Garden 2021

[UrbanHunter]

Today I am canning tomatoes, need to roast peppers, and we got enough green bean to can another batch.... I did pull up the green beans and okra, weeded the beds and now that part is done till spring.... I have lettuce and spinach up in my raised beds with covers, some of the lettuce is big enough to start harvesting so we are transitioning to winter gardening now....

 

[UrbanHunter]

This afternoon I harvested more tomatoes and started pulling up the plants. I have 10 gallons of peppers I will be roasting and canning this weekend and then I will deal with the last of the tomatoes, I have about 3 gallons of green tomatoes and I will let them ripen before we put them up... The garden is almost all switched over to either growing salad in the enclosed raised beds or root crops that will be harvested around the first hard freeze.

 

[UrbanHunter]

Indoor Growing station 1 is open for business again, I did have to convert the bottom shelf to water storage because my food storage expanded into my bottled water space. Right now I only have laurel bushes (Bay Leaves) and flowers growing on 1 shelf. This year I decided to reduce the lighting wattage on each shelf so I can power the growing stations using just what power I have available from my little garden solar station.

The growing stations are on wheels (power comes from above) so I can have them up against a food storage shelf and still get to the food... I am slowly but surely using all my room volume. Think of those libraries where the book shelves move..
And no that is not all my food storage in the back ground, just the cream-of- soups shelf.....

 

[Bacpacker]

I cleaned out a couple of my raised beds yesterday. Picked 2 buckets of green tomatos and peppers, final harvest of the year, except for the parsnips. Goona have a frost tonight

 

[joel]

I am getting seed catalogs.

 

[Neb]

I cleaned out a couple of my raised beds yesterday. Picked 2 buckets of green tomatos and peppers, final harvest of the year, except for the parsnips. Goona have a frost tonight

I have let tomatoes go volunteer for years but thought this year they gave up. I discovered yesterday there was a volunteer tomato plant in one of my Egyptian walking onion beds. Never saw all year!

Ben

 

[UrbanHunter]

I have a cherry tomato plant that didn't do a thing all summer, but when I pulled all the other plants I didn't mess with it, now it is loaded with green tomatoes, that poor plant is soo confused.... I picked a couple of the red ones yesterday and they were really good... But after my aphid experience last year, I have a firm rule that plants don't come back in from the garden...

 

[UrbanHunter]

Today, I started planting at my indoor growing station(s), mostly salad stuff. I plan to plant two buckets of carrots, I think I have the screened soil with the right consistency now, so I want to see what happens. I'm just using the leftover seeds from last year so I will not be tapping into my 2022 seed supplies...

The spinach in the covered raised beds outside have their first true leaves now, the lettuce is almost ready to start harvesting, I have some nice green onions, and my parsley came back after I pulled the marigolds.

I will need to put out some new slug traps as the last ones are full... tomorrow I plan to do a heavy watering of the closed raised beds, it may be the last of the season. I will be draining my rain barrels soon afterwards. I need to fully drain all my irrigation lines or I will find split fittings come spring. I also need to winterize my water spigots on the side of the house, I installed frost free valves but I still like to put the little hats over them.

 

[Bacpacker]

Got 2 beds topped off. Gonna work up the rest of the upper bed and get ready to start building the new beds and get them filled. Lots to do over the next few months working against short days

 

[UrbanHunter]

I watered the plants yesterday. Changed out the slug traps at lunch time today, found several dead field mice in them... I guess mice like beer. My winter spinach is mostly up, some lettuce is ready to harvest, same with the green onions....

I now have 2 shelves going in my indoor garden section with about 10 different types of plants, still need to get my bucket carrots going....

The week of frosts did not hurt my carrots, beets, or turnips and we are expecting warm days this week, so they will just have to wait their turn.


All the tomato products are now canned. Thank goodness. Well Lunch is over!

 

[elkhound]

had a short row of potatoes to finish digging. its been cold and wet last bit so it finally dried out enough. finall tally is planted 58#...a 50# sack of kennebecs and 8# of dakota pearl...total harvest was 10 bushel or 600#. the dakota pearl produced 1 bushel and kennebecs 9 bushel.

 

[Amish Heart]

Wow! That's lots and lots. You going to can some?

 

[UrbanHunter]

Tonight, I got my bucket carrots planted, then I put everything that I had done into my spreadsheet... I was sad to see that I am on almost the exact same timeline as last year, I was hoping to get started a month earlier this year... Oh well... I now have 24 different things planted in the house and there are about 8 things still growing outside... I'm pretty good at the planting and getting it growing part, not so good on the timing of the harvest....

The indoor growing stations are now fully powered by the solar panels, I only have 600 watts of solar so I will be limited to about 4 shelves this year. That is assuming that I want to keep them completely off grid... and that I don't add some more solar.

I am planning to really cut back on the number of plants that I grow this year, last spring I ended up giving away about 8 trays of tomato plants, this year I want to just grow enough to get some harvests in late winter and then be ready for a good start come spring.... I may not need to plant peppers next year because we got so many this year, we just roasted and canned most of them so we can use them to make salsa or what ever...

