Coming to the End of the Season with Very Few Summer Crops Left

 Now that the weather is starting to get cooler and the sun setting much earlier the garden season of 2022 is coming to a close.  The good news is that I still have spring crops which lasted all the way through the hot summer and are still producing good crops.  I have broccoli, brussel sprouts, and kale growing in the garden, and I have some radishes that I had planted in my onion totes.  All of these plants thrive in the cooler weather and now that fall is just about here I may be picking more leaves and harvests from all these plants.

A frost has yet arrived which means the summer isn't over and I am still picking tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, and even potatoes.   Right now cucumbers, zucchini, and corn is definitely over for the season.  I had a good harvest from all of them and with just a couple of zucchini plants I was able to get some large fruit from them.  I actually planted them quite late and wasn't certain I was going to get anything from them, but in the end I got more than I had imagined for this year.

 

Eggplants are still thriving and have been picking them on a consistent basis since the beginning of September.  This is probably one of the best harvests of eggplants that I have ever had with only a dozen plants or so.  They are very large this season as well which was partly due to the hot weather we had.

 

Potatoes I had started picking last week after a long summer for these plants they finally began to turn brown which is the sign I look for when it's time for digging these vegetables up from the ground.  I had a poor Yukon gold harvest, but my Kennebec potatoes came out really well.  In total  I harvested about 28 pounds from my very first harvest of the season and I still have about six or so Kennebec plants still to be dug up.  These plants were not quite ready and they were still green in color and didn't want to dig them up until they started turning brown.   

 

Some of the potatoes started coming up from the ground and made sure to cover them up otherwise these potatoes would not be safe to eat.  When exposed to the sun they create a poisonous chemical which turns the potato green and is not safe to eat at all which is why you must keep an eye on your potatoes and make sure they are always covered or protected from sunlight exposure.

Looking Forward to Start Digging up My Potatoes

 Although I have been picking many vegetables from my garden including tomatoes, corn which is done for the season, peppers, zucchini, and even eggplants  I am still waiting for my potato plants to start turning brown.  When the plants are turning yellow or brown is the perfect time to start digging them up and begin using them in delicious meals and dishes.  I love potatoes and when they grow like they should they end up being one of my favorites vegetables to cook with.  

I am hoping that these new potatoes I planted this season are at least a decent size, but I will not know until I start digging them up.  The soil is beginning to crack from the potatoes and must make certain to keep them covered otherwise they will not be able to be eaten.  Always make sure that your potatoes not the plant are covered throughout the season.

Eggplants and zucchini are the latest vegetables to be harvested from the garden the past couple of weeks.  A couple of weeks ago I got the very first zucchini from the garden which I did not think I would get any this year because of the late seed planting.  These are plants I like to start inside, but due to the cold weather in May I was unable to start them in pots.  Instead I had to hope for enough room in between the tomato plants and enough sunlight in order to get them to sprout.  Luckily they did and so far I have picked two zucchinis this season.

Eggplants on the other hand I did start them inside and very early because they need plenty of time similar to watermelons which also require an adequate amount of time.  I saw a couple of plants that had some good sized eggplants that were almost ready to pick a week or two ago.  I took a look at them this week and decided that it was time to begin harvesting.  I harvested four eggplants with three over them are some of the largest eggplants I have ever grown.  I can't wait to make them into some eggplant Parmesan meals or possibly eggplant pizzas which are also very delicious.

 

While Crops are Finishing Some are Still Thriving

 At the moment all my corn is completed and so are my beans and zucchini.  I did not get a good crop of beans this season due to I only had a couple of vines that sprouted and they were planted later than I would have liked.  corn I was able to get a good harvest from the two types that I had planted this season. 

 I was able to save and freeze them in order to have them during the Winter at some point.  I also got plenty of zucchini and was happy with the entire harvest of these squash plants.  The last of the squash would be my pumpkins which are just about ready for picking.  There are only two of them that are not ripe yet, but with time and sun they will be ready by October.

Kale and broccoli are the two cool weather plants that I added into the garden during the springtime.  They are normally for the fall and they were most likely not supposed to survive the summer months except for broccoli.  At the moment these are the two plants that are continue to thrive now that cool weather is arriving and the hot humid days are over with. 

