Mid-Summer Garden Update

Wow, I can’t believe it is already the middle of July. Lots of activity going on in the garden over the last month. The first harvest of Castle Dome broccoli took place on June 10th and the harvest of Green Magic broccoli started on June 20th. Harvested most of the plot of Superior bush green beans on July 6th which yielded 7 quarts of canned green beans. The other smaller plot of Derby bush green beans will be harvested over the next few weeks. The Rattlesnake pole beans have just started to yield a few pole bean, with many more to come. The spring planted onions have been pulled up and the plants are currently drying in the barn. The majority of these onions started to send up seed heads. I have never seen this number of onion plants do this before. I am not sure what caused this, but I would guess it was the very wet soils followed by the extreme heat. I am not sure how well these onion bulbs will store, but time will tell. Started harvesting a few hot banana peppers over the last week or so, with many more coming on. The other pepper plants are doing well. The cucumbers are growing like weeds and the vines have reached the top of their cages. I do have several smaller cucumbers on the vines with many other pencil sized cucumbers observed. All of the Red Norland potatoes were dug on July 8th. I still have a few grow bags with Kennebec white potatoes still waiting to fully mature. Overall, the potato harvest was really good this year. The first harvest of the Katarina cabbage took place on June 29th, with a few more plants left to harvest over the next few weeks. In addition, all but one Kossak kohlrabi have now been harvested. The Silver Queen sweet corn has really taken off and the plants are now over 7 feet tall. The plants have now tasseled and the most of the corn has small ears with silks forming. The Hadrian celery plants got off to s slow start this spring, but have since started to grow. Harvest of a few celery stalks will probably begin over the next week. The Plum Regal tomato plants have many blossoms and a few small green tomatoes on all of the six plants.

BTW, I started my fall seeds of broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, kohlrabi, and lettuce on June 30th and all have since germinated and are growing in trays on the covered back porch. Fall will be here before you know it.

Red Norland Potatoes Harvested From One 4×4 Raised Bed, Picture Taken 7/8/26
Red Norland Potatoes Harvested From Another 4×4 Raised Bed, Picture Taken 7/8/26
Red Norland Potatoes Harvested From Three Separate Grow Bags, Picture Taken 7/8/26
Red Norland Potatoes Harvested From Two Separate Grow Bags, Picture Taken 7/8/26
Green Magic Broccoli Awaiting Harvest, Picture Taken 6/18/26
Castle Dome Broccoli Awaiting Harvest, Picture Taken 6/10/26
Katarina Cabbage Awaiting Harvest, Picture Taken 6/29/26
Giant Silver Queen Corn, Picture Taken 7/11/26

Early June Garden Update, Garden Fully Planted

The 2026 spring garden is now fully planted. The tomato and pepper plants were finally transplanted out into the garden around the middle of May as well as the celery seedlings. The weather has been very very wet up until about a week ago and the rain has finally stopped and the sun has been shining. The very wet soil has caused my broccoli and cabbage plants to wilt a little in the hot sun, so I covered them with some shade netting for a few days. They now look much better as the soils have continued to dry out. The Castle Dome broccoli now have heads that are about ready to harvest, although they are somewhat small. The Katarina cabbage and the Kossak Kohlrabi are also growing pretty good. Cucumbers, bush green beans and pole green beans have been planted and have since germinated, but one of the plots of bush green beans had to be replanted due to the very wet soils. The early April planted lettuce is growing pretty good, but the harvest window is slowly closing. Additional lettuce seeds of Sierra have been sown to help extend the harvest hopefully into July. The potatoes are growing really well and some of the vines on the Kennebec potato vines have started to flower. Most of the the Silver Queen white corn is now nearing one foot tall. The last of the green onions were harvested about 5 days ago. I have now given up on growing peas as a whole flock of sparrows descended on the peas after I took the bird netting off. I cannot keep the bird netting on the plants after the vines reach the top of the pea fence, as they get too tall. What is it with sparrows and peas anyways? Luckily, these damn sparrows only eat my peas and nothing else.

