The 2023 garden has officially started. During the first week of February, I set up my Juwel Biostar 1500 cold frame outside (see pic below). I currently have no plants inside of it, but very soon my lettuce seedlings will be the first plants to go into it. Lettuce seeds were planted inside under grow lights on February 20th. In another 7 to 10 days I will start seeds of celery, kohlrabi, brussels sprouts, and broccoli inside. Around the middle of March I will start all of the rest of my warm season seeds like peppers and tomatoes inside. I like to start all my seeds inside under grow lights to speed germination. After the seeds germinate, I will move them to the cold frame outside, if the weather cooperates.
Most of my fall seeded lettuce has survived the winter under the plastic covered hoop (see pic below). My fall planted top-setting onions have started to push new green growth through the soil (see pic below).
Juwel Cold Frame in the Garden, Picture Taken 2-21-23Overwintered Lettuce Under the Plastic Covered Hoop, Picture Taken 2-21-23Top Setting Onions Pushing up New Growth, Picture Taken 2-21-23
Well, the 2022 gardening year has come and gone. I was able to harvest the last remaining carrots, on December 19, 2022, just before the below zero weather hit Central Indiana (see pic below). The 2022 garden was a big success, despite the very dry conditions from mid summer to late fall. I tried a few new things in the garden this year, which turned out to be a resounding success. One being the landscape fabric placed under the tomato plants (see pic below) and the other using a bean tower for the rattlesnake pole beans. The landscape fabric under the tomatoes kept the leaf blight in check. I have been battling this leaf disease for many years now. In 2022, I had the best tomato crop in about 7 or 8 years. Also, last year, I tried a pole green bean (rattlesnake) which I had growing up a bean tower which was purchased from Gardener’s Supply Company. This tower worked really well and the beans grew and climbed like crazy on it.
Now is the time to be planning your 2023 garden. I will be ordering seeds and plants over the next few weeks. With any luck, the cold frame will be going up in the garden in about another month.
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Last of the Nantes Carrots Harvested on 12/19/22Landscape Fabric Placed Under Tomato Plants
Well the really nice fall weather was bound to end sometime. On November 12, the garden received about 2 inches of snow. Harvesting ramped up just one day before in anticipation of the snow and cold. I was able to harvest 3 giant heads of cauliflower, a few more giant Kohlrabi, several more heads of cabbage, the rest of the broccoli and celery, and most of the brussels sprouts. The temperatures dropped to the mid teens for a few nights after the snow. Even though I doubled wrapped the remaining 3 cauliflower plants with row covers, it was just too cold for the heads to survive. I did stick the largest half frozen cauliflower head into the chicken run for them to feast on. The remaining kohlrabi and cabbage plants seemed to have faired better in the cold. They also were doubled wrapped with row covers. I still have one remaining head of cabbage and at least a few more Kohlrabi plants out in the garden. They will probably be harvested over the next week or so. The lettuce did pretty well through the cold snap because it was covered with a plastic covered hoop. In fact, I was able to harvest some more lettuce about 4 days ago. The carrots also seem fine, as they were also covered with a plastic covered hoop. I have not harvested any carrots as of yet, but plan to start harvest on them soon. My refrigerator is still packed full with all of the harvested produce.
Giant Cauliflower Harvested on 11-11-22Giant Kohlrabi Harvested on 11-11-22My Chickens Ain’t Afraid of No Snow, Picture Taken 11-12-22Chickens Enjoying Grazing in the Broccoli Plot, Picture Taken 11-21-22Chickens Enjoying Small Head of Cauliflower in Their Run, Picture Taken 11-21-22
The fall garden is producing a record harvest for me so far. The weather has turned cooler, as one would expect, and at least some rain has fallen. Even though it is still pretty dry, the fall garden is producing really really well!! The garden experienced several lite freezes and some frost, but the cold weather crops were not effected much by the cold. I did cover most of the plants with either row covers or plastic covered hoops. The weather has recently turned unseasonably warm, which is alright for the garden. Harvest has been ongoing with broccoli (lots of broccoli), lettuce, cabbage, and kohlrabi. I still have a little bit of celery still growing even though the cold did in several of the plants. The brussels sprouts are starting to get some good size to them, so I expect a good harvest from those over the next few weeks. The late July sown carrots look really good as well and I expect to start to harvest some of them over the next month or so. If it starts to get really cold, I will have the carrots covered with a plastic hoop. As long as the ground does not freeze, I can harvest carrots through early January, if they last that long. Four of the six cauliflower plants are starting to head nicely so it won’t be long until harvest starts on them. The weather forecast looks like it will turning colder in about another week, so I will have to keep the row covers handy. I will be planting out my topsetting onions bulbs out into the garden within the next few days. They should overwinter out in the garden with no problem. Heck, the weather has been so nice that I still have a few tomatoes that are ripening up on the plants, even though those plants will probably get pulled up in about another week. Happy Late Fall Gardening!!
