Treats from the vegetable garden
Mid-October planting adventures -
We are cooking greens a couple times a week, having finally discovered the ones we consistently enjoy growing and eating. And, the sweet peppers are still producing like crazy. I stopped harvesting the broad beans to get seeds for an early spring crop but they are going strong. The lettuce is 3-inches tall so we should have salads in the next week or so.
Last February, we planted potato seeds in cages we made of rabbit/chicken wire. It was an experiment to see if patio dwellers could have home grown potatoes.
In my potato-eagerness, I ordered way too many types and ended up with half left to plant. So, we turned to the raised bed behind us and tried the Ruth Stout method. The potato seeds were placed on the ground and covered with 8-inches of wheat straw.
The cage method produced decently, but the raised bed, no dig method resulted in pounds and pounds of potatoes to harvest.
Over the summer the bed was planted with tomatoes and squash, neither of which did worth a darn.
Today when we put in 200 garlic "seeds" we harvested another 3.5 pounds of potatoes from the bits that were left behind over the summer.
Every year I say I'll never again bother planting squash and tomatoes - the Farmer's Market vendors do so well with them. Maybe I'll remember that vow next spring.
And a tip about the Salton digital scale in the photo. I use it weekly when baking and the battery life is about a month. Not very environmentally responsible for a fairly expensive scale.
We are cooking greens a couple times a week, having finally discovered the ones we consistently enjoy growing and eating. And, the sweet peppers are still producing like crazy. I stopped harvesting the broad beans to get seeds for an early spring crop but they are going strong. The lettuce is 3-inches tall so we should have salads in the next week or so.
Last February, we planted potato seeds in cages we made of rabbit/chicken wire. It was an experiment to see if patio dwellers could have home grown potatoes.
In my potato-eagerness, I ordered way too many types and ended up with half left to plant. So, we turned to the raised bed behind us and tried the Ruth Stout method. The potato seeds were placed on the ground and covered with 8-inches of wheat straw.
The cage method produced decently, but the raised bed, no dig method resulted in pounds and pounds of potatoes to harvest.
Over the summer the bed was planted with tomatoes and squash, neither of which did worth a darn.
Today when we put in 200 garlic "seeds" we harvested another 3.5 pounds of potatoes from the bits that were left behind over the summer.
Every year I say I'll never again bother planting squash and tomatoes - the Farmer's Market vendors do so well with them. Maybe I'll remember that vow next spring.
And a tip about the Salton digital scale in the photo. I use it weekly when baking and the battery life is about a month. Not very environmentally responsible for a fairly expensive scale.
Comments
PS
I don't grow tomatoes any more so that eliminates a LOT of potential problems. Don't grow potatoes either. I found that they take up a lot of space and are inexpensive at the farmer's market. (;