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Silver Queen Corn Getting Bigger, Picture Taken 6/5/26
Onions and Lettuce Growing Nicely, Picture Taken 6/5/26
Plot of Cabbage, Broccoli, and Brussel Sprouts, Picture Taken 6/5/26
Plot of Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Peppers, and Bush Green Beans, Picture Taken 6/5/26

Busy April and Early May in the Garden – First Spring Planted Lettuce Harvested

April turned out to be one of the warmest on record here in Central Indiana and my early planted onions and lettuce have really benefited from the above normal temperatures. The first harvest of the spring planted lettuce took place on April 22nd, with two more pickings since, the last on May 4th. This might be the earliest I ever harvested the spring planted lettuce!! The onions have really started to get some good green top growth. Garden activities have really started to pick-up in April. Green Arrow garden peas were seeded on April 6th. They have since germinated but I had to cover them with bird netting, like I have done for the last few years, to keep the sparrows from picking them to death. The March planted onion seedlings were fertilized on April 7th and a few short rows of Champion radish were also seeded on the same day, some of which have now almost reached harvestable size. The Red Norland seed potatoes were planted out on April 8th. In addition, I am also trying Kennebec white potatoes for the first time in two large grow bags. I have two 4ftx4ft raised beds and five large grow bags of Red Norland potatoes. All of the potatoes have since started to poke up above the soil and look good. Cabbage, kohlrabi, and broccoli seedlings were transplanted out into the garden on April 14th and the brussel sprouts seedlings shortly after that. I harvested the first of the overwintered lettuce on April 14th. There is a small amount of this lettuce still growing, which will go to the chickens. The tomato and pepper seedlings were transplanted to larger pots on April 15th. Theses seedlings are a little small right now, but hopefully they will start to get bigger in the cold frame until they get planted out in the garden around the middle of May. Lastly, the Silver Queen white corn was seeded out into the garden in the 4ftx8ft raised bed on May 3rd. The pole and bush green beans will hopefully get seeded out into the garden by the second week of May as well as the Diva cucumbers.

One of the Two Raised Beds of Red Norland Potatoes Starting to Grow, Picture Taken 5/4/26
The Other Raised Bed of Red Norland Potatoes Growing Nicely, Picture Taken 5/4/26
Five Large Grow Bags of Red Norland Potatoes Starting to Grow, Picture Taken 5/4/26
Green Arrow Peas Starting to Grow, With Green Onions and Kohlrabi in the Background, Picture Taken 5/4/26
Onions Growing Well, Picture Taken 5/4/26
The Spring Planted Lettuce Looking Great Just Before Another Picking, Picture Taken 5/4/26
(Left to Right) Cabbage, Broccoli, Brussel Sprouts, Radish, and Overwintered Lettuce, Picture Taken 5/4/26

Early Spring Garden Update

The early spring garden is starting to take shape. Garden activities have really picked up over the last few months. The cold frame was put up in the garden around the middle of February. The two compost bins were emptied and the compost was put on all of the garden beds on February 27th. Lettuce seeds were started indoors on February 28th. Celery, brussels sprouts, kohlrabi, cabbage, and broccoli seeds were started indoors on March 8th. Lastly, tomato and pepper seeds were started indoors on March 18th. The lettuce seedlings were moved out into the cold frame on March 5th and the cole crop seedlings were moved out into the cold frame around the middle of March. The tomato and pepper seedlings will be moved out into the cold frame either today or tomorrow.

The fall planted top setting onions did not fare to well. About half of them did not make it through the winter. Not sure what happened to them, but it appears that they rotted in the ground. I have never had that happen to these since I have been growing them. I did manage to replant most of them and at least some of those have started to grow now. The overwintered lettuce (variety Nevada) did okay covered by a plastic covered hoop, but they look a little rough.

204 onion transplants were planted out into the garden on March 20th. Approximately 1/3 were red blush hybrid and 2/3 were yellow candy hybrid. 46 lettuce seedlings were planted out into the garden on April 2nd, under a plastic covered hoop. The cole crop seedlings will not be planted out into the garden for another 2-3 weeks. I plan on seeding my garden peas and the Red Norland potatoes sometime within the next week.