 

[elkhound]

Wow! That's lots and lots. You going to can some?

no canning...i started digging and using back at end of summer when they started showing signs of finishing with growth. so i dont have the total 10 bushel setting in storage..family gets some and neighbor so in reality its not that much when you dole them out. saving back a bushel or a bit less for seed if possible after seed shortage of potatoes this spring.

looked back at notes and pics..i started digging on july 23rd to eat fresh from garden. i have not bought potatoes since then...probably have enough for all winter depending how they keep.

 

[UrbanHunter]

I am enjoying the transition to winter, the indoor plants are starting to sprout and the stuff in the covered raised beds outside is starting to be harvested...

 

[user 2656]

PAQUEBOT:
Sad news. Not sure how many of you worked with/knew of, or were friends with Martin Longseth a.k.a. ‘Paquebot’

He was part of helping develop excellent garlic in Wisconsin, tomatoes here and across the world, and single-handedly encouraged so many new gardeners.

Here’s from his son on Facebook:

”Greetings. This is Martin's son writing. My father passed away peacefully and comfortably overnight. He wrote his own obituary but it is on his computer and the file will not open. If I can ever figure that out,I will post it. He will be missed by many. Peace.”

 

[hughewil]

In closed down my little suburban garden for the year already. next year I am going to expand a little bit and try potatoes grown in 5 gallon buckets.

 

[UrbanHunter]

In closed down my little suburban garden for the year already. next year I am going to expand a little bit and try potatoes grown in 5 gallon buckets.

My 5 gallon potato buckets did not well, but the larger 20 gallon buckets I got a Lo's seemed to have enough room for better growth... https://www.lowes.com/pd/Style-Sele...-in-H-x-16-5-in-D-Blue-Plastic-Basket/3198981

 

[hughewil]

My 5 gallon potato buckets did not well, but the larger 20 gallon buckets I got a Lo's seemed to have enough room for better growth... https://www.lowes.com/pd/Style-Sele...-in-H-x-16-5-in-D-Blue-Plastic-Basket/3198981

I actually have one of those buckets

 

[SheepDog]

Growing room is everything (well loose soil helps) with potatoes.
Some potatoes grow close to the surface and you use loose soil or straw to keep them buried and grow more while others grow deep enough that they need a larger area and loose soil to grow more and bigger potatoes.

 

[LadyLocust]

Tonight, I got my bucket carrots planted, then I put everything that I had done into my spreadsheet... I was sad to see that I am on almost the exact same timeline as last year, I was hoping to get started a month earlier this year... Oh well... I now have 24 different things planted in the house and there are about 8 things still growing outside... I'm pretty good at the planting and getting it growing part, not so good on the timing of the harvest....

The indoor growing stations are now fully powered by the solar panels, I only have 600 watts of solar so I will be limited to about 4 shelves this year. That is assuming that I want to keep them completely off grid... and that I don't add some more solar.

I am planning to really cut back on the number of plants that I grow this year, last spring I ended up giving away about 8 trays of tomato plants, this year I want to just grow enough to get some harvests in late winter and then be ready for a good start come spring.... I may not need to plant peppers next year because we got so many this year, we just roasted and canned most of them so we can use them to make salsa or what ever...

2 things: your carrot buckets - are those 5 gal or 20? If 5 gal, how many carrots do you get per bucket?
other thing - I try to can enough to get through 2 years, think Backpacker does too. When canning, if you are set up for one sort of veggie, it just seems easier to do a bunch and not have to switch gears. If I do have to do a short run to "top off" supply etc. it's pretty quick and usually just one go at it. I know you grow tons, but might help streamline the garden from year to year also.

 

[UrbanHunter]

2 things: your carrot buckets - are those 5 gal or 20? If 5 gal, how many carrots do you get per bucket?
other thing - I try to can enough to get through 2 years, think Backpacker does too. When canning, if you are set up for one sort of veggie, it just seems easier to do a bunch and not have to switch gears. If I do have to do a short run to "top off" supply etc. it's pretty quick and usually just one go at it. I know you grow tons, but might help streamline the garden from year to year also.

The carrot buckets are 5 gallons each, I saw a clip that @Neb posted about a guy who grows awesome bucket carrots. They say the trick is to use really fine soil (no rocks or sticks), so this year I screened the soil and amended it to be very light. I will let you know how it works out.

My outdoor carrots are still doing fine but they will have to be harvested by Christmas for sure....

The indoor growing stations have been arranged this year to minimize their footprint, my goal is to keep it to under 48 sq ft or 8'X6' for everything...

 

[Neb]

The carrot buckets are 5 gallons each, I saw a clip that @Neb posted about a guy who grows awesome bucket carrots. They say the trick is to use really fine soil (no rocks or sticks), so this year I screened the soil and amended it to be very light. I will let you know how it works out.

My outdoor carrots are still doing fine but they will have to be harvested by Christmas for sure....

