Fall seed starting

Looking back at Friday's post, I see that I started seeds for the fall veggie garden on that day. Today I can see I am having some germination already. Just to explain how I start my seeds, here's how it works. I take a coffee filter and moisten it. I then put seed on one section, in the shape of a slice of pie, and fold the filter over the seeds twice. Then I put the filter and seeds into a sealed ziplock baggie and prop it up against the wall like it was a letter in a letter holder. This way, when the seeds germinate, the root will work it's way down between the layers of the filter. If you were to lay the baggie flat on the counter, the root would try to work it's way through the layers of the coffee filter and you would have trouble getting them out of the filter without damaging the roots. After about a week, the seeds will start forming little 'tails' and look like small tadpoles. I typically let them go for another week and them pot them up in some potting soil mixed with worm castings. I grow them on under lights for about 4 weeks. Then I harden them off for about a week and plant them out under a row cover. I keep them under row covers for about the first month for two reasons. First because we have terribly hot summers and they will need the shade, and second because pests are also a problem during the peak summer months and the row covers will protect them from both the sun and the bugs.
 Just to switch over for a moment, I'd like to share what's going on in the flower gardens around the house. Here around the back of the house around the pool, the mophead hydrangeas are in full bloom, as are the blue balloon flowers. My hollyhocks are blooming, but they have a bad case of rust and the plants look awful. The alba lavendar is getting ready to bloom which is quite a treat for the bees. A great number of the daylillies are blooming, even some of the hostas have blooms already too. Out front the gallardadia and coneflowers are in full bloom. And the mexican hats are absolutely lovely this year. I will try to get out and take some pictures tomorrow morning so I can share them with you.

Memorial weekend

A rather uneventful weekend in the garden. Saturday morning Maggie managed to catch a small rabbit. I caught her before any damage had been done and freed the little fellow, although doing so was no in the best interest of my garden. I put the dogs back in the fenced in area of the back yard for an hour or so and thought that would be plenty of time for the rabbit to have made his escape. Well, Darwin got another victim, because when the dogs and I came back out to mow the paths, the rabbit had returned to the garden and this time both dogs were hot on it's tail. This did not come out well for the rabbit this time, as I was distracted with the mowing and by the time I saw what was going on, the dogs have critically injured the rabbit. I put it out of it's misery and disposed of the body so I wouldn't find it in the shop (where the dogs sleep) stinking up the whole basement.
 Lyle and Dawn came over to swim on Sunday with their two daughters. I took them out and let them feed the chickens and give some peppermints to the neighbor's horses and gave Lyle a tour of the garden. The soybeans I planted have started to sprout and the green beans are forming. I should have enough beans for a meal by next weekend, and by the looks of it, at least two meals a week from then on. I planted enough bush beans to do some canning (hopefully) this summer. I hope to use the pole beans for fresh eating.
 I put some basil seeds in the ground near the beans on Monday. I thought I had started some plants this winter but I guess not as I couldn't find any. I have some purple basil growing out in the flower gardens but I don't know how that might taste or look in some of the recipes.

Garlic harvest

I started the garlic harvest in earnest today. I dug all the Aja Rojo bulbs, about 100, out of the garden today. The leaves were turning yellow so I felt it was time for them. It seems a little early, but they had formed fair sized bulbs. I think I planted them a little too close together (3" apart) because the Burgandy garlic I planted at greater spacing (6") had much bigger bulbs. Lesson learned!
 I started seeds for the fall garden this evening in coffee filters and plastic bags. Tonight I did some Atlantic broccoli, some Early snowball cauliflower, and some red danish cabbage. I realized that I am all out of of golden acre cabbage seeds, so I'll have to order some soon.
 The Long Island Improved brusell sprouts I potted up are doing well.

The bulb on the left had 6" spacing, the bulb on the right 3".

changing of harvest

well strawberry season is over here at my place. This was the best season yet for our strawberries, thanks to the new variety we planted last fall, Chandler. If you are going to grow strawberries here in the central carolinas, I would highly recommend you plant this berry. They are big and delicious.
 The russian pickle cucumbers are starting to produce. I've gotten 6 in the last two days. I planted 9 plants, hopefully that will produce enough for me to can some bread and butter pickles, some dill spears and some sweet relish this year. We shall see. I also planted two Soyu cucs for the salad plates. The DW just loves these long straight slicing cucs and so do I.
 I am seeing flowers on the Ky wonder pole beans I transplanted into the garden. The beans I direct seeded a week later still haven't started flowering. I've got flowers and some small fruits on my Mortgage lifter and Box Car Willie maters, as well as on the Stupices. I can hardly wait for the first maters, I should have started some brown berry cherry maters this year. They always give me the first taste of maters every year, but I am not a big fan of cherry tomatoes, and didn't want to give up space for them.
 Some of my garlic plants are looking a little worse for the wear so I dug up 6 Red Creole plants. They had nice size bulbs on them, but I think I'll give the rest of them a couple more weeks. I usually don't dig my garlic 'til sometime after the 4th of July,  but this is my first year growing creole type garlic and the plants are starting to look haggard. I have 3 varieties of creole garlic in the garden, off the top of my head I think they are Aja Rojo, Creole Red and I can't remember. I have some soft necks that I've been growing from a grocery store bulb for several years now as well. I have no idea what variety they are, but I eat about half the bulbs and store the rest for growing the next season each year.
 I'd like to wish all my fellow veterans a happy memorial day, and ask that we all keep those who made the ultimate sacrifice in our hearts and prayers. And their families too.

