The garden as of now. It's lonely out there.

Sun Nov 20, 2011 6:14 pm

The garlic beds, all but one varitety have come up. I just planted 100 or so bulbils today as well.

The rest of this garden with lettuce and spinach doing great even with the heavy frost and freezes we have had.

If you need something easy to grow Swiss chard is super hardy.

Here is some Brussels Sprouts that don't seem to going anywhere I must have planted too late. I just can't seem to grow it for some reason.

Sun Nov 20, 2011 6:16 pm

Everything that is in the garden now will stay until the end. I actually want to see who the last standing is. It will be getting cold soon, than comes the snow.

Sun Nov 20, 2011 7:23 pm

That is One incredible Garden I Must Say

Sun Nov 20, 2011 8:20 pm

The bulbils are small so a 100 doens't go that far and i planted them close at whatever really. About an inch or so but there are just scattered in a row.

Sun Nov 20, 2011 11:32 pm

Looking good as always, Gixx

I'd hate to show what mine looks like right now :oops:

...though the kale is coming back since the earlier frost/freeze killed off the caterpillars. :wink:

Mon Nov 21, 2011 12:05 am

It still looks more green and alive than much of anything around here - great garden, as always!

Mon Nov 21, 2011 12:46 am

It does look a little lonely there, Dono... Good looking lettuce and chard, cool pup!

And I know exactly how you feel about those bulbils, just planted 100 tiny things of Shvelisi, and 100 (thank God for the size) of Elephant. So now, where normally I'd have 9 tomato plants, I have garlic :wink:

When do you normally plant Swiss Chard? Do you start it in-doors, or directly into the ground?

Regards,
D

Mon Nov 21, 2011 3:42 am

Don't know about gixx, but I direct seed my swiss chard in the ground the same time as spinach and lettuce -- "as soon as the soil can be worked." For me in my climate that's early to mid March. The lettuce and spinach bolt and are done as soon as it gets hot, but the swiss chard is still going strong. Love that stuff!

Mon Nov 21, 2011 4:43 am

Looks great compared to my field of white and 17 degrees. We just got another 6 inches of snow.

Mon Nov 21, 2011 6:20 am

Great picture and caption for the Brussels sprouts! Your dog looks like it is wondering what's going on with them, too :lol:

Mon Nov 21, 2011 11:41 am

That's an awesome garden!

Mon Nov 21, 2011 11:23 pm

rainbowgardener wrote:...I direct seed my swiss chard in the ground the same time as spinach and lettuce -- "as soon as the soil can be worked."...

Thanks for the tip, Rainbow! I love taste of it, but love the deep contrasty colors of it too. And cold hardy - just an added bonus!

Looks like one of the long raised bed (first of the season), will have Radishes, Green Onions, Lettuces, Chard and Kohlrabies... That should be a nice start to a 2012 season :roll:

Regards,
D

Tue Nov 22, 2011 4:41 am

Things that can be started early in the spring include all the cole crops, that is cabbage, kohlrabi, brussel sprouts, turnip, cauliflower, kale etc. Also carrots, onions (both seed and sets), radish, mustard, chard, beets, arugula, lettuce and spinach.

Gee, I am just thinking it is four months until I stand a chance of planting anything. Until then I will just grow icicles.

Tue Nov 22, 2011 12:04 pm

Do you start anything indoors, jal? I'm less than two months until I start the first seeds indoors (but I'm in a real different climate).

Tue Nov 22, 2011 4:00 pm

No. I buy nursery plants for the tomatoes and peppers. My wife is alergic to the smell of tomato plants so I don't grow them in the house. A green house would be fun, but can't justify the cost. Everything else I can start from seed sown directly where it will grow.

Wed Nov 23, 2011 12:04 am

Speaking of nursery plants...

