Highalt's Other Growlist '12 (cont. from '11)

[highalt]

Finally making some headway on this year's garden!

The peppers have yet to get planted, but here's what's in so far:

Broccoli, Di Ciccio
Carrots:
St. Valery
Danver's 126
Muscade
Jaune de Doubs
Lunar White
Nutri-Red
Cauliflower:
Brocoverde
Snowball X
Violetta
Cucumbers: (Direct sown today)
Armenian Yardlong
Northern Pickling
Richmond Green Apple
Satsuki Midori
Lettuce:
Freckles
Jericho
Majestic Red
Mascara
Nevada
Silvia
Simpson Elite
Melons/Watermelons: (Still need to be sown)
Peas:
Super Sugar Snap
Tall Telephone
Pumpkins: (Direct sown today)
Baby Pam
Rouge Vif d'Etamps
Radishes:
Cherry Belle
Easter Egg II
Squash, Winter: (Direct sown today)
Butternut Rugosa
Delicata
Kikuza
Sweet Meat
Upper Ground Sweet Potato
Zucchini:
Black Beauty
Cocozelle
Costata Romanesco

My wintersown tomatoes are still sprouting, so not sure when they'll go in the ground. I'll update the list once those are in.

I didn't get any tomatillos or ground cherries sown this year. Think I'll have to pick those up at the local nursery.

It will be such a relief once the tomatoes, peppers, and basils are in. Then I can sit back and watch everything grow ... in between pulling weeds.

 

[highalt]

Today was rhubarb day. This is year 3 for my two rhubarb plants, one is Victoria grown from wintersown seed, the other a no ID variety that I received at a plant swap. Harvest a couple of cups worth last year, but this is my first full harvest.

Here are some photos:

Victoria pre-harvest

Victoria post-harvest

Red stalked no ID rhubarb pre-harvest

Post-harvest

The harvest

Here what I ended up with, just over 2 quarts sliced

The bags will go in the deep freeze until I have enough ripe strawberries to make some jam. The rest I'm thinking of using for a cobbler tonight.

 

[highalt]

Got five kinds of melons in today:

Canoe Creek
Early Moonbeam
Amish
Desert King
Blacktail Mountain

Still have two or three more I'd like to plant, but ran out of time.

BTW, the Strawberry Rhubarb Cobbler was AWESOME!!!

 

[highalt]

Last week, I planted a couple more melons along the fenceline. There's an empty lot next door to us, and since there's no building going on around here, so I use that area for sunflowers, and sprawlers, such as pumpkins and melons.

Here's what was sown:
Jenny Lind
Banana
Orangeglo Watermelon

The cucumbers and zucchini are up now, and the pumpkins are just now starting to sprout. The Tall Telephone peas were a no show ... twice, so I planted more Super Sugar Snaps. Germination on the carrots was poor this year, because some stupid stray cat keeps digging in my vegetable garden, right where the carrots are planted, and using it for a litter box. Grrrrrr!!! I did have the whole thing covered with chicken wire, but now that the peppers are in, that won't really work.

I purchased two kinds of ground cherry plants - Goldie and Pineapple. Goldie has larger fruit, but Pineapple has a better flavor. Also bought a couple of Purple de Milpa tomatillos. I would like to have a green one as well, but the nursery didn't have any ready yet.

 

[highalt]

Just a few pics taken this morning.

Some container grown lettuces

This pot was sown by my daughter as a wintersowing project I did with her preschool class, and the lettuce was harvested from both the containers and the vegetable garden

First radish harvest of the season. These are Easter Egg II

Just wish there were fresh peas to go with it, but I had no luck at all with them this year. Anyone have any tips?

 

[highalt]

Some of you may remember me mentioning my punk cat, Melvin, that eats pepper plants any chance he gets.

Well ... I brought the lettuce in and gave it a good washing. It was sitting in the colander in the sink draining, while I was posting my lovely photos. Went downstairs and found half eaten lettuce on the floor by the sink. Had to throw out a few leaves, and go out and pick some more. Grrrrr!

It's a good thing he's cute, 'cause he is a PUNK!!!

 

[Avon Barksdale]

Those lettuces look great. My cat is strange, he never chews on plants and never jumps on the counter.

 

[highalt]

Here he is Prince Melvin "The Punk"

Notice he's sitting inside looking out at all those luscious pepper plants.

 

[highalt]

A friend of mine has the plot next to mine at the community garden, and didn't use all of her space, so offered some to me. Planted six kinds of beans there today - Dixie Butterpea White, Dixie Speckled Butterpea, Yellow Indian Woman, Cranberry, Coco Bianco, and Black Coco. Hopefully there is still enough time to get a harvest.

I also planted out some of my tomatoes, but they are really just sprouts, not actual plants. I had two or three of most varieties, so if something doesn't make it, I have back-ups. Here's what got planted - Black Cherry, Black Krim, Box Car Willie, Pineapple, Stump of the World, Neves Azorean Red, Persimmon, Isis Candy, Galina's Yellow Cherry, and Striped German. Still have a few to plant here at the house, but now the winds are back for a couple of days, so I'm holding off. It will be a small miracle if there are enough growing season days left to actually get any ripe tomatoes this year, but I'm taking a leap of faith ...

 

[highalt]

Okay, scratch that last post. Most of the tiny tomato sprouts did not make it. I gave in and picked some tomato plants up at a couple of local nurseries.

So here is my updated, and not near as interesting, grow list for tomatoes:

Mortgage Lifter (2)
Big Red
Abe Lincoln
Azoychka
La Roma II
Italian Gold
Goldie
Orange Blossom
Black Plum
Black Sea Man
Brandywine
Brandy Boy
Delicious

I may just pot up the rest of the tomato sprouts and see what happens. Very disappointed. I had some varieties that I was really looking forward to trying ...

 

[highalt]

Picked up just a couple more tomatoes - Black Krim, Pink Beauty, and Thai Pink. That should be the last of them, since I am out of space.

This afternoon I noticed the Yellow Indian Woman beans were starting to come up at the community garden. Still no sign of Desert Rose Watermelon after two sowings. Received the seeds in a trade, so I'm guessing they were old.

Here at the house, all of the pumkins, winter squash, and melons have germinated, except Orangeglo, so I resowed that one. Radishes are already trying to bolt, and the I am seeing some germination on this last sowing of carrots. Still no luck with the peas. Four puny sprouts out of at least 50 seeds sown. Not sure what the problem is there.

Plenty of heat out there the past couple of days, so I'm hoping things will really start to take off. A lot of things, including the cucumbers, have been up a while, but just not putting on much growth yet. I'm thinking that will change now that summer has arrived.

Hey, do any of you guys use a Stirrup (or Scuffle) Hoe?
http://www.johnnyseeds.com/p-5496-5-stirrup-hoe.aspx
Got one last year, and that thing is awesome! If you have large areas that need weeding, this thing makes short work of it. My plot at the community garden is 400 square feet, and I was able to weed the whole area in less than 15 minutes. Now I just need to put some mulch down.

 

[highalt]

Finally got some pictures down at the community garden today. It is so hot and dry over there that I decided to mulch with straw, which is really helping to hold the soil moisture in. Hopefully, it will help with weed control as well.

Cauliflower 'Brocoverde'

Zucchini 'Costata Romanesca'

Broccoli 'Di Ciccio' (yeah, I should have spaced them further apart)

Lettuce 'Jericho'

Lettuce 'Mascara'

Melon 'Amish'

Melon 'Canoe Creek'

Tomatillo 'Purple de Milpa'

Ground Cherry 'Goldie

Thanks for looking!

 

[Matty_89]

Quite a lot of stuff you've got growing there!

Can't wait until I have to space to be planting up lots
Hope it all harvests well!

 

[siling_labuyo]

great stuffs you got in your garden!

 

[highalt]

great stuffs you got in your garden!

Thanks! My growlist looks pretty ordinary after looking through yours, Siling Labuyo. You have pictures of edibles that I have never even heard of!

 

[kiddc]

great stuff you got growing there

 

[highalt]

This week has been herb harvesting week for me.

The picture below was taken last year, but it gives you an idea of what I've got growing in the perennial herb bed.

So far I've dried about 2/3 a spice jar of thyme, 1 3/4 jars of oregano, and I currently have summer savory in the dehydrator. Still waiting on the Marjoram to get big enough to harvest.

Also, I planted some garlic in that bed last fall, and it's sending up scapes now, so I may try to make either some Garlic Scape Pesto, or some Garlic Scape Salad Dressing next.

Can't wait for the basils to get a little bigger. I've used up all of the pesto I froze last year, and need to start stocking up. And then there's Lemon Basil Jelly, which tastes just like the old fashioned lemon drop candies I used to eat as a kid.

Anyone else harvesting herbs?

 

[highalt]

Got some updated pics at the community garden this afternoon.

Here is an overview shot.
Row # 1 = Ground cherries, watermelons
Row # 2 = Tomatoes and tomatillos
Row # 3 = Tomatoes and peppers
Row # 4 = Tomatoes and lettuce
Row # 5 = Cauliflower, zucchini, and broccoli

Tomatillo 'Purple de Milpa' (Lots of blooms hidden under all of that foliage)

Tomato 'Black Plum' (Maybe there's hope for canning some salsa this year!)

Zucchini

Ground cherries (We've already had about half a dozen ripe ones)

Here's a closer shot. You can see an almost ripe one, that little yellow spot towards the center of the pic.

A little embarrassed to post this one. It's actually the plot next to mine, but a friend rents it and let me put in a few beans. The problem is it's the first year this section has been planted, so when I turned over the soil to plant, I unleashed a whole mess of weed seeds. Also, some kind of bug ate half of my top row. Not sure if I have enough time to replant.

I got some close ups of a few of the peppers, but I'll put those on my pepper grow log.

 

[highalt]

Finally harvesting a few things

The spring lettuce crop has been pulled, and I've got the fall lettuce started indoors. I've harvested half a dozen zucchini's so far. We've also had a few ripe strawberries, and ground cherries. Not enough for jam, but enough for the kids to snack on while we are outside.

Today's harvest = basil. I made one batch of Lemon Basil Jelly, and one batch of pesto. With the pesto, I fill up ice cube trays, and place them in the deep freeze. Once the cubes are frozen solid, I will put them in a ziplock freezer bag, and put them back in the freezer. Then whenever I make pasta, I'll throw a couple of cubes in there. Yum!!!

Still waiting on the peppers, and tomatoes...

 

[highalt]

Reposting the lost photos from last week.

These were all taken at the community garden plot.

Ground Cherries. Harvesting about a handful a day, but the kids are eating most of them. If I can save enough of them, I'll make a pie.

Black Plum Tomato. I picked 5 ripe ones today, so this pic is already a little outdated.

Italian Gold Tomato. Supposed to be a yellow paste tomato. This is my first time to grow. They are a little on the smallish side, but there is quite a few of them on the plant.

Blacktail Mountain Watermelon. There are about half a dozen of them, and they are about the size of a canteloupe right now.

Also harvested today, the first couple tomatillos, 4 large zucchini, and a few side shoots of broccoli.

Here at the house, there are a few tomatoes that are almost ripe, plenty of carrots ready to pull, tons of basil, and the peppers are starting to ripen as well. I'd say my season is about 3 weeks behind for this time of year.