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. 

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.

Garden Update 10-01-12

So this is weird. I planted a hundred or so winter peas and this one came up yellow. It is not over watered or sick, it is very healthy and looks just like all the others except, its bright yellow. I hope I get a harvest before the hard frost comes. I may make row covers over this area if I can do it cheap.

Our first brussel sprouts ever. I have tried to grow them before and have not had any luck. I started these in February indoors. I can't wait to have some sauteed sprouts!

This is our second year wormwood (Artemisia absinthium). This is a beautiful plant that can help deter insects around the garden. It can also be used in doors to repel fleas and moths.

Here is another cabbage. We are having a great year for cabbage. We just need to make sure to eat them when they are ready. I kept letting one get bigger and bigger and then it rotted before I remembered to pick it. 

We are still getting broccoli. In fact, the plants only stopped producing during the heat of the summer when it went to flower. As soon as it cooled off again it started putting on broccoli. I consider broccoli plants a garden staple from early spring to early winter.

Here is the garlic bed I planted a couple weeks ago. I threw hundreds of lettuce seeds in the box after I planted the garlic. I plan on making a cover for this bed so we can harvest the lettuce through early winter.

Small Harvest

The garden is really starting to produce now despite the lack of rain. Soon our 50 + tomato plants will give us a crazy amount of produce. We really need to purchase our pressure canner soon!

Here we have chard, cabbage, tomatoes, summer squash, zucchini, green beans, purple beans and oregano.