I stopped by a local one today to pick up some supplies for our house plants, and noticed they actually have some cold weather veggies still (kinda late for our climate). Swiss Rainbow Chard, 4" pots, 1 plant per pot, $3.97 :shock:

Yeah, into the ground my seeds will go as soon as the soil can be worked in again :wink:

Regards,
D

Wed Nov 23, 2011 12:26 am

D_V when I plant chard I normally toss it on the ground and walk away Ruth Stout style. I do this with lettuce a lot as well and some other smaller seed veggies. My best lettuce garden was in my front flower garden this year. I threw out a pack of those $.20 mixed lettuce seeds in Jan and walked away, kind of forgot about it actually. A few month's later and for months following I had great lettuce.

jal_utHave you ever tried wintersowing your tomatoes. I myself have not but may try a few this year to see what happens. Check this out if you will
http://www.wintersown.org/wseo1/How_to_Winter_Sow.html

Dono

Wed Nov 23, 2011 6:01 am

Thought I'd add a couple of pics of my garden as of now. I took one of the oakleaf hydrangea and the viburnum in gorgeous fall color right now, but it was close to dark and raining, so it didn't come out.

This is my new veggie bed, smack dab in the middle of the front lawn, where a tree that died was. (The tree was a wonderful old panicle dogwood, but a major infestation of 17 year cicadas a few years ago, followed by two bad drought years, did it in.) By the time I got the tree down, stump burned, bed built etc., it was planted a month too late. It has mixed lettuces, spinach, broccoli that is still in a mad rush against time and cold, onions and garlic in a 5x10' bed.

This one is of my foundation planting, which has been gorgeous all fall. The nicotiana is still going strong, just closed up there because of rain. Its beautyberry in front of the window, covered in neon purple berries, marigolds,mums (about done now, but they were gorgeous), the nicotiana, and some yellow flowering thing on the trellis, potentilla maybe?

And here's the swiss chard, mulch has all disappeared and it's a little bit weedy, but still going strong!

Wed Nov 23, 2011 12:43 pm

Nice RBG things are still going.

I suppose that bed in front over the old tree you could call your Hugekulture (sp) bed. :lol:

Wed Nov 23, 2011 1:06 pm

I could try

But I think for the Hugelkulture people to let me get away with it, I would have to have left the tree there (as a big pile of cut up branches and stuff). Then put a bunch of dirt over the tree, then plant in to that.

I might have thought about it, if it weren't my front yard. Neighbors probably think I'm pretty weird already with a bunch of lettuce and stuff in my front lawn.

Wed Nov 23, 2011 11:03 pm

Cool, Rainbow, I don't think I've ever seen these parts of your garden, thanks for sharing! I love the colors of the lettuce mix!

I'll try to cleanup mine a little this week, then I can post some pictures of the "loneliness"

Regards,
D

Thu Nov 24, 2011 11:04 am

Well you can see (especially in the swiss chard pic) that I didn't clean up for the pictures. Strictly a come as you are party!

That is ONE eight foot row of swiss chard, and you wouldn't believe how much chard we have eaten from it! I keep picking and picking and it keeps growing and growing. We eat something swiss chard every week all season. I swear you could feed a family from a row like that...

GROW SWISS CHARD! It is colorful (more than shows in the photo), beautiful and far and away the most productive thing in my garden.

Thu Nov 24, 2011 1:06 pm

rainbowgardener wrote:...That is ONE eight foot row of swiss chard, and you wouldn't believe how much chard we have eaten from it! I keep picking and picking and it keeps growing and growing. We eat something swiss chard every week all season. I swear you could feed a family from a row like that...

You know, in the past year, that is what I'm discovering, little bit goes a long way, specially if planted correctly and staggered on some varieties...

In a bed of 2.5x10, growing Lettuces, Green Onions, Arugula, Radishes and Tender Greens, and we've been eating salads from this little garden bed for the past 3 months, as you said, enough to feed a family, really is!

All of those "cut and come again" greens are amazing, much like your Swiss Chard (which I'm definitely planting early spring). We just cut the outside leafs, here and there, and they just keep coming back. Got to love it!

