Stickman's Other 2013 Garden- Brassicas and Root Crops Are Up

[stickman]

Got off from work early today and thought I'd best be adding the amendments and getting the garden turned over. I ran out of bonemeal before I covered all of the garden, so I only turned over the blocks where I put it.

I already have scallions that overwintered

and I planted the Yellow Onions I started from seed back in January

and I planted the Claytonia that I started from seed a month ago.

Tomorrow is supposed to be clear and warm, followed by showers the rest of the week, so I'll plant the lettuce and Shungiku seeds tomorrow and let the showers water them in. Cheers All!

 

[Bigoledude]

C'mon big Rick, tell us the rest of what's gonna be planted in those "other" beds?

 

[stickman]

Sure Ray... I have 2 kinds of Eggplant started... Black Beauty and a Thai variety called "Masego". For Tomatoes, I've started Brandywine Red, Cherokee Purple, Japanese Black Trifele, Tomatillo Verde and Sungold Cherry Tomatoes. As the season progresses I'll be planting Cranberry pole beans, French Filet bush beans, Napa Cabbage, Collards, Black Seed Simpson and Summercrisp Lettuce, Carrots, Beets, Pickling Cukes, Korean Hobak Squash, French Breakfast and Korean Radishes.

I finished turning over the garden yesterday, and moved the OW scallions to another block , so I'm ready to plant as soon as conditions allow.

 

[Jardine121]

We love Sungolds! I raise them from seed every year. They are delicious. My family and co-workers are always asking for extra plants.

 

[AmericanHwyFlower]

awesome garden plans!!! and I am jealous of all your dirt...lol

 

[stickman]

Hi Erik and AHF, welcome to the zoo!

I hear ya on the Sungolds Erik!
I planted them for the first time last year because I was looking for a low acid variety for my wife. We both loved their sweet taste, and will grow them from now on. I put in 2 plants, and topped them off at 6 feet so they wouldn't get any taller. The packet said they'd grow to 7 or 8 feet tall and I didn't believe it until then! Lol!

awesome garden plans!!! and I am jealous of all your dirt...lol

Thanks AHF
I take it you live in an apartment without a yard? That was our situation for 17 years until we bought this place 3 years ago. I couldn't have a garden then, so I spent my free time fishing instead. I'm a pretty good fisherman, but I put more food on the table with the garden...

Here's some pics of the Tomatoes and Eggplant I have waiting for transplant...

Tomatillo Verde...

Sungold Cherry Tomatoes...

Japanese Black Trifele courtesy of PersianNinja...

Brandywine Red...

Cherokee Purple...

Italian Eggplant "Black Beauty"...

Thai Eggplant "Masego"...

Have a great weekend prepping your outdoor veggie gardens all!

 

[Bigoledude]

I have several Sweet Million and Sungold both grafted onto a Better Boy rootstock. My grandchildren love cherry tomatoes. This allows them to have two varieties on the same plant to pick from all summer.

Until you mentioned the massive size of the Sungold, it didn't occur to me that the root system of the Sungold might have been the more vigorous rootstock! Although, the Better Boy might have an edge in disease resistance. Down here, that's vital.

 

[stickman]

That's good to know Ray... I see the Better Boy is an Indeterminate Tomato like the Sungold. I wonder if grafting them would require that, or if you could successfully graft them onto a Determinate rootstock. Maybe Determinate plants limit growth by limiting the size the roots get to?

 

[AmericanHwyFlower]

I am in a condo with a small plot of dirt and a patio, but I do have a community garden plot at the local university arboretum... I just love to plant and miss the days when i had a huge yard and garden

 

[stickman]

I am in a condo with a small plot of dirt and a patio, but I do have a community garden plot at the local university arboretum... I just love to plant and miss the days when i had a huge yard and garden

I hear ya sister! Tomorrow's the day to plant the root crops and Brassicas, and transplant the tomatoes and eggplants. The lettuce and shungiku I planted outside last week is sprouting now.

 

[stickman]

Thought I'd post a few pics of the other veggies in the garden that are up, or just emerging.

Claytonia (Miner's Lettuce)...

Black Seeded Simpson Lettuce...

Shungiku (Crown Daisy)...

Garlic Chives after getting a haircut on Thursday... I washed and cut them up, and used them to make a sort of pancake the Koreans call Puchu Jeon. Served with a spicy dipping sauce made with soy, lemon juice, minced garlic, red pepper powder (gochugaru), dark sesame oil and sesame seeds it's delicious!