Sierra Lettuce Still Producing, Picture Taken 11-2-2022Scarlet Nantes Carrots Are Ready to Harvest, Picture Taken 11-2-2022Stonehead Hybrid Cabbage Still Being Harvested, Picture Taken 11-2-2022Jade Cross Hybrid Brussels Spouts Getting Bigger, Picture Taken 11-2-2022Giant Head of Broccoli (Packman Hybrid) Ready to Be Harvested, Picture Taken 11-2-2022Giant Kohlrabi (Kossak Hybrid) Harvested, Picture Taken 10-31-2022
My garden is still producing for me even in early October (See pictures below). There was a light frost yesterday morning, but it did not do any damage to the plants. That frost was about a week earlier than normal for my location. Harvest still continues on warm season plants, but their days are probably numbered as there is a moderate to heavy frost predicted in about three days. I will go ahead and pick the rest of the peppers, tomatoes, and green beans before they get zapped by the frost. The cool season crops I planted out in early August are growing really well. I have been harvesting my Sierra lettuce almost weekly now. The first fall broccoli heads are nearing maturity, with plenty more to come. The kohlrabi is also ready to harvest with some of the heads getting really large. The cabbage is starting to head up a little, but needs a little more time to get bigger. The cauliflower plants are really big, but the heads have not really begun to form as of yet. I even planted a few top setting onions about a month ago for green onions and they are nearing harvestable size. The late July sown carrots are really starting to grow now as well. The spring planted brussels sprouts are getting fairly tall, so I had to stake them up to keep them from falling over. The spring planted celery is still growing really well and I continue to harvest the outer celery stalks about once a week. Because of the predicted frost, I will cover the broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, kohlrabi with row covers and will cover the lettuce and carrots with a plastic hoop. I will also try to cover the celery plants to keep them growing for awhile longer. Celery likes the cooler weather, but will not tolerate a freeze. The early fall weather has been pretty good so far, albeit a bit too dry, so I have been watering the garden on a regular basis (mostly the cool season plants). I would rather have it too dry than too wet, especially this time of year. Here are the number of seedlings/transplants, with the variety name, I planted out for my fall garden:
How is your fall garden growing? If you have not tried growing a fall garden, you are definitely missing out. Send me an email and let me know how your garden is/or has grown this year. Send email to: tim@timssquarefootgarden.com I look forward to hearing from you.
Broccoli Heads Ready for Harvest, Picture Taken 10-5-22Brussels Sprouts (Left) and Broccoli (Right), Picture Taken 10-5-22Cabbage (Lower) and Cauliflower and Broccoli (Upper), Picture Taken 10-5-22Cabbage, Kohlrabi, Cauliflower, and Broccoli Growing in Very Full Raised Bed, Picture Taken 10-5-22Kohlrabi Ready to Harvest, Picture Taken 10-5-22Celery, Green Onions, Peppers, Lettuce, and Small Self-Seeded Lettuce Plants Growing Nicely, Picture Taken 10-5-22Poblano Pepper Plants (Caged) at Least 6 Foot Tall, Picture Taken 10-5-22
Very sorry for the delay in updating my garden blog, as I have been very busy. I thought when you retired you were not supposed to be this busy 🙂 Wow, can you believe that October is almost here and that the average first fall frost here in Central Indiana is only about 2 1/2 weeks away. Well, the early fall garden is growing great right now. In the first week of August I planted out 18 broccoli plants, 12 kohlrabi plants, 12 cabbage plants, and 6 cauliflower plants. I also planted out 12 lettuce plants. All are now growing really well (see pics below). When these seedlings were planted out, it was very hot and very dry, so I had to make sure that they received plenty of water. The weather has finally turned more favorable over the last few weeks with cooler temperatures and some rain. It is still somewhat dry, so I will have to keep watering these plants as we progress into the fall. I have been harvesting the late planted lettuce over the last few weeks now. The late July seeded carrots are also growing really well now. The July seeded bush green beans will be ready to harvest in a few days. The fantastic tomato harvest is starting to wind down now, with a just a few ripe tomatoes on the plants now. The hot banana peppers and the jalapeno peppers are pushing on their last fruits of the year. The poblano peppers have really started to produce peppers now. I was a little worried about these plants earlier in August. The celery is still growing well and harvest will continue on these plants until the first hard freeze. Happy Fall Gardening!
Cauliflower Growing in Raised Bed, Picture Taken 9-20-22Cabbage, Broccoli, and Cauliflower Growing in Raised Bed, Picture Taken 9-20-22Kohlrabi, Cabbage, Broccoli, and Cauliflower Growing in Raised Bed, Picture Taken 9-20-22More Broccoli Growing in a Garden Plot, Picture Taken 9-20-22Lettuce Growing in a Garden Plot, Picture Taken 9-20-22
Can you believe it is already August 9th. The summer is really flying by!! The garden finally received some much needed rain last night and this morning, Hooray!!! The last of the the Silver Queen white corn was harvested on August 3rd. It was a most excellent corn crop this year. Harvest started on the Roma tomatoes for real on August 1st. I probably harvested at least 30 pounds of tomatoes and was able to process and freeze 10 containers of tomato sauce. The six plants are still absolutely loaded with ripening tomatoes. This is certainly my best year for tomatoes in at least 6 or 7 years. Harvest continues on the jalapeno, hot banana, and super chili peppers. I have been drying the super chili peppers and freezing the others. The 5 poblano pepper plants are producing some peppers, but not as many as I like. Harvest also continues like crazy on the Rattlesnake pole beans. These have really produced well for me this year. The celery continues to produce well, despite the dry conditions. I have had to water these plants quite a bit. The fall garden is starting to take shape. The spring planted broccoli plants were pulled up and were replaced with more broccoli seedlings about 3 days ago. The raised beds were planted with broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, and kohlrabi seedlings over the last few days and lettuce seedlings were also transplanted out into the garden. Scarlet Nantes carrot seeds were planted out in the garden the last week of July and have since germinated. This seed bed was watered well and then covered with boards for 3 days to help keep the seeds from drying out. The carrot bed is now covered with a row cover to give it a little shade in this hot and dry weather. As the weather cools a little I will remove the row cover. Happy Late Summer Gardening!!
Three Very Full Bags of Roma Tomatoes Ready for Processing, Picture Taken 8-1-22Last of the Harvested Silver Queen White Corn, Picture Taken 8-3-22Silver Queen White Corn Ready for Eating, Picture Taken 8-2-22Many Roma Tomatoes Still on Plants. Notice the Row Cover Over the Carrot Bed to the Right, Picture Taken 8-5-22
Well, the drought continues in my area of Central Indiana, but I did get about an inch of rain yesterday morning, which was much needed. Harvest has started on the Silver Queen white sweet corn about 5 days ago. Fresh sweet corn is fantastic!! What I don’t get to eat fresh, I will freeze. The corn will only stay good and sweet for about another week or so. About a week ago there was storm that blew down some of the corn. Luckily, it only blew down a few of the plants which were ready to be harvested anyways (see pic below). I have been harvesting the last of the broccoli side shoots. These plants will be pulled up in another week to make way for my fall broccoli transplants. I will be sowing bush green bean seeds, where my spring planted onions were growing, very soon. I will also be sowing carrot seeds either today or tomorrow. Harvest continues on all of the peppers, pole green beans, celery, kohlrabi, and cucumbers. With the cucumbers, I was able to put up 7 jars of refrigerator pickles. Harvest has also begun on the roma tomatoes, with many many more to come over the next few weeks. I will be harvesting many of these tomatoes within the week to start making and freezing tomato sauce. I will hopefully be transplanting broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, kohlrabi, and lettuce seedlings out into the garden in another 10 days or so. My brother and I have been raising 4 new egg laying hens since late February, 2 Barred Rocks and 2 Rhode Island Reds. They are now about 20 weeks old and all have started to lay eggs. We now have a total of 7 hens. All are laying eggs except the oldest one, which we have named “white chicken.” She is over 7 years old (see pic below). Fall will be here before you know it!