Lilac festival

Well, the DW and I made our way to Rochester, NY to visit our daughter who has recently taken a job here. We came on Lilac Festival weekend and went to Highland Park to see the wonderful gardens there. Boy do they have the lilacs.....and rhododendrums and dogwoods and just about every plant imaginable. We went through the greenhouses and about 1/4 of the park and had just wonderful weather. It was in the mid 70's and sunny with a pleasant breeze most of the 3 hours we were there. My wife and daughter had fried oreos and I had fried Reeses cups, yummy! If you get the chance to come to Rochester this time of year, be sure to get to Highland park to see the wonderful gardens there.

Here are some from inside the green house located at the park.

A bit of excitement.

 Well we had ourselves a bit of excitement today. I was out adding bedding to the chicken coop when somehow, one of the girls (I have 4 Americaunas - Peewee, Cartman, Ginger and Rocky) got out of the pen and the dogs (2 yellow labs, Molly and Maggie) were in hot pursuit. After having gotten the dogs back up to the house and scolding them, I returned to search for Cartman. The DW was helping, which is good because Cartman is a red and I am color blind, which means the reds blend in with the greens for me, I would have never spotted her in the high grass and brush.  After some help from a neighbor named Molly and her two grils, I managed to catch Cartman. Or rather, Cartman got tired of being chased and just sat down and let me pick her up. Thank goodness, because I was getting tired and now have scratches on my arms from the brambles out back.  Any other day and it would not have worried me, but with us going to see our daughter for the weekend, I will not be around to let her in when she finally decided to return to the flock. But she is back and all is well again.

More planting today.

I had most of the day off today as it is slow at work. So I spent the better part of the day in the garden, pulling up the last of the radishes, turnips and the sweet pea plants that have been harvested. I added compost and tilled up all these areas and planted about 25 sqft of Edible soy beans. My doctor told me I needed to get more Omega 3 acids in my diet to fight off plaque, so I did a little research and found that fresh soy beans are a good source (along with many other fresh veggies).
 I started seeds for my fall crop of brussels sprouts and they have sprouted. I potted them up last night and will be growing them under lights for the next month or so. I am trying, yet again, to grow Long Island Improved brussels spouts. This will be my third try. The first try was a spring crop, which was doomed to fail here in Carolina. The second attempt, last fall, I got into the garden too late and they didn't form 'heads' until late winter and the heads were too loose. Hopefully, the third time is the trick or I will probably give up on them and stick to the things I can actually get a harvest from. But I sure do enjoy some fresh Bsprouts with a light lemon butter sauce! And there is nothing as satisfying as fresh veggies in early winter.
 I am chomping at the bit to plant my pumpkin seeds, but I learned my lesson last year, when I planted in mid-May and my pumpkins were ready in August, but Halloween was still 6 weeks away! I will be planting the pumpkin seeds around the 4th of July, which is about the same time I will be putting the Bsprouts in the garden.

Getting started.

I suppose I've put off starting this blog for long enough. I never knew where, or when, would be a good time to start. This week we (my Mrs and I) are nearing the end of the strawberry harvest for this year. This has been our first year growing Chandler berries and they are the tops! Big and juicy. In years past we have grown Ozark Beauty, and they were satisfactory, but smallish and they tended to rot on the plant if not harvested daily.
 This past week I harvested the last of the Early Frosty sweet peas and put up 8 pints for a later date. This was my first venture into canning and things went rather smoothly. It was far easier than I had anticipated.
 Next up for harvest are the beets and carrots. I started pulling beets this week, it is my first season growing beets and I wasn't sure I'd like them, as I have never had fresh beets and I am not a big fan of canned/pickled beets. I pulled about a half dozen, they were about 3" in diameter and I brushed them with some olive oil and baked them at 350 for about 20 minutes. They were quite tasty just like that. I think next time I might try sprinkling them with a little cinnamon and maybe some butter. I've read that the greens can be used in salads but seeing as how I have lots of other greens for my salads, I might hold off on that idea until this fall's crop.
 I'm starting to see female flowers on the Russian cucumbers, so it shouldn't be long now before I'll have some pickles to make. This is my first year growing this variety, and it will be my first attempt at making pickles and sweet relish. I hope I don't end up with 'Aunt Bee' pickles (those of you who watch Andy Griffith know what I mean). I am also growing Suyo cucumbers, as my DW (dear wife) likes them for slicing. I grow them over a half round cage so they can hang straight down and are easy to harvest.
 I am also seeing the first flowers forming on the Mortgage lifter and Stupice tomatoes. I have been growing Stupice for several years. I like this variety because it is a very early producer for me and I can't wait for tomatoes early in the season. I am growing twenty Celebrity tomato plants this year to make salsa to put up and because they are a variety you can count on to produce a good crop.
 Well, that's about enough for the first post. I am off to New York to see my daughter this weekend, so I'll be away from the garden. I hope I don't get an attack of potato beetles while I'm away.