Category Archives: Broccoli

Record Breaking Cold Temperatures

It has been very cold in the garden the last week or so. Indianapolis broke an all time low temperature record for the month of May of 27 degrees. My garden thermometer recorded a low of 23 degrees. Luckily I covered all of my kohlrabi, broccoli, and brussels sprout seedlings with plastic coffee cans and all of the seedlings survived the cold. I also covered my lettuce with the plastic covered hoop. The potatoes had just started to break through the soil and the vines were killed back a bit, but they should hopefully recover. The onions, peas, and radish were left uncovered and appear to have been undamaged by the cold.

Harvest started on the April planted lettuce seedlings yesterday! I have also been harvesting green onions like crazy. It does look like the weather will be warming up this coming week and I will be dismantling the cold frame and planting the warm season seedlings of peppers and tomatoes. I actually planted a few Ancho and Super Chili pepper plants over the last 2 days. I also planted out my celery seedlings 2 days ago. Within the upcoming week I will also start to directly seed bush lima beans, bush green beans, and cucumbers. The corn was directly seeded in the raised bed on May 1st, and it has just started to germinate, fortunately just after that one cold morning.

Green Onions Harvested, 5/4/20
Spring Planted Lettuce Growing Well, 5/13/20

Late April Garden Growing Well

My late April garden is growing well. Had a hard freeze about 2 1/2 weeks ago with low temperatures in the low to mid 20’s. I was a little concerned about my onion transplants, but they seemed to have pulled through without any issues. The onions, a few radishes, and the overwintered lettuce (which was protected under the plastic covered hoop) were about the only things growing in the garden at that time. Since that cold snap, the weather has been fairly decent for mid to late April here in Central Indiana. No heavy rains and average to slightly above average temperatures with lots of sun.

Lettuce seedlings were transplanted out into the garden on April 18. Additional lettuce seedlings were transplanted out about 4 days ago. The lettuce transplants are currently growing under a plastic covered hoop. I should be able to start harvesting some lettuce from these plants in about another 2 weeks. Broccoli and kohlrabi seedlings were transplanted out into the garden about 6 days ago and brussels sprout seedlings were planted about 3 days ago.

The hot banana, ancho, and super chili pepper seedlings were potted up into larger containers about 4 days ago and were placed back into the cold frame. The earlier seeded garden peas have just started to germinate and the red norland potatoes have also started to poke up through the soil. Celery seedlings will be transplanted out into the garden in about 3 or 4 days. It is still a little too early to plant the warm season pepper and tomato seedlings out into the garden. They will be transplanted out in the garden by the middle of May. Harvest will begin on the overwintered top setting onions (as green onions) very soon! Happy Spring Planting 🙂

Lettuce Seedlings Growing in the Garden – April 25, 2020
Top Setting Onions (Top) and March Planted Onion Seedlings (Bottom) – April 25, 2020
Broccoli (Left) and Kohlrabi (Right) – April 25, 2020
English Peas Starting to Germinate – April 25, 2020
A View Inside my Cold Frame – April 25, 2020

Happy Spring – I am Back to Blogging

Happy Spring!! I am back to blogging about my garden after over a year hiatus. Wow, things are really crazy in the world today. Nothing like getting back into the garden to take your mind off of things, at least for a little while. I have been busy in the garden over the past few weeks. I planted 189 onion transplants out into the garden on March 25th. About a week they were side dressed with some good organic fertilizer. They are currently doing well and starting to grow new leaves now. My top setting onions that were planted out into the garden last fall are really greening up and are about 3 to 4 inches tall, so it wont be long before I starting harvesting green onions. Red Norland seed potatoes were planted out into the 2 raised beds and 4 fabric bags about 1 week ago. I have been harvesting Sierra lettuce for about the last month that self seeded last fall and overwintered under a plastic covered hoop. It overwinter remarkably well this year. I have started all of my lettuce, broccoli, kohlrabi, and pepper seeds indoors and they are all in the cold frame now. I will planting out my lettuce seedlings within the next 3 or 4 days. I have been waiting for the weather to warm up a bit. The low temperatures dipped below freezing the last 2 mornings. After planting out the lettuce seedlings, I will be keeping them under a plastic cover hoop until the weather warms up. The broccoli and kohlrabi seedlings will be transplanted out into the garden in about one week. I planted radish seeds about one week ago and they have already germinated. I also planted my pea seed about the same time, but they have not germinated as of yet. I currently have 7 hens, but only 5 of them are laying eggs right now. I added 4 hens to the flock last spring, 2 Rhode Island Reds and 2 Isa Browns. All 4 are laying eggs like crazy.

Onion Transplants in the Garden, 3/25/20
Over Wintered Sierra Lettuce, 3/7/20
My Hens Enjoying the Warm Early April Weather