Silver Queen Corn Blown Down by a Storm, Picture Taken 7-23-22My Spoiled Chickens Enjoying Some Leftover Corn Cobs. Their Name Are: White Chicken, Ruby, Rosie, Aubrey, Abbie, Tipper, and Domino, Picture Taken 7-24-22
Well, it is now official, most of Central Indiana is now in a “moderate drought” according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. Needless to say we need some rain, but we did get at least some about 5 days ago, which helped a little. Despite the drought, my garden continues to produce an abundant harvest, as long as I keep up on the watering. The spring onion crop this year might be a record for me. The Red Candy Apple onion produced about normal, but the yellow Candy onion looks like a record harvest as I have some truly gigantic sized onions (see pic below). The harvest on the Red Norland potatoes looks to be near a record as well this year (see pic below). The Tango celery is growing really well (as long as I keep the plants watered) and harvest has started on these as well. The spring planted lettuce has finished for for now, but I will be transplanting lettuce seedlings for fall harvest in about another month. Harvest on my green beans has started. I am trying an heirloom pole green bean this year called Rattlesnake. It has started producing harvestable sized beans over the last week or so and I have been very impressed with this bean so far (see pic below). It also looks like I will have the best crop of Roma tomatoes as I have had in at least 5 or 6 years, as I have been able to keep the early blight in-check this year. I tried using landscape fabric under the tomato plants this year, and this seems to have helped. I anticipate harvesting many tomatoes in about another month or so. The broccoli harvest this spring has also been pretty good. All of the main heads have been harvested, and now I am enjoying the many side shoots that have been sprouting. The white Silver Queen corn is growing like crazy right now (see pic below) and harvest should start on in about another 3 weeks, YUM!! I have been harvesting Hot Banana peppers and a few Jalapeño peppers.
Even though it is only the middle of July, it is not to late to start planning your fall garden. I started seeds of broccoli, kohlrabi, cauliflower, and cabbage on July 3rd in cell packs. They have since germinated and are growing on the covered back porch. I will be transplanting these seedlings out into the garden on the first or second week of August.
Yellow Candy Onion Nearing Harvest, Picture Taken 7-9-22Red Norland Potatoes Harvested From One 4ftx4ft Raised Bed, Picture Taken 7-13-22Rattlesnake Beans, Picture Taken 7-9-22Silver Queen Corn Growing Nicely, Picture Taken 7-9-22
Well, Central Indiana has been desert dry with many days with temperatures in the 90’s over the last 3 weeks. I have not seen it this dry in June since the drought year of 2012. My garden has not seen any measurable rainfall in 3 weeks and it was already dry before then, Yikes!! I have been watering parts of my garden about once every 5 days. Despite the heat and lack of rainfall, the garden has been producing relatively well. My spring planted peas are not doing too well, but they are nearing the end of their season anyways. Over the past few weeks I have been harvesting broccoli, lettuce, and peas. I will start harvesting kohlrabi today. The Red Norland potato vines have started to turn brown, so harvest on those will begin soon. The warm season crops like corn, beans, tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers are doing fine in all of the heat, as long as they get enough water. The Silver Queen white corn is growing like crazy and has just started to send up tassels within the last few days. The spring lettuce crop is almost finished and most of the rest of the plants still growing will start bolting soon. The tops of the spring planted onions have started to flop over and turn brown, so I will be pulling those up to cure within the next few weeks. See the pics of some of my garden below. All pics were taken on June 22nd.
Silver Queen White Corn, Picture Taken 6-22-22Diva Cucumbers Starting to Grow Up the Cages, Picture Taken 6-22-22Tops of Candy and Red Candy Apple Onions Starting to Flop Over, Picture Taken 6-22-22Hungarian Wax Peppers Starting to Get Big, Picture Taken 6-22-22Red Norland Potato Vines Starting to Turn Brown, Picture Taken 6-22-22Broccoli Head Just Before Harvested, Picture Taken 6-22-22