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Seedlings in Cold Frame, Picture Taken 4-1-26
More Seedlings in Cold Frame, Picture Taken 4-1-26
Onions in the Garden, Picture Taken 4-2-26
Newly Planted Lettuce Seedlings in the Garden, Picture Taken 4-2-26
Overwintered Lettuce (Nevada) in the Garden. Picture Taken 4-2-26

Last of the Fall Carrots Harvested, 2025 Garden Review

The last of the fall carrots were harvested on January 14, 2026, which were about 1/3 or the total harvest. The first harvest of these took place in early October. They faired really well under the plastic covered hoop and the dry leaves (see pictures below). Currently my garden is buried under about 10 inches of snow. If you live anywhere east of the Rockies then you know that it has been very very cold over the last month. I am still hopeful to be able to get the cold frame up in the garden by the end of February, even if I do have to shovel snow off of the garden bed!!

I had a very productive garden in 2025. The biggest surprise was the Plum Regal tomatoes that I tried growing for the first time. They grew really well, with no signs of the blight disease that I have battled for the last several years. I will certainly be growing that tomato variety again next year. I tried to grow a different variety of celery in 2025, Hadrian, and it grew very well with no sign of the celery disease of past years. The rest of the garden also grew very well, despite the very dry conditions that existed later in the growing season. The Castle Dome broccoli grew well, but I still miss my Packman variety, which is no longer available. I was very impressed with the Katarina cabbage, as well as the Matchbox chili pepper (of which I saved the seeds from). I am really looking forward to warmer weather and to the start of the 2026 growing season.

The Last of the 2025 Scarlet Nantes Carrots Before Harvest, Picture Taken 1-14-26
The Last of the 2025 Carrot Harvest, Picture Taken 1-14-26

2025 Fall Garden Update

Another garden season has come and gone. As of now, the garden is covered with about 5 inches of snow and temperatures have been sub zero a few times over the last few days, but the weather forecast is for much warmer weather over the next ten days, so all the snow should be melted soon.

Wow, this year’s fall garden produced really really well, despite the drought. The weather was abnormally warm until October 24th, when the garden experienced the first frost and minor freeze. Despite that, the fall garden continued to produce, with the help of some row covers. The warm season peppers and tomatoes were pulled up shortly after this time. The first harvest of fall cabbage and kohlrabi occurred around the third week of October and continued until almost the end of November. The first harvest or carrots started around the first week of October. I still have about half of the carrots in the ground covered with shredded tree leaves and a plastic covered hoop. I sure hope they made it through the very frigid temperatures (I think the snow cover should have helped to insulate them and keep them from freezing). I was able to get the topsetting onions planted in the garden on October 31st. These should overwinter with no issues. The first of the fall cauliflower was harvested on October 31st. It grew really well this fall with 5 of the 6 plants producing very large heads. The brussels sprouts harvest started on November 9th and finished up a few weeks later. The brussels sprouts harvest was about average this year. The last of the kohlrabi and cabbage did survive the very hard freeze and about 2 inches of snow on November 10th/11th, because the plants were covered with 2 row covers (they are pretty tough plants).

Just a few observations from this year’s fall garden. The fast maturing cabbage (Katarina) that I grew for the first time this year has impressed me. I think it is an excellent cabbage for the fall garden as it matures fast and also has great flavor. I will definitely be growing this again next year. The other cabbage variety that I have been growing for years, Golden Acre, also did very well in my fall garden. It takes a little longer to mature than Katarina, but it is also larger and I think it has good cold tolerance. Castle Dome, the new variety of broccoli I tried this year, did very well this fall, perhaps better than the spring planting. This is one of the varieties that is a replacement for my beloved Packman broccoli that is no longer available. I would like to trial another broccoli variety next spring, Pak-Pro, which is touted as another replacement to Packman.