 My broccoli is a hybrid plant that is made to withstand the harsh hot weather of the summer months while kale is just for cool weather.  Luckily my kale was able to survive the summer and looks like I will be continuing to cut many of the leaves.  The rainy summer this year was probably one of the reasons why my kale was able to get through the summer.  Both of these plants will probably last far into the fall season.

I also planted some peas that are also another cool weather plants except I decided to plant them in the fall rather the spring.  I planted them in the spring last season and they didn't produce or grow that well and that is why I am trying out planting them in the fall.  I was also going to plant radishes, but in the end just stuck with my pea seeds instead.  I planted them a little while ago and I am hoping that they sprout sometime in the near future.

One last thing that I wanted to mention was the digging up of my potatoes.  This was the latest new harvest since the last post and wanted to let you know.  For the amount of plants that were in the garden I think I got a pretty decent harvest.  I would say that each plant had at least two potatoes and they were about the size of a baseball.  Next year I hope to plant much more potatoes similar to last season in order for them to last long into the fall.

Getting as much Harvests Done before Vegetables Start Going to Seed

At the moment the only vegetable that has started going to seed are my radishes which will need to be picked before the radish becomes too small to consume.  They were quick to sprout and very quick to go to seed, but that may be due to thinning them out to late.  I needed to thin them out a little bit earlier and I think they would have been fine, but I can always grow another harvest in the fall. 

Other than my radishes and peas everything seems to be going quite well.  My peas were done long before my radishes and they didn’t produce much.  This might be due to the hot weather and possibly lack of rain.  Even though I watered them the soil might have dried out faster than other parts of the garden.  I should have added mulch around these plants and that would have helped the soil stay moist and would have retained water helping out my cool weather plants. 

I did place mulch around my potatoes this year since after last season they turned brown quicker than I would have liked I thought it best to give them as much mulch as possible.  It seems to be working and the soil is staying moist and the plants are thriving even in this hot weather we have been having.   

They are already producing flowers which is a good sign for potatoes and some of them are starting to pop through the ground.  Place a little bit of soil on top of it to cover it and make sure it doesn’t get exposed to the sun.

Corn will be the next plant that I will have to place mulch around once I do one last weeding and side dress them with blood meal.  After that I can leave them alone in terms of weeding and that they need is lots of water because they happen to be heavy feeders.  I might give them some fish/seaweed emulsion once they silks or tassels start coming in, but that will be it for feeding. 

 
Once I am done with the corn I can start attaching my rope to my pole beans.  They have started producing vines and I will begin attaching them to my bean trellis to prevent them from going all over the place looking awful.

Spring Seeds Sprouting and Some Rows of Corn Planted

The time has finally come to start transplanting some summer crops now that all spring crops should be in the soil.  I finished planting my spring crops last week and all that is left is to place my carrots in the ground.  They were started in peat pots this year so I still have plenty of time to put them in the ground.  I also started planting some corn and looking forward to setting up my bean trellis and planting my beans as well. 

I finished my spring crop transplanting beginning with spinach, lettuce, and then broccoli.  This type of broccoli will probably not last long because they don’t grow well in hot weather unlike the sun king hybrid that I am growing outside in pots.  This type of broccoli can withstand the heat and I am hoping that I can start planting them as soon as they are big enough to withstand the garden soil.

My potatoes, peas, and radishes are all sprouting and they are looking good at the moment.  I will have to thin out my radish and pea plants, but I am waiting until they get a little bit bigger before doing so.  I don’t want to wait too long otherwise it will become much harder to thin them out and might end up harming the plants that I want to keep in the garden.

I added both alyssum and dill into the garden as well and put them all near my potato plants.  I also have some perennial alyssum that is already flowering and will probably last for another week before they are done for the season.  My dill will soon flower and hopefully this will attract the insects that I need in the garden.  I have planted my sunflower seeds and they are sprouting as well which should be a good attracter of bees. 

I have placed corn seeds into rows this week due to the good weather we have been having the past couple of days.  This is a good time to start planting corn, beans, and possibly tomatoes as long as the temperatures are between 60-70 degrees Fahrenheit.  I also have some peppers which will probably be going into the ground about the same time as my tomatoes.