 

[SeanW]

Lookin' good!

 

[stickman]

After nearly a week out in the hoophouse, here's a few pics of the Tomato plants... the older leaves are a bit sunscalded, but the new growth is all solid and healthy looking.

Cherokee Purple

Brandywine Red

Sungold Cherry Tomato

Tomatillo Verde. Sorry it's a bit blurry... I was down on my hands and knees inside the hoophouse.

This weekend I need to get my Eggplants in and my root crops and Brassicas planted. I'll also plant Squash and Cucumbers inside to geve them a head start.

 

[meatfreak]

Your tomatoes and tomatillo looks great, nice short internodes and not stretched at all

 

[stickman]

Your tomatoes and tomatillo looks great, nice short internodes and not stretched at all

Thanks Stefan, I'm really looking forward to tomatoes for fresh salsa this year!

Thanks to the generosity of BigOleDude, I have seeds for Yard-Long Beans and 4 varieties of Vegetable Amaranth to experiment with this year. Cheers Ray!

A few pics of some of the other Nons around the place...

Old-Fashioned Bleeding Heart is blossoming

And something we got from my Mom... she calls it "Trout Plant" because of the white speckling on the leaves. It's also unusual because it has both pink and blue flowers together. Googling it I find it's called Pulmonaria.

Sage is starting to leaf out again

And the Mint... I keep it from spreading in the herb garden by planting it inside a short piece of flue tile buried in the garden.

Oregano

In another week or two we'll have enough Rhubarb to make a pie

We planted a Rose of Sharon bush that we got from my Mom last spring, and it's loving its new digs. Last year it didn't bud out until the middle of May. Now that it's established it seems to want to bud out here the beginning of the month. It has loads of white flowers with purplish-red centers.

We also have a Mock Orange bush (Philadelphus) that's 3 years old, and is finally setting flower buds. They're too small to reliably photograph ATM, but I'll post pics in June when it blossoms. The bush is covered in small white flowers with the most intense orange-blossom perfume. If the wind is right, it'll scent the whole neighborhood.

Have a great weekend all!

 

[meatfreak]

Thanks Stefan, I'm really looking forward to tomatoes for fresh salsa this year!

Thanks to the generosity of BigOleDude, I have seeds for Yard-Long Beans and 4 varieties of Vegetable Amaranth to experiment with this year. Cheers Ray!

Me to Rick, looking forward to each of the tomato variety I'm growing. Some should be perfect for sauce. Anyway I sowed some long beans just last week, they've sprouted yesterday. Also the first time I'm growing this for fun. Here in Holland we call them Kouseband, because that's what the people from Suriname call them Also got something funny named Rattail Radish, don't know if you've grown it before?

 

[stickman]

Thanks for sharing Stefan... I never knew what they were called in your neck of the woods. I've never heard of Rattail Radish either until you mentioned it. How strange that you eat the seed pods rather than the roots... That'll tweak your perspectives, eh?

 

[stickman]

Went outside in a light rain to check on the veggie garden and see how it's doing... Tomatoes are almost twice the size they were last week

Black Seed Simpson lettuce and Shungiku are showing true leaves...

Shungiku

Lettuce

Collards, Korean Radishes, French Breakfast Radishes and Beets I planted on Saturday are up.

Radishes

Beets

Ran back inside ahead of a heavy downpour... the first of the season after a very dry spring!

I also planted Yard-Long Beans, Red Stripe Vegetable Amaranth, White Leaf Vegetable Amaranth, Boston Pickling Cukes and Korean Ho Bak Squash indoors last weekend, and all but the squash are up now.

 

[holyhotpeppers]

Hey stick.. what kind of apparatus are you planning on using to support all them maters?

 

[stickman]

Hi Tim
For the Sungolds, I used a system of plastic coated metal poles with snap-on horizontal stiffeners I got at Wally World last year. The poles are 6 feet long and come in groups of three, and there are enough stiffeners to space them 2 feet apart. I really needed something tall, Lol! The packet said they'd grow to 7 or 8 feet tall, and they would have if I'd given them long enough support. As it was, I cut the primaries when they got to 6 feet tall. The Tomatillos and slicing tomatoes will go into wire cages made from the heavy gauge wire mesh used in concrete.