December and January are perhaps the slowest months in my gardening year. There is not really much growing in the garden these months. Perhaps a few radish, some arugula, carrots and kale, and I am 'storing' one head of cabbage in the ground. I allowed two broccoli plants to go to flower, so as to attempt to harvest some seeds from them. The brussel sprouts don't seem to want to head up, despite the stems being covered in small starts.
I am hoping for a dry spell for a week or more to allow the ground to dry out enough to permit me to turn under the clover. I need to turn it under at least a month prior to planting out, and it will soon be approaching time to plant the spring potato crop. This year I am limiting myself to planting just Yukon Gold and Kennebec. The Yukon Gold make superior baked potatoes and boil up nicely for potato salads. The Kennebec are good all around potatoes, useful in baking, frying and mashed, and they store longer than the Yukons. Last year I planted four seeds potatoes each of Yukon Gold, Kennebec and Pontiac Red, and was rewarded with a large paper grocery sack of each at harvest time. I am thinking this year I will plant six Yukon Gold and 12 Kennebec. I have heard it said that you should plant potatoes in newly cultivated garden spot (one that not had crops grown in it the previous four years). But I rotate mine through my garden each year. I add extra organic matter and till deeper and I do not lime the area I set aside for potatoes.
Another thing I do in December is to plan out next year's garden. For the most part it is very similar to last year's garden, rotated one bed over. I experiment with a few different varieties of tomato each year, but my main planting of them each year is dedicated to Celebrity and Mortgage lifter. This year I plan on trying out three different types of paste tomatoes. The best of these three will become part of my regular planting scheme each year. I also try our a couple new varieties of peppers each year. The regulars of my pepper planting are Jalepeno, Habenero, Anaheim and Serano hot peppers. My wife uses these to make her jardiniere recipe. We love it on hot dogs, and italian beef sandwiches.
I have grown Marconi green peppers the past three years, this year I am trying California Wonder instead. Last year I grew some pepprocini peppers with the intention of canning them. I tried three different recipe/preperation methods and none of them produced an acceptable canned pepper. So this year I am going to try some Ancho peppers, that are supposed quite mild with a hint of apple flavor. Perhaps I'll make them into a jelly.
I am hoping for a dry spell for a week or more to allow the ground to dry out enough to permit me to turn under the clover. I need to turn it under at least a month prior to planting out, and it will soon be approaching time to plant the spring potato crop. This year I am limiting myself to planting just Yukon Gold and Kennebec. The Yukon Gold make superior baked potatoes and boil up nicely for potato salads. The Kennebec are good all around potatoes, useful in baking, frying and mashed, and they store longer than the Yukons. Last year I planted four seeds potatoes each of Yukon Gold, Kennebec and Pontiac Red, and was rewarded with a large paper grocery sack of each at harvest time. I am thinking this year I will plant six Yukon Gold and 12 Kennebec. I have heard it said that you should plant potatoes in newly cultivated garden spot (one that not had crops grown in it the previous four years). But I rotate mine through my garden each year. I add extra organic matter and till deeper and I do not lime the area I set aside for potatoes.
Another thing I do in December is to plan out next year's garden. For the most part it is very similar to last year's garden, rotated one bed over. I experiment with a few different varieties of tomato each year, but my main planting of them each year is dedicated to Celebrity and Mortgage lifter. This year I plan on trying out three different types of paste tomatoes. The best of these three will become part of my regular planting scheme each year. I also try our a couple new varieties of peppers each year. The regulars of my pepper planting are Jalepeno, Habenero, Anaheim and Serano hot peppers. My wife uses these to make her jardiniere recipe. We love it on hot dogs, and italian beef sandwiches.
I have grown Marconi green peppers the past three years, this year I am trying California Wonder instead. Last year I grew some pepprocini peppers with the intention of canning them. I tried three different recipe/preperation methods and none of them produced an acceptable canned pepper. So this year I am going to try some Ancho peppers, that are supposed quite mild with a hint of apple flavor. Perhaps I'll make them into a jelly.
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