Cleaning up Plants and Starting to Till the Soil

This past week was perfect to start cleaning up plants including blueberries and hopefully will be cleaning up strawberries very soon.  I need to remove the straw from these plants before the good spring weather arrives.  At the moment my strawberry plants still have straw covering them, but many of them are starting to grow through the straw which is a good sign and I will start removing the straw very soon.  Hopefully this week as long as the weather is good I will remove the straw from my plants and start loosening up the soil for them.

I have cleaned up my blueberry plants by removing any weeds that started growing around them, removing old or dead branches, and loosening the soil for them to provide some air circulation.  I will be adding a mixture of manure and peat most around them in order to give them the nutrients they need to produce delicious berries this season.  As long as the flowers open and don’t wither I should have a decent season.

Yesterday I decided that it was time to get my potatoes into the ground before it starts to rain for quite awhile.  I also was able to get my pea seeds and radish seeds into the soil.

 

 I started tilling the garden yesterday and only did a portion of the garden instead of the whole thing.  I only need a portion of the garden in order to plant my spring crop plants and seeds.  The next plants that will be added to the garden will be spinach, lettuce, and possibly some flowers before the month is done.

I am still planting seeds indoors and when I get a good day of weather I place my plants outside to ready them for planting them into the garden.  I would probably say that my flowers will be the first to get ready to the weather because I need to get them into the garden as fast as possible.  These flowers are important to get as many beneficial insects to the garden as quickly and early as possible.

What Should I be Harvesting This Month?

At the end of July I got started on picking my red onions.  Then once my yellow onion stems began falling down it was time to start removing them from the totes.  Once they dry I will start using them for as long as I can or as long as they do not rot.  It was then time for my potatoes which I grew successfully this season.  Today I picked several ears of corn that were ready from the garden.

I planted many onions these year including four totes of red onions and six totes of yellow onions.  I had already picked my red ones in the middle of July because the stems were falling and they weren’t getting any bigger.  My yellow onions on the other hand needed some more time before I could pick them from the soil.

Once the end of July cam around I could see that the stems of my yellow onions were beginning to fall over signaling that they were done growing.  It didn’t take long to take them out of the soil, but it will definitely take some time for them to finally dry in the sun.  Since there are many onions it will take a little bit longer for them to dry, but as long as we keep getting these hot days I am sure they will be ready sometime this month.

After I got all my onions out of the soil I turned towards my potato plants.  The plants themselves had stopped growing and turned brown and wilted away.  Since the plants were no more it was pointless to keep watering them and leaving the potatoes in the ground.  I dug them all up and filled up my five gallon bucket with potatoes from the garden.  They were all different sizes, but they all look very good for eating.

 The ears of corn I picked were from this evening.  I had picked a few in the beginning of the week, but most of them only needed a couple more days for them to be ripe enough for picking.  I gave all the others until today and I started picking all the ones that looked like and felt like that were ready.  Only one type of corn was picked toady, and the others will be picked most likely this weekend or next week at the latest.

Potatoes are Placed into the Garden Later than Recommended

Due to weather conditions I have been planting much of my garden later than I would like to.  As they say April showers bring May flowers.  This happens to be true most years, but this season it has been abnormally rainy and windy for the most part.  I normally wouldn’t mind, but unfortunately it is preventing me from planting potatoes and other plants into the garden.

Luckily today was actually quite nice, but definitely windy.  I can deal with the wind and since the sun was out for a short time I decided that it was time to get my seed potatoes into the ground.  I had cut them a couple of days ago and let them sit in the windowsill in order to cure them before placing them in rows outside. 

 

 Rather than digging holes which would have taken much longer to complete I decided that it would be best to start with a thirty foot row.  I had to dig a little bit deeper because they require at least three inches of soil to cover these seeds.  Once I did that I planted them into each row and took up about twenty feet of row instead of the usual thirty or more.