The indoor growing stations have been arranged this year to minimize their footprint, my goal is to keep it to under 48 sq ft or 8'X6' for everything...

Was that from Allotment Diary?



I found him when learning to grow giant onions (10 lbs onions).

He has won blue ribbons for some of his produce including 3' long carrots.

This is the harvest



I have let carrots over winter to collect seeds from them. The story goes that they get sweeter in cold conditions because 5he sugar acts as antifreeze.

Ben

 

[elkhound]

PAQUEBOT:
Sad news. Not sure how many of you worked with/knew of, or were friends with Martin Longseth a.k.a. ‘Paquebot’

He was part of helping develop excellent garlic in Wisconsin, tomatoes here and across the world, and single-handedly encouraged so many new gardeners.

Here’s from his son on Facebook:

”Greetings. This is Martin's son writing. My father passed away peacefully and comfortably overnight. He wrote his own obituary but it is on his computer and the file will not open. If I can ever figure that out,I will post it. He will be missed by many. Peace.”

NOOOOOOOOOO !! i just talked with him a few weeks ago and i asked him to come join here. i just was going to send him a note telling him i got my martin garlic planted for next year. he and i been talking a good bit last couple years.

 

[viking]

We have two tomato plants growing in planters on our deck, one Cherry and one Roma neither produced but about 5 tomatoes during the summer, cold weather killed the Roma but the Cherry came to life and I have counted about a dozen large ones and a bunch of smaller ones, none ripe yet and may not ripen due to cool nights. I've heard of people having fruit trees blossoming this fall. Our Black Zuccini and Yellow Straigt Neck only produced a few squash, not even worth planting them and only our Granny Smith apple tree has any apples to amount to anything. I did plant one raised bed with Kale and the other with Swiss chard, all it took was one 70 degree day and all seeds grew, so maybe we'll have some winter veggies.

 

[LadyLocust]

We have two tomato plants growing in planters on our deck, one Cherry and one Roma neither produced but about 5 tomatoes during the summer, cold weather killed the Roma but the Cherry came to life and I have counted about a dozen large ones and a bunch of smaller ones, none ripe yet and may not ripen due to cool nights. I've heard of people having fruit trees blossoming this fall. Our Black Zuccini and Yellow Straigt Neck only produced a few squash, not even worth planting them and only our Granny Smith apple tree has any apples to amount to anything. I did plant one raised bed with Kale and the other with Swiss chard, all it took was one 70 degree day and all seeds grew, so maybe we'll have some winter veggies.

The heat dome did a number on a lot of veggies. I heard that at 95* tomatoes go into survival mode and don't keep growing - that appeared true in our garden. It wouldn't surprise me if other veggies are similar. If you take your cherry tom. in the house, you might get tomatoes all winter long

 

[LadyLocust]

So somewhere in a long lost thread, we were talking about some books as references. I made mention of this one, and yes you can just laugh if you want, but it's actually a good book. No I don't own or plan on owing an English castle, but the info on gardening is valuable. I read it as a library book, and it had been on my wish list a long time. I got it several months ago and just dug back into it this morning. It goes by month which I like, and it tells about the different areas: fruits, veggies, flowers. Yes, I'm weird - I get excited about a good garden book. They also discuss how things are stored and used and how much in order to have enough for the off season etc. Obviously, the info. can be scaled down to a typical household. Anyways, I thought I'd share in case anyone else is interested.

 

[LadyLocust]

Was that from Allotment Diary?



I found him when learning to grow giant onions (10 lbs onions).

He has won blue ribbons for some of his produce including 3' long carrots.

This is the harvest



I have let carrots over winter to collect seeds from them. The story goes that they get sweeter in cold conditions because 5he sugar acts as antifreeze.

Ben

I just got to watch those - amazing!

 

[Cascadian]

My wife just got an order of seeds in from Bakers Creek. There were about a dozen packets. Mostly veggies but a few flowers.

 

[UrbanHunter]

Need to check on the out door garden, the last couple of days has been breezy and cold, I have unprotected root plants that will need to be harvested soon. I did pick some green onions, basil, oregano, thyme, a couple of carrots, and some turnips for our early Thanks Giving meal, our kids could only visit us this last weekend so we had the big meal then.

The indoor garden is doing fine, I'm glad it's on casters so I can move it out of the way when necessary. The bucket carrots have come up, I was shocked to see that the 2 Burpee varieties came up first. I used the bottom of a soda can to do the seed spacing, but I will still have to thin out the weaker seedlings once they are a couple of inches high.

I now have 18 varieties of plants up in my starter trays, but I ordered some more herb seeds. I have switched to the more robust reusable starter cups and heavier starter trays with high domes. The plants have more space (because 3 across will not fit with the lid on so I only put 10 cups in a tray instead of 18) and the plants can grow to about 8" high before they have to be moved out from under the lids.

I am using large boot trays for my larger plants like the laurel (bay leaves) and when I transplant some of the larger plants their containers will be set in a boot tray holding water. I saw the boot trays at Home Depot for 10 bucks and I though those would be a good growing tray....