Regards,
D

Thu Nov 24, 2011 2:41 pm

I thought I'd brag a little after seeing your lonely garden pictures

.

I still have lots of brassicas growing. I've already harvested the early cauliflowers and a few broccoli plants.

This first picture is a general view of the plants I have left. Southern Giant Curled mustards are in the front, cabbage is behind and on the right, and cauliflower are behind the mustards.

The next photo is another general view of the plants.

The last photo is of three broccoli plants I will harvest (some today). I don't remember the type right now.

I started all of these plants from seed in late July or early August.

Thu Nov 24, 2011 8:38 pm

TWC - very nice!!! Still have full cold weather crop I see!

Here is a little bit of mine... I've made commitment to one lens this month, so I'm sticking with it (Lensbaby)

Garlic planted few weeks ago:

Arugula still going strong, and I keep cutting it

German Giant radish

Polish Lettuce

Hailstone White radish

Regards,
D

Fri Nov 25, 2011 7:33 pm

A warm (above freezing) breeze came up and melted all the snow. The forecast is for precipitation, so I suppose it will snow some more. Thanks for the updates.

Fri Nov 25, 2011 8:02 pm

I dug up the addition to the garden today. That means more variety next year!

I want to put in two or three different types of leaf lettuce this spring. Radishes. Carrots. The usual earlies. Then the usual tomatoes, zucchini, cucumbers, pole beans, peas(maybe), bell peppers, hungarian hot peppers and cabbage.
New additions for next year will be turnips, kohlrabi, swiss chard and spinach!

Fri Nov 25, 2011 9:26 pm

That's great Trevor. Keep it up and you will be as bad as me. I didn't give it much thought until this fall when I was tallying up the harvest. Ya, I keep a record of the yield. I got to looking and I had grown 47 varieties this season, and that didn't include the perennials. If I can count the fruit trees, there was another 18 varieties of perennials. There is always something else you want to try.

Of course I counted varieties within the group like 3 tomatoes, 2 chard, 3 garlic, 3 corn,etc. None the less, it adds up. Have a great garden!

Fri Nov 25, 2011 9:29 pm

I stopped by a local one today to pick up some supplies for our house plants, and noticed they actually have some cold weather veggies still (kinda late for our climate). Swiss Rainbow Chard, 4" pots, 1 plant per pot, $3.97

Another good reason to start from seed.

Fri Nov 25, 2011 11:27 pm

The garden as of now. It's lonely out there

Dono, It's funny - sad how the garden goes from full throttle to idle almost over night.

With our average winters, we can winter over kale and chard. Last winter everything froze out.

Eric

Wed Nov 30, 2011 12:33 am

22 tonight and below freezing every night this week but one day. Who will come up strong and who goes down fighting?

Wed Nov 30, 2011 2:28 am

Eric, I'm so dang envious of your garden setup! I brought the old lady over to the computer and was showing her the pics lol. When I finally get this house finished and sell it and get my piece of land...that's what it looks like in my head. Although I'm sure I won't have the water....unless I build a pond. IDK why, but your setup is right-on in my book.

Geez, I sound like I'm gettin ready to try n sell something to Eric lmao. :roll:

Wed Nov 30, 2011 7:19 am

Dono,

Currently 41 here but may dip to 29 Wednesday night.
I'll put my money on your swiss chard against the house

Thanks Jeff. I'm close but never satisfied.

I was looking up Nut tree seedlings this evening. Looks like I can get 25 @ $2.25 each or 100 @ $1.69 each. A Farm for the Future.

Satellite picture http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&tab=ll Type in
"63 ellison lane 98250" Then click the satellite upper right.
This is the latest update 2011. Pretty cool

Eric

Fri Dec 02, 2011 12:45 am

Every things is still kickin'. After 2 day's of 20's in the morning and another tomorrow. No sign of damage yet, I'm really surprised.

Brussels Sprouts you should be ashamed, you look worse than everyone else. You are supposed to bad guy out there. Even the lettuce is doing better than you.? :shock: