The rest of the potatoes and squash decided to come up along with the beans. Also the cucumbers came up outside and inside.

Thursday May 3rd: Transplanted another row of tomatoes and two rows of cabbage/kale/cauliflower. Spotted some aphid on lettuce in greenhouse, Sprayed with soapy water.

Snowed last Saturday--82 degrees today. April! Transplanted another half row of tomatoes and one of chilies. Planted some corn, squash, and beans. We'll see how that turns out. Ate spinach three times this week--as salad, in a fruit smoothy, and in a quiche. Spinach gets a bad rap. I love the stuff. It is better that lettuce as lettuce and more nutritious. Of course I'm not sure what that stuff is you buy in the can. Also picked lettuce and radishes. Had to cut vent in greenhouse as the plants were complaining about the heat. Broccoli is growing like crazy.

Monday 23rd: Reached 87 degrees today. Made some shades out of hot windows for transplanting. Finished planting the row of chilies and the row of tomatoes. First batch of tomatoes are struggling. Should have hardened more I guess. Peas are blooming but no peas yet.

Wednesday 25th: Hot again. Planted another row each of tomatoes and chilies. Peas are starting to show pods. First batch of transplanted chilies are taking right off.

Thursday 26th: Cooled off. Tiny bit off rain. Mostly wind and clouds. First potato came up. No others have followed yet. Transplanted some ever-bear strawberries.

All plants in the greenhouse survived my absence over Easter weekend. However the wind blew the cover off of my cauliflower and the birds eat all their leaves again.



Tuesday I thinned my tomatoes in the greenhouse and planted the ones I thinned in the garden. I will have to keep them covered for a month or so.



Wednesday: Harvested lettuce and spinach from hot window2 and big lettuce crate.


Thursday: Planted potatoes behind rock wall.
Friday: Put down the rest of the black plastic in the garden and planted tomatoes in three hanging planters.

Saturday: Everything is now covered in 4 inches of snow and still building.

Just harvested my first batch of lettuce. Made a great salad with a few radishes, ham, cheese, carrots and vinaigrette. Ethan and the kids surprised me by installing a light bank in my greenhouse today.
Peaches and apricots probably froze last night. The wind was howling so bad I didn't even bother with fires.

Leaf Lettuce

 Transplanted collards and red cabbage yesterday. Will see how they do. No more trouble with mice yet. I've been careful to block the door each night. We are going to Phx for Easter, so today I need to figure out a way to keep the greenhouse alive for four days while I am gone.

Tomatoes

Arugula 

Peas

Alas Juanaita es no mas. I think she was a little too fond of the cheese (actually peanut butter) She managed to rob two of my new traps but the third and final trap was her undoing.  I found the hole she dug under the door so I will have to watch that.
Today I replanted the chilies Juanaita ate, so we are back in business. Emily and I ate our first two radishes. Yummy.

Window #2  on March 25th

Sunday: Juanaita narrowly escaped with her life. She fell in the bucket while walking the plank but the plank fell in after her and she used it to climb to safety. Then she mowed off more of my chilies just to spite me. I hope she had a cold night.

Monday: Juanaita is getting crafty. Last night she rolled the plank off the bucket and then helped herself to the peanut butter. She also ate more chili plant salad. Ethan bought me a couple of traditional traps and we will see how the little chicita fares now.

Collards and Cabbage

Friday: I leveled the four rows in front of the lawn and transplanted a couple dozen tomatoes (yellow pear, rutgers, and large cherry) from crates to cups. Hardly made a dent in the tomato crate. Third long planter in greenhouse is coming up (lettuce, chard, spinach). Last batch of chilies is coming up as are sweet cherry tomatoes.

Pretty Stand of Lettuce

Saturday: Transplanted chilies from crate into cups. Something  is eating them--digging up the seeds and munching the tops. Must be another mouse. I Have no idea how they are getting in. Can't find a hole anywhere.  Why does it eat chili plants only when there is a gorgeous stand of lettuce inches away? I think I'll name her Juanaita Chili Pepper. And it's time for Juanita to walk the plank.
Radishes are starting to bulb and all of my garlic are now up. Also found some onions coming back up from last year.

Radish almost ready to eat

Onions and Chard

Pea crate