Bri's 2017 veggie garden

[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!

[KitchenGardener]

Anaheims are actually not poblanos, but one of the cultivars in the New Mexico group. I think you might be confusing it with Ancho, which is the dried form of the Poblano pepper?

[applestar]

Ok thanks right. I remember now. Anaheims grew big pods that needed to be supported and were good for roasting green or red because it had thick outer skin that didn't involve picking off bits an pieces of thin skin -- makes me scream -- but would peel right off. I needed to be sure to keep them separate from frying peppers because the thick outer skin layer became a problem when cut up and cooked -- like tomato skin. And yeah, the one I grew were mild not hot, but had a spicy bite as an after taste.

[lakngulf]

Can't believe yall are talking broccoli and lettuce. No way down this area. But okra does love the South in the summer time!

[bri80]

Got through the hottest part of the heat wave. Looks like I'm going to have to pull a few lettuce plants, but several of them have not bolted yet. The broccoli looks good.

Temps aren't supposed to drop below 90* for a week, so I'm keeping the shade up for now.

[applestar]

I believe spraying the shade cloth with water is supposed to have cooling action due to evaporative action unless humidity is too high.

[KitchenGardener]

What is the humidity like up there these days? I have always thought I live in a relatively low humidity area of Northern California but the lowest its been since I've been tracking it has been 55%, with more like an average being up around 75%. That must seem like a walk in the desert to some southern folks, but now its got me curious. Bri: what's it like there?

[bri80]

What is the humidity like up there these days? I have always thought I live in a relatively low humidity area of Northern California but the lowest its been since I've been tracking it has been 55%, with more like an average being up around 75%. That must seem like a walk in the desert to some southern folks, but now its got me curious. Bri: what's it like there?

Humidity is pretty low around here in the summer time. It doesn't rain in the summer, like ever, so there's just not much moisture in the air. It definitely makes this type of heat more tolerable, and is good for the garden since high humidity can help spread disease. Currently says 46%. Yesterday it was in the 30's.

I used to live in Chicago, so I know what real humidity is like! Definitely glad we don't have to deal with that very often here.

[Gary350]

I love all the good pictures. I love the variety. Where do you get all the soil mix you have in the wooden frames? That is a different type gardening than I am accustom too. It looks great I love it.

[KitchenGardener]

I love all the good pictures. I love the variety. Where do you get all the soil mix you have in the wooden frames? That is a different type gardening than I am accustom too. It looks great I love it.

Yes, I agree completely - love the info you provide and your photos! I'm also somehow surprised to discover how different the Portland area is weather-wise to the San Francisco Bay Area. For some reason, I guess because they are both coastal, I thought they would share a greater similarity.

[Taiji]

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.

There is a photo on page two of my 2017 garden thread near the bottom. They look similar to your Anaheims. I hesitate to post my photo in your thread. Thx!

[bri80]

I love all the good pictures. I love the variety. Where do you get all the soil mix you have in the wooden frames? That is a different type gardening than I am accustom too. It looks great I love it.

The large raised beds in the front were filled with a soil mix from a local company that provides soil, mulch, etc. The beds in the back, which are just framed and barely "raised," is my natural clay soil that I've worked over the past 4 years.

[bri80]

I love all the good pictures. I love the variety. Where do you get all the soil mix you have in the wooden frames? That is a different type gardening than I am accustom too. It looks great I love it.

Yes, I agree completely - love the info you provide and your photos! I'm also somehow surprised to discover how different the Portland area is weather-wise to the San Francisco Bay Area. For some reason, I guess because they are both coastal, I thought they would share a greater similarity.

I think there are some similarities, for sure, but it's still quite a ways further south! We're also less coastal and more valley. There's an entire mountain range and a 2 hour drive between the coast and Portland.

[bri80]

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.

There is a photo on page two of my 2017 garden thread near the bottom. They look similar to your Anaheims. I hesitate to post my photo in your thread. Thx!

I'd say the one in the middle of your photo looks a lot like my anaheims. The other two look fatter and larger than mine. But I also have mine growing in a pot, so they might not be getting as big. Sorry, I can't say for sure!

[bri80]

I was up on the roof today and got a cool perspective on the garden. The squash plant looks a whole lot larger from that vantage point!

And a modest onion harvest today. Leaving these out in the sun to cure.

[KitchenGardener]

Looks more than just modest! Very nice.