 

  This means that there was extra room that I need to fill.  Since I had no more potatoes to plant I thought it would be best to put some cool weather seeds there.  I wasn’t sure what to put in this spot, but I eventually decided on cabbage, broccoli, brussel sprouts, celery, and lettuce.  I could have placed some flowers there, but there was enough space for some seeds to be planted.

All my recently planted seeds have started to pop up.  I didn’t think they would be sprouting by now, but believe or not they are showing themselves through the soil.  I would guess that it was all the rain we have been receiving for the past couple of weeks with more to come

How Late is Too Late to Plant Peas and Radishes Outside?

Timing is everything when it comes to gardening because there is a time when it is too late to start planting certain seeds.  In this case it is between radishes and snow peas.  I always like to get them into the soil during the month of April and no later.  Although I just planted them in the soil today which is still within the month of April, I would have rather planted them a couple of weeks ago if the weather cooperated.  Luckily this week was good enough to cultivate the soil and I had to plant them today in the cloudy rainy weather.

Now that they are in the soil they can take advantage of the cool weather and rainy conditions which they seem to like and thrive in just like my onions.  I will soon start planting my lettuce, spinach, cabbage, and other plants into the garden soon once they get a little bit bigger.  These I planted indoors and have been in containers outside for the past month or so.

I plan on getting my potatoes into the ground as well.  I am thinking about giving them an entire thirty foot row in the garden.  I think one thirty foot row is plenty of room to get many plants into the ground once I cut off the eyes and dry them a little bit. 

Each eye is potentially a plant that is waiting to be planted into the ground.  You can just plant the whole potato in the ground, but if you cut the eyes you can get many more plants and hopefully a much larger harvest.

My containers that I have planted indoors that are full of edible plant seeds and flower seeds are starting to sprout and break through the soil.  Some seeds that were planted indoors include pumpkins, zucchini, watermelon, peppers, eggplant, cucumbers, pickles, cantaloupe, honeydew, and many more.

I have also planted flowers that include Queen Anne’s lace, statice, coriander/cilantro, cosmos, calendula, marigolds, corn flowers, and many more.

Sprouts, Digging, and Soaking

Kind of an odd title, but that is what I have been doing this afternoon.  I am seeing sprouts coming from my alyssum and wildflowers only.  I am hoping that I will begin to see dill sprouting any day now.  I did plant them later than my alyssum and wildflower seeds, so I do still have some time before they sprout.

It was also time for digging now that I have my potatoes and need to get them into the soil as soon as possible.  I am looking to put them in the ground tomorrow all dependent on the weather conditions and temperature.  Although my potatoes may be safe in the ground covered by soil I still would like to plant them on a good sunny day.

Along with digging I did some soaking with my strawberry plants.  It is important to soak your plants in water before putting them outside in the ground.  They need to soak in water in order to get out of their dormant state.  This allows the plant to absorb water and get ready to grow once you put them outside in the garden.

Early Planting of Strawberries and Potatoes

I have received my potatoes and strawberry plants this evening in the mail.  I had ordered them this year and I would be getting them sometime in the beginning of the growing season.  Today they arrived and I need to plant them in the garden as soon as possible.

This means I have to start working the soil a little bit sooner than I had anticipated.  I was hoping these would come in a little bit later and possibly the end of March.  It looks like these plants will have to be in the garden sometime this week.  It is supposed to be a good day on Thursday so it looks like I will be aiming for that day to put them in the ground.

Planning on Including New Seeds and Plants Never Cultivated Before

I like to keep my garden diversified and not grow the same thing every year.  Although I do grow some of the same things each season I always like to add at least one new plant that I haven't grown before.  This year is different and instead of one new plant or seed I am going to be adding five new plants which should make for an interesting year.

I purchased them about a week ago and they just arrived today.  Radishes, peas, and a few lettuce seeds are what I have at the moment.  I did get some potatoes and strawberries which are also going to be grown in the garden this year hopefully.  I also have celery seeds which I am going to be planting this spring along with lettuce, spinach, peas, and possibly radishes.

When the new year came around I actually didn't think I was going to buy all these new plants, but I thought it would be better to add some new for a little bit of a challenge.  The strawberries and potatoes will come later in the springtime because they are plants rather than seeds.  They don't send them until it is about time to put them into the soil.