Two Giant Heads of Castle Dome Broccoli Harvested on 10/22/25
Two Very Large Heads of Snow Crown Cauliflower Harvested on 10/31/25
My Chickens Feasting on What’s Left of the Fall Broccoli Plants, Picture Taken 11/22/25

Still Very Very Dry, Fall Harvest Update, Garden Visitor

Wow, it remains very very dry here in Central Indiana and it has also been unusually warm over the last several weeks, which has only made the drought worse. The temperatures have at least cooled down over the last day or so. Despite the dryness, the garden keeps producing since I have been doing some additional watering. Harvest continues on the lettuce, although probably not for much longer. The celery has really done well for me so far this year with more to come. Harvest has just finished up on the late planting of bush green beans. The tomatoes continue to produce but ripening is now at a much slower pace. Harvest continues on the jalapeno, hot banana, super chili (match box), and ancho (poblano) peppers. The four ancho pepper plants have now grown to nearly seven feet tall and are absolutely loaded with peppers, with so many that I have been giving them away. The first fall harvest of broccoli began on October 6th, with more to come. The first fall harvest of cabbage and kohlrabi is anticipated tomorrow. The carrots have really started to grow and look really good right now. The brussels sprouts are also doing pretty good right now with many small sprouts starting to form on the stalks. The cauliflower is just starting to push on small heads, but it won’t be ready to harvest for about another month or so.

I have had an occasional garden visitor over the last month or so, a groundhog! So far it has stayed away from the vegetable beds, which I am thankful for. Hopefully it stays away from them for the rest of the season. I have nicknamed it Pok Chop.

Groundhog “Pok Chop” Visiting the Garden, Picture Taken 9-25-25
Fall Broccoli, Cauliflower, and Cabbage Growing Well, Picture Taken 10-9-25
Scarlet Nante Carrots Looking Good, Picture Taken 10-9/25
Broccoli, Cauliflower, Kohlrabi, and Cabbage Growing Well in the Old Corn Plot, Picture Taken 10-9-25
Two Broccoli Plants Ready to Harvest, Picture Taken 10-6-25
The Four Ancho Poblano Pepper Plants Have Turned Into Trees, Picture Taken 10-2-25

Dry, Dry, Dry, Lots of Tomatoes and Peppers, Fall Garden Doing Well

The weather has been very very dry over the last month, but at least it has cooled down a bit over the last week or so. Wow, the Plum Regal tomatoes have been outstanding so far this year!! I have processed two batches of Italian sauce for the freezer as well as multiple batches of salsa. I have also enjoyed eating fresh tomatoes on my salad. These tomatoes are very large and meaty for a plum tomato. I will definitely be growing this variety again next year. All of my peppers have been producing like crazy, with more coming on. I have just started to harvest the early August planted lettuce, with more to come. The August planted cabbage, cauliflower, kohlrabi, and broccoli seedlings are starting to get some size to them, although the heat and the dry conditions have been a challenge so far. I have also been harvesting celery over the past month. This celery (variety Hadrian) has shown some resistant to the Celery Anthracnose disease that I have been battling over the last several years. I did have three celery plants exhibit some signs of this disease earlier this year, and they were promptly pulled out. The other celery plants seem do be growing well right now. The two plots of late planted bush green beans have started to flower and I have noticed some very small beans forming on the plants, so it won’t be too much longer before harvest begins on them. The Scarlet Nantes carrots still seem a bit small, but continue to grow and should be fine as long as I keep them watered. I am hoping we get some rain soon, but the forecast does not look promising. Happy fall gardening!

Very Large Plum Regal Tomatoes
Plum Regal Tomatoes Still Producing, Picture Taken 9-9-25
Sierra and Winter Density Lettuce, Picture Taken 9-9-25
Cabbage, Kohlrabi, Broccoli, and Cauliflower Starting to Grow, Picture Taken 9-9-25
Celery Looking Good, Picture Taken 9-9-25
Snow Crown Cauliflower Getting Bigger, Picture Taken 9-9-25
Plot of Bush Green Beans Nearing Harvest Time, Picture Taken 9-9-25
Brussel Spouts (Left) and Broccoli (Right), Picture Taken 9-9-25
Cabbage, Cauliflower, and Broccoli, Picture Taken 9-9-25

