Bri's 2017 veggie garden

[wisconsindead]

Looking great. Cool potato experiment

[bri80]

So planting buckwheat in with the peppers seems to have done the trick to keep the symphs off. These plants had been "stuck" for weeks, with ZERO new growth. Finally growing again now that the buckwheat got in there. I just cut this buckwheat back about halfway, added some fertilizer, and will wait another week or two before cutting the buckwheat all the way back. Hopefully, that will have provided enough of a growth spurt for the peppers that the symph predation will not impact them as much. But, I am considering sowing another round of buckwheat, hoping that if I can continue to give the peppers a few more weeks of unencumbered growth into August, they'll be big enough to bear some decent fruit in the late-summer/fall.

New growth!

Pepper shots.

[KitchenGardener]

Love your posts - excellent photos and great narrative. I've been gardening for years, but always feel like there is more to learn!

[bri80]

Love your posts - excellent photos and great narrative. I've been gardening for years, but always feel like there is more to learn!

Thanks!

[applestar]

Was that white one Roumanian Rainbow? Or maybe Antohi Romanian?

[bri80]

Was that white one Roumanian Rainbow? Or maybe Antohi Romanian?

It's "Cozumel." The picture makes it look whiter than it is, they're actually a pale yellow and ripen to full red:
https://www.territorialseed.com/product/ ... epper-seed

[applestar]

Ah ha! Thanks!
Sounds like a good one. It's a hybrid but I might make an exception. I'll keep it in mind. Let us know how you like it.

[bri80]

Made a quart and a half of pesto!

Side shoots from the front yard bed. Because the main heads formed during a heat wave, some of these side shoots were larger than the main heads. This is the advantage of NOT growing a bed intensely, and giving the broccoli new, fertile soil to grow into even as the main head matures.

Pulled the first carrots! These are good-sized but subsequent ones should be longer.

[KitchenGardener]

How would you compare the tastes of the various carrot varieties you grow!

[bri80]

How would you compare the tastes of the various carrot varieties you grow!

Good question, I'm not much of a connoisseur but the purple ones (Purple Haze), are definitely much sweeter.

[bri80]

Ah ha! Thanks!
Sounds like a good one. It's a hybrid but I might make an exception. I'll keep it in mind. Let us know how you like it.

I've only still got unripe ones, but I like the flavor, although they're not hot at all. Maybe they will get hotter as they ripen.

[bri80]

Planted the last of the broccoli for this year (I usually grow a couple over-wintered ones that I start later). Been spraying neem oil a bit as the aphids have suddenly gotten bad.

Harvesting: peppers, broccoli, lettuce, chard, carrots, a few tomatoes but still battling the rat, tons of herbs, blueberries.

Getting ready for fall/winter plantings: spinach (in pots to avoid symphs!), kale, collards, purple sprouting broccoli, maybe a cauliflower or two if I have room.

Today's stir fry from the garden:

[bri80]

Apparently the cauliflower I planted is a purple variety! Fun surprise. I looked up my seed order, and it's "Mulberry."

Onions starting to bulb up!

Broccoli head forming.

Wider shots of the front yard beds.

[KitchenGardener]

Bri: what have you found (if anything) to combat your rat problem? I have a large yard with a small garden next to the house and a large back area which used to be my garden until it was discovered and consumed by critters - rats, racoons and possums. After several years of nothing back there except mile high weeds, I reclaimed it and planted flower seeds for a cutting garden. Watched all my seedlings come up and flourish, until, over two very hot nights, the critter came out and snacked on all my cosmos, then came back for my poppies and agrostemma. I am very angry. I started again. This time, I'd like to do something to deter them. Pepper spray? Is that okay for 6" seedlings?

[KitchenGardener]

Oh, and love your purple broccoli - that is gorgeous!

[bri80]

Bri: what have you found (if anything) to combat your rat problem? I have a large yard with a small garden next to the house and a large back area which used to be my garden until it was discovered and consumed by critters - rats, racoons and possums. After several years of nothing back there except mile high weeds, I reclaimed it and planted flower seeds for a cutting garden. Watched all my seedlings come up and flourish, until, over two very hot nights, the critter came out and snacked on all my cosmos, then came back for my poppies and agrostemma. I am very angry. I started again. This time, I'd like to do something to deter them. Pepper spray? Is that okay for 6" seedlings?

I've never had a problem with raccoons or possums troubling my garden. They aren't interested. Rats, on the other hand, have been an issue.

I'm still trying to figure it out. I tried spraying the ripe tomatoes and surrounding area with a slug repellent that is basically the same essential oils that I've read repel rats. It kinda helped, but it seeemed if I didn't spray every night I'd lose tomatoes. So next I'm going to mix my own essential oil spray and give that a try.

[bri80]

Peppers finally with some good growth. Just cut all the buckwheat back, added fertilizer, then planted more buckwheat. I think I want the buckwheat to help in there until early August, then the peppers will be on their own.

Yellow crookneck took over. No female flowers yet.

Potatoes in full bloom. I expect a great harvest from this patch.

Brussels sprouts and summer purple broc.

May and June broc/lettuce beds.

And indeterminate tomatoes!

[bri80]

First purple cauliflower! 4 more that should be sizing up in the next few days. Going to be a week of cauliflower! Have to get creative, maybe make some soup that I can freeze or something.

Wider shots of the back yard garden today. The tomatoes are over 7' tall, and I stopped pruning, but the way the light hits and with the bamboo in the background, you can hardly see them.

[applestar]

I'm eager to hear if the purple cauliflower turn green when cooked like purple beans

Everything looks great! You got this gardening thing down!

...yeah, and if you push the exposure so the tomatoes show up, the foreground stuff gets washed out, right? Well I can see your fun step-ladder like tomato supports and separate out the tomato foliage from the bamboo.

[bri80]

I'm eager to hear if the purple cauliflower turn green when cooked like purple beans

Seed packet says: "After cooking, the color deepens to a blue-purple, and a dash of vinegar on a raw floret turns it to a brilliant magenta." I'll let you know, though!

[bri80]

Yep, turned deep blue-purple on the grill! Delicious, too.... 1 down, 4 more to go.

[bri80]

Today's haul. The onions were a little crowded so I took a few as thinnings so the rest can size up properly.

[KitchenGardener]

It all looks great! Please keep us posted on whether your homemade essential oil spray is a success at fending off the rats.

[applestar]

Looking great! I love that blue-purple when cooked cauliflower! Scary-looking, but cool.

It would be great as part of weird veg crudités for Halloween party.....

[bri80]

Planted spinach for the fall, and kale and over-wintered broccoli for the winter today. Supposed to be getting a heat wave, so I started them all inside. Hopefully it cools off before they out-grow the containers for the first transplant.

Still eating too much cauliflower!! But it's fun, and healthy.

[bri80]

Time to prepare for a heat wave! Mobile shade station will be put to good use, but I also have to figure out a way to put up the other shade cloth I have on hand. I think I'll probably harvest a few heads of lettuce, too, in case too many bolt. Also on the agenda for today is rigging some shade for the beehive!

This is the forecast... the historical AVERAGE for this week is 80*. Thursday is likely to be a record high.

Here's today's broccoli side-shoot harvest! Still getting good sized shoots off the front yard bed, but some are getting blown up, and with the heat coming, I expect to just remove the plants and prepare the bed for kale for the winter.

Onions sizing up nicely...

Chard

Other front yard bed after most of the cauliflower has been harvested. I tossed some fertilizer in the gaps for the chard, parsley and others to feed off of now that there's more space.

[bri80]

Brussels/sprouting broc

Fall broc

Peppers growing really well now that I put the buckwheat in with them. They're on their second round of buckwheat. Good to know this trick works on symph-stunted plants. I still won't try spinach in the ground though, they absolutely decimated my spinach, so pots it is!

Potted peppers ripening fruit (pictures coming in next post)

Yellow crookneck has it's first couple of female flowers/fruit on it today!

Yukon gold potatoes are huge... I am really excited about the potential yield here.

May broc/lettuce bed, all the lettuce harvested

June broc/lettuce bed... going to harvest some of these before the heat hits tomorrow.

[bri80]

Tomatoes ripening... should be flush soon!

Purple bumble bee

Ananas Noire

Japanese Trifele Black (really impressed with the vigor of this plant... hopefully the taste is also excellent, if so, it will be my new "plant every year" variety).

Left plant is the JTB

Szentesi hot peppers

Anaheim

Getting some color on the cozumel. These guys really take their time ripening!

Cool purple basil popped up in the pot I planted cilantro, and I let it grow!

[KitchenGardener]

Like the color contrast in with your cilantro.

[applestar]

I'm envious that you can grow broccoli year-round. Are you spraying them for pests? Bt or something stronger?

[bri80]

I'm envious that you can grow broccoli year-round. Are you spraying them for pests? Bt or something stronger?

I usually can grow broccoli without spraying, but occasionally if there's some bad weather (like this week) or something else conspires to weaken the plants, the aphids or whiteflies will get out of control. I will hit them with some neem oil when that happens and all is usually well within a week or two.

Typically I control the cabbage worms just by inspecting the plants and picking the eggs and larva off on a regular basis. If I start to notice aphids when I do this I'll squish them with my fingers, or if they're more established, some soapy spray. If I keep on it they never grow to problem levels.

I read about root maggots being a problem in the spring but I've never had an issue. :shrug:

[bri80]

Shade cloth hung over the lettuce and broccoli... I expect to lose several lettuce plants, but I'm REALLY hoping the broccoli doesn't bolt. Lettuce is quick and easy this time of year, broccoli still takes a lot longer and produces more food.

It's going to be a rough few days!

[Taiji]

Ooh. Saw on the weather about your upcoming heat wave. Ugh! We're high 70's to low 80's now with lots of rain.

Was curious about your Anaheim peppers. Are they a sweet pepper? Asking because I have a pepper plant that is pumping out what are supposed to be Big Jims, but they are sweet with no heat. I thought Big Jims were more thick walled and with varying degrees of heat. I think maybe the vendor sent Anaheims instead! Still a nice pepper.

[imafan26]

Where do you get shade cloth from? It is hard to get anything for the garden here. Most shade cloth is sold for patio covers are 70% shade and I need 35%-47% max.

[bri80]

Ooh. Saw on the weather about your upcoming heat wave. Ugh! We're high 70's to low 80's now with lots of rain.

Was curious about your Anaheim peppers. Are they a sweet pepper? Asking because I have a pepper plant that is pumping out what are supposed to be Big Jims, but they are sweet with no heat. I thought Big Jims were more thick walled and with varying degrees of heat. I think maybe the vendor sent Anaheims instead! Still a nice pepper.

It's possible. Do you have pictures? My anaheim's definitely have little to no heat. I'd hesitate to call them sweet, but they're not hot, either.

[bri80]

Where do you get shade cloth from? It is hard to get anything for the garden here. Most shade cloth is sold for patio covers are 70% shade and I need 35%-47% max.

I wish I could remember. I've had those for years. I feel like I got them from the local garden store and I can't remember what % they are... but Amazon has everything:
https://www.amazon.com/E-share-Black-Sh ... 010US4P66/

[applestar]

If I recall anaheims are a kind of poblano, and they are super dark colored when green, shorter, conical in shape. Big Jims are lighter green like normal peppers and longer.

[imafan26]

Thanks for the info on shade cloth. I got mine years ago too, but the store has since closed.

[bri80]

So far, so good... nothing's bolted yet. But today is supposed to be hottest day. "Luckily" we're having some haze due to wildfire smoke, and it has dropped the projected temps down a degree or two.

[applestar]

Good luck!