Planting The Summer Garden

I decided to rip out my almost-ready cabbage and cauliflower, and my side-shooting broccoli in order to get my summer garden planted. It was a tough decicion but I couldn't bare the thought of a summer without fresh tomatoes and peppers! The side shoots on the broccoli were not producing as much as usual... so that helped my decicion. (tomatoes and peppers in on March 4th, Squash seeds in on March 15th)

This cabbage was an experiment, I planated it by seed, while I usually do transplants for all broccoli/cabbage & califlower. I think it would have made a lovely head of cabbage if only I could have left it in the garden a little longer.

This was broccoli from seed. As predicted... the plant didn't get large enough before it headed. I guess I will stick to transplants for broccoli.

The soil I have been using is a self-made mix (Mel's mix recipe) of 1/3 vermiculite, 1/3 compost and 1/3 peet moss. I needed to add some more soil this year, so I decided to go the easy route... I bought a couple bags of the pre-made Mel's Mix from Home Depot. Good stuff!

Tomaotes: 2 Pearson , 1 Better Boy, 2 Early Girl, 1 Sweet 100, and 1 Solar Fire. Peppers: 1 jalepeno, 1 golden bell, and 1 red bell.

Lettuce Garden

My lettuce is still going strong, but again I need some space! I realized that I had planted way more lettuce than our family can consume... so I harvested half of it, then prepared the soil for planting. I planted black beauty zucchini, Early Profilific Straightneck, and some Scallop squash.

My peas have made a come-back! They are have been blossoming, yielding pods, and looking healthy again! Yay!

The Girl Garden

My kids, on their own accord, made a plan for a garden, prepared the soil, planted the seeds and made these cute little signs! What cute little gardeners!

I had to put some of the herbs in pots. I will probably transplant them when more space is available.

I still would like to get some corn, beans and green onions and chives in the ground. They will fit nicely in box 3 when the kale and spinach can't handle the heat. I know that corn can be planted late but I'm not sure about the beans!

A Green March

The weather has been unusually cool which has kept my winter garden green and healthy. The only problem is that it is time (almost past-time) to plant my summer garden... tomatoes, corn, herbs, peppers, beans, onions, and squash. I might have to do some in pots and transplant? I'll have to come up with something!

Swiss Chard.

Notice how the spinach has filled in. I always plant an early flat-leaf variety when it comes to spinach. It is A LOT easier to clean.... definately worth it! And this stuff (along with the lettuces) is growing like crazy. It seems like it replenishes it's leaves the instant they are cut!

Spinach, romaine, kale, cilantro, carrots. We have eaten 5-6 carrots. Very sweet and crisp. I'll have to double check the variety I used this year and be sure to replant it next year. All the potted herbs died in the freeze.

The peas have been a disappointment! I don't know why... maybe it's been too cold but they have just not produced any good-looking peas! They are blossoming again so I still have hope! Maybe they are yet to come!

Early February: Broccoli Harvest

It's time! The broccoli is ready to harvest!

If you leave the broccoli on the plant too long it will began to blossom into yellow flowers. By this point, the heads are rather "loose" and the flavor becomes bitter... so be sure to harvest while the heads are still somewhat tight. After harvesting the head, your plant will continue to produce (much smaller) side shoots, that can be harvested and eaten when ready.

Garden.... to plate. Yum!

February is also part of the "on-going harvest" time for the rest of the garden. We have a traditional Hot-Pot meal that we do with the kids as a Valentine's Day celebration. It was actually a tradition that my husband started... he even came up with the recipe on his own! Everyone gets to help cook the harvest (along with some meat and noodles) at the table in a simmering chinese hot pot. The kids really enjoy it and the food is delicious!

The January Garden

Progress....

The lettuces and leafy greens have flourished and are filling up all the empty space in the box.

Notice that the color of the "giant garnet" has radically deepened. This is my first year planting it and I think it's a new favorite. It adds bright color and flavor to salads and I love the large easy-to-clean leaves.


Swiss chard and broccoli. This is the broccoli from transplant. The head is a little on the small side but still large enough. It is still tight and will increase in size a little before harvest. The broccoli plants that were seeded directly into the garden did not grow large enough before they began to head. I will probably have to stick to transplanting for the cole crops... but we'll see how the cabbage and cauliflower do.


Kale and carrot tops.



This lovely head of romaine was a surprise! I didn't plant it this fall but it came up from old seed from a previous plant. I like romaine but so do the little inch-worms... they will eat it up! So, I had decided to skip it this year. Luckily the weather has been cool enough that the pests haven't been a problem this year. I have been harvesting this head by removing the outer leaves as needed. The plant grows back and replenishes what has been taken.


The spinach is doing well but will still fill in quite a bit more.


Cilantro with carrot tops in the background.

The Freeze

A freeze hit the valley while we were out of town for a week. We lost our pepper plants and the basil.

These pepper plants have been a favorite of mine. I have had them for a few years and they have always produced so well! I was sad to see them go! Above is the jalepeno plant and below... one of the bells.

Goodbye basil!

Fall/Winter Garden

I love the Arizona winter garden! It's always full of fresh salad greens, peas for garden-side snacking, and endless swiss chard that can easily be added to soups and stews, or just served freshly-steamed on the side of your dinner plate. I'm already counting down the days to harvest!

September was hot this year. But a few cool days near the end of the month was enough to coax me into getting started. I usually plant my fall/winter garden around October 15th, but this year I planted a few weeks earlier. With such short growing seasons, a head-start is always good if you can get one.... just make sure the weather is on your side. The highs should be 95 degrees or lower when you plant. I used all "early" seed varieties and sewed them in the soil by September 23rd, just two days before my birthday! Unfortunately it heated up again, so my spinach (needs cool soil for germinating) and winter thyme died off , but everything else hung in there! I replanted the spinach last week and it is already up again!

Most of my seeds sprouted 5-6 days later, the peas being the first to show themselves. The pictures below are all from from the end of October.

Left: Box 1-- Swiss chard along the back wall, lettuces in the middle, and peas in the front. Garnet Giant and Basil on the far end. Right: Garnet Giant... this stuff is spicy!


Sweet Basil. Grown from seed fallen from the previous year's plant.


My bell and jalepeno peppers are still producing healthy peppers. They have survived through a few winters and I am hoping to keep them around even longer. If you prune them back in the winter, you can keep them year round.

Varieties Used

(most purched from Johnny's Sleected Seeds Catalog)
Box 1:

Bright Lights Swiss Chard 28 days

Soltero (Lettuce, Red Lollo Soltero) 53 days

Garnet Giant (Greens, Mustard Garnet Giant) 21 Baby/ 45 mature

Prize Head Leaf Lettuce 45 days

Oak Leaf (Lettuce, Green Oakleaf Panisse MTO) 48 days

Red Grand Rapids Red Sails MTO 29 days baby/55 full

Peas (from seed harvested from last years crop)

Box 2:

Broccoli (De Cecco--48 days, Blue Wind F1-- 49 days,)

Cauliflower (White Freemont F1) 62 days

Cabbage (Early Green Farao F1) 64 days

and 2 existing bell pepper plants, and 1 jalepeno

Box 3:

Carrots (Mokum and Napoli)

Kale (Dwarf Blue Curled, Vate's Strain)

Spinach (Smooth Leaf Emu F1 42 days and Smooth Leaf 7-green F1--36 days)

Pots:

Sage Broad Leaf

Cilantro

Parsley

Dill

Winter Thyme (did not sprout) I replanted it today... I think the soil was too warm.

Broccoli by seed. I have never done it by seed before. We'll see if it works out! It is much smaller than the transplants.

Broccoli by transplant.

Cauliflower by seed.

Sage

This is what spinach looks like when it first sprouts. It always has the two long and skinny leaves, then round ones sprout between them.

Other plants I need to add: some more onions and oregano. It's a good time to plant strawberries... if only I had more space!!!