Changing of the Season Means New Harvests to Come

Now that most of my spring crops are done except for broccoli it is time to move onto the summer harvests that include pretty much everything in the garden right now.  Today I had a few harvests to do which include tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, beans, corn, and some broccoli.  Broccoli is the only spring crop that is left still producing vegetables that are good to pick.

When it is time to start picking tomatoes that is when you know you are at the peak of summer or getting close to the peak harvest season.  Right now I have plenty of cherry tomatoes, but they just have not turned red yet.  They are not quite ready to harvest, but a couple of plants do have some older fruit that have turned and enjoyed them in a salad a couple of days ago.  Those were the very first cherry tomatoes of the season so far.

A couple of days ago I also picked a couple of Roma and beefsteak tomatoes.  I like picking them just before they turn red because just before red they seem to last longer and are much more firm than if you were to pick them when they are bright red.  You could also pick them sooner and then place them on the window to continue ripening if you prefer.  Sometimes tomatoes that are not close to ripe drop on the ground and those I would place on the windowsill to hopefully ripen enough for consumption.

Corn is also another summer crop that happens to be ready around the begging of August and sometimes the end of July.  A couple of weeks ago some of the corn was ready and I began picking some of them.  I grew two types of strands of corn and for now only one of the types is ready for picking while the other still has a little bit more time to develop until it is ready to pick.  I would say another week or so and that corn will be ready.

I also plan to pick my onions and potatoes hopefully this weekend.  They are pretty much done and they are no longer growing or staying green.  This is the perfect time to start digging them up from the ground and enjoy their great flavor.

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.

Getting Ready for Placing Plants Outside

At the moment there are only a couple of plants that are able to withstand the cool temperatures that have arrived.  It is still a little bit early to put all my plants outside.  With these temperatures only my spinach and lettuce can bear it right now.  I also have broccoli which I started inside that loves cool weather and I will probably be putting them outside soon as well.  For now I will be keeping my lettuce and spinach outside.  I am hoping by the end of the month to be putting them in the ground as long as they can get some sunshine.

I have been planting more seeds inside this season and have recently planted some cucumbers, cantaloupe, watermelon, and even carrots.  My melons and cucumbers are sitting underneath fluorescent lights to get them sprouting quickly. 

I have also used larger peat pots this season for these seeds.  Using larger peat pots will allow for more time for the plants to develop without having to put them in the ground too soon.  If they sit in the peat pots for too long the containers may begin to dissolve and I would have to put them in the garden soil right away when it may not be time to do so.  That is why I chose to use larger ones for my melons.

Carrots on the other hand are not normally put into peat pots and I usually just plant some seeds directly into the garden soil.  Unfortunately this is not very efficient to say the least and I needed to try a different approach to planting this vegetable. 

Using small peat pots for carrots seemed like the obvious and best solution to this problem.  Planting them in plastic containers is something that should not be done because of transplanting problems.  Many times when transplanting carrots from a plastic container into the garden may cause the roots to not grow straight and might crack easily.  This is why I avoided planting them in plastic containers and chose to use small peat pots.

 
I also have tomatoes and broccoli sprouting that have grown beyond the trays that I placed them in and had to move them into larger pots.  I moved all my tomatoes and broccoli and placed them into large cups that I had saved up and this should last them until it is time to transplant them into the garden in the next couple of months or so

Set up Trays for Some More Indoor Planting

As you know I have planted some containers full of dill, alyssum, and some wildflowers.  I also have some lettuce and spinach growing in the cool cellar under lights.  These are the only plants I have growing indoors as of yesterday.  I decided that yesterday was a perfect time to start planting many more seeds that I need to give a head start.

Getting most of my plants into the windowsill for maximum light exposure which all my flowers need before going outside.  It has been some warm days recently and I probably could have put my spinach, lettuce, and all cool weather plants outside.  Instead I kept them inside under lights for now.  It won’t be too long until I set up my table and start bringing all kinds of plants outdoors.

I have a tray that has 72 cells where I can start planting all kinds of seeds.  I have many types of peppers that I needed to plant yesterday and these cells definitely came in handy for this reason.  I have literally five different varieties that I am looking forward to grow especially all the spicy peppers.  I even planted some of the sweeter ones as well which make for great salads and sauces.  The hot types will be used mainly for salsa hopefully.

I also have another tray full of other vegetables and some flowers.  I knew I wanted to get eggplant started and hopefully don’t grow so many plants as last year.  Six small containers are what I stuck with this year and that should be plenty of plants as long as the seeds sprout in the soil.  Some sun king hybrid broccoli is what I plan on growing the whole season so I planted some of these seeds in containers.

 
I also bought some more raspberries this year and looking forward to planting them in the garden.  I need to place them in a tray of water in order to get them out of their dormant state before planting them in a container or the ground.  Once they start growing roots and producing leaves I can then take them out of the tray and get them ready for soil.

Let’s Start off a New Decade of Gardening Right

Over the Winter I was thinking about some new seeds or plants that I should try out during this new season.   I came up with one idea and decided that I should start trying to grow some hot peppers along with the normal sweet peppers that I grow each year.  That is when thought about growing the hottest pepper on the planet at the moment: The Carolina Reaper.   This is supposed to be the hottest pepper and even hotter than the ghost pepper.  I also bought some habanero peppers to go along with it.

Aside from growing some new peppers this year I also am thinking about growing a larger spring crop this season.  I might be adding some cabbage, broccoli, brussel sprouts and maybe some celery to this year’s spring season.  This would go along with my normal crop of potatoes, lettuce, spinach, peas, and radishes. 

I am not sure if I am going to do this, but it is an idea I was going to look over.  I will have to make sure not to grow too much or I would not have enough room for my summer plants.  This is just something I was thinking about doing.

For my spring crop I have started planting seeds of both lettuce and spinach.  These are two crops I plan to have growing in the garden within a month or so.  I placed them in a cool place this year since they grow best when in temperatures of 50-60 degrees.  I could place them in cold frames outside, but for now I am keeping them indoors just to give them a little head start.

 Wildflowers, dill, and alyssum are also planted indoors right now.  I planted them about a couple of weeks ago before my lettuce and spinach.  I love using these plants because they are good at attracting some of the best insects in the area and are a great help during the whole season