Mid Summer Garden Update – Lots of Good Produce – Fall Garden Planted

Wow, the garden keeps producing a really good harvest. The first Silver Queen white corn was harvest on July 20th. The Silver Queen sweet corn harvest ended with a total of 32 good sized ears harvested from 34 total plants. Six smaller sized ears were harvested that did not fully fill out an ear. Overall, the corn harvest was decent, but the overall size of the ears were smaller than normal. I would attribute that to the very hot temperatures at the time the corn was pollinating. I have been harvesting Diva cucumbers over about the last three weeks or so and had enough to put up twelve jars of refrigerator pickles. The cucumber vines have only recently started to wither a little, probably due to vine bores, but that is okay as I have all the cucumbers I need for this year. Harvest continues on green beans, now mostly from the rattlesnake pole beans. More bush green beans were sown a few weeks ago and they are growing nicely. Harvest began on the Plum Regal tomatoes about five days ago with many more tomatoes to come. Harvest has also started on the celery. The last of the spring broccoli was pulled up last week. Scarlet Nantes carrot seeds were sown on August 4th. The fall garden has now been planted. 18 broccoli seedlings, 18 cabbage seedlings, 8 cauliflower seedlings, 12 kohlrabi seedlings, and 18 lettuce seedlings were transplanted out into the garden on August 5th and 6th. Since the weather has been very hot and dry, I had to make sure that these seedlings received plenty of water. Harvest is starting to ramp up on the hot banana peppers and the jalapeno peppers. The pepper harvest has been delayed a little this year due to the mid to late June heat wave. The first of the Match Box red chili peppers were harvested a few days ago and dried.

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Silver Queen White Corn Awaiting Harvest, Picture Taken 7-21-25
Ears of First Silver Queen Corn Harvested on July 20, 2025

Summer Garden Producing Well, Did Receive Some Much Needed Rain

The summer garden is really starting to produce. The garden did receive some much needed rain over the last week or so, but it still remains somewhat drier than normal. At least the temperatures have fallen to near normal levels, which has helped the plants.

I picked the first batch of bush green beans on July 11th and was able to pressure can 7 quarts of beans on July 14th. I will be planting another two plots of bush green beans soon. I pulled up the onions on July 4th to dry in the barn (see pics below) and, after drying, trimmed and sorted them into mesh bags on July 15th. They will be stored in my basement. Overall, the Candy yellow onions produced very well again this year and the Red Candy Apple onions did not produce as well as previous years. I will be harvesting all of the top settings onions very soon. I will let those dry and then store them until late October, when they get planted back out into the garden. Despite the heat, I have been able to pick some lettuce that was sown in late May (growing under shade cloth). The remaining early spring planted lettuce has all started to bolt. All of the Green Arrow peas have been harvested, with the rest being saved for seeds.

I finished harvesting the last two cabbage heads a few days ago. I still have a few kohlrabi heads still left to harvest. The Diva cucumber vines are growing like crazy and have started to see some small cucumbers on most of the vines, so it won’t be long until pickling time. Started harvesting hot banana peppers about one week ago, with many more on the plants. Still waiting on the Early Jalapeno peppers, although I do see a few small jalapenos on a few of the plants. The Silver Queen white corn is starting to silk, so it will probably be ready to harvest in another few weeks.

The Plum Regal paste tomatoes look really good with many green tomatoes observed on the plants. I did see that one of the tomatoes has started to turn red this morning. I have noticed a little bit of flea beetle damage on some of the leaves, but overall I am very impressed with the growth of these tomatoes. I found a really good website from the University of Maryland Extension titled Key to Common Problems of Tomatoes. What I like most about the site are the pictures, which makes diagnosis of diseases and pests very helpful. Click here to view the page

All of the Red Norland potatoes have been harvested from the five grow bags and some of the Red Norland potatoes have been harvested from the two raised beds. All of the potatoes out of these two beds will be harvested over the next week or so.

The celery is growing pretty good despite all of the heat, although it is still a little small.

All of seeds for the fall crop of broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, kohlrabi, and lettuce were sown into cell packs on June 30th, and all have since germinated and are growing under the awning on my back porch.

One Shelf of Onions Drying on Raised Hardware Cloth in Barn, Picture Taken 7-13-25
Another Shelf of Onions Drying on Raised Hardware Cloth in Barn, Picture Taken 7-13-25