Spring Broccoli Is Now Fall Broccoli

This Broccoli was planted way back in the spring as soon as the ground was thawed. We let it go through the summer because when a brassica plant flowers it bring in all kinds of beneficial insects. When we checked it the other day we were surprised to see nice full heads of broccoli waiting for the dinner table.

This cabbage was planted early spring as well. The heads did not tighten up and get big enough for harvest in the spring so we let it go through the summer. In our experience, cabbage will put on a good tight head at the end of summer into fall.

This Eucalyptus is a new addition to our garden. Eucalyptus cinerea is very hardy for a Eucalyptus plant. One source says this variety is hardy down to -4 degrees F. Zone 6a, where we are, has a average temperature low of -10 to -5 degrees F. I hope this perennial tree will establish itself. The lady in the booth at the plant show where I bought the plant seemed to think it was completely fine in our climate. After doing some research on it, I think it may die back over the winter and come up again in the spring. It may be to cold for this plant to establish as a tree in our climate. But the tag it came with says it is hardy down to USDA zone 6. So we will just have to chalk this up to a experiment.  I will let you know how it goes.

I got this fig tree from my friend Mike B. Not sure what variety it is. It is suppose to be cold hardy in our climate. He is growing figs in Newport KY and they went crazy this year. He had so many figs on every branch, I was truly amazed. We tend to be just a little bit colder over the winter here in SW Ohio. I hope this tree gets established and I get as many figs as my friend did this year. 

Seedling Update

Every single Jerusalem artichoke and Russian Comfrey that I planted earlier this year has either come up, or is coming up now. 100% success rate, not bad. I hope there is an interest in useful perennial plants in my area. If not I will have a lot of planting to do. If anyone who reads this blog wants some, let me know. I will give you a reader discount. 

Hello! You found my secret message! Words of wisdom: 'Nothing is troublesome that we do willingly' Thomas Jefferson

The indoor plants are doing great. I picked up some clearance plants at the local box store for next to nothing. You should check the back of the outdoor plant section at your local box store. Everyday they put plants they want to get rid of on racks and deeply discount them. I paid a dollar for each of these flats of marigolds. 

With our busy schedules, it is hard to find time to harden off our plants. I wanted to have my brassicas in the ground by now. Depending on the extended forecast, we may try to get a headstart on the season by planting next weekend. Around here, Mother's day is the safe time to plant every year. I want to try to push it up a week. 

Waiting for Spring

Rain, snow, ice, sun, snow, sun, rain, sun. This is a day in the life of an Ohio resident. My yard has been completely water-logged, then dry, then frozen all in one week. I planted one hundred and fifty peas a couple weeks ago when the ground was perfect and the temps were mild. I am glad the peas knew better than me and did not germinate. Three days after I planted them they were under two inches of snow. I heard the spring peepers, so that is my excuse. =) 

So while spring and winter fight it out, we are moving forward with the garden preps. Below is an update on the plants we started indoors a few weeks ago.

The top row is mostly tomatoes. They are doing well. We are still having some germinate, but even if no more came up, our germination rate would be good. 

Here is a close up of some tomatoes. I really like these smaller bins. It makes moving and rearranging the plants so much easier.

I recently had to raise the lights up. These tomatoes are growing fast. Smells like summer every time I touch one.  

This is an experiment. I collected hundreds of Allium seeds at the end of last summer. I broadcast seeded these two bins with the collected seeds, a mix of leeks, red onion and green onion. I also had a bunch of Brassica seeds in the bottom of a bag and decided to throw them in as well. 

I am not sure what is growing, could be broccoli, cauliflower or cabbage. The plan is to pull them out soon and transplant them into peat pots to plant in the garden as soon as possible. The soil is very sandy, the mix is 1/3 compost 1/3 sand 1/3 peat moss. Once the Brassica's are out I will let the onions grow to "set" size and transplant them into the garden.

Here are some cabbages. As soon as these go in the ground I plan on planting more from seed directly in the garden. We eat a lot of cabbage so, in my opinion, you can't grow enough.

This bin is full of odds and ends. There is Walking stick kale, tobacco for pesticide, cabbages, broccoli, salt bush and some volunteer Curcubit that didn't germinate last year but did this year. These soil cubes are left over from last year.  

This bin has various flowers like cosmos and zinnia. You can tell these are left over soil cubes from last year due to the moss growing on them. 

The full set-up. I am so excited to get back in the garden. Every year we have done a better job and learned many new things. We will have garlic this year and we can harvest our three year old asparagus patch. Can't wait!

Odds and Ends

It's that time of year again! I don't know what is is but I have always loved growing plants indoors. When I was a kid I used to grow flowers from seeds in flats in my bedroom window. I have stepped up my operation since then.

Here are the first brassica's that came up. We have broccoli, cauliflower, walking stick kale, cabbages and brussel sprouts going indoors. 

Here is the first tomato that popped up. They are doing great now I will post pics of the growth soon.

Here is the insulated dog house I am building in the garage. I will have a full post on the construction and design when I finish it. 

Dara was prepping and planting some raised beds on Sunday. She found these giant carrots still going strong. One of them had a soft top and I am sure both were very woody at this point. They went into the compost, but I think if we plant some carrots in the early fall and mulch the bed really good we could pull carrots out through the snow all winter long. 

I started an entrepreneurial experiment recently. I planted 40 Jerusalem Artichokes and 20 Russian Comfrey starts in one quart containers. We plan on making a sign saying something about "Edible Perennial Plants for sale" and trying to sell these from the property on the weekends. We will see where this goes.