Most of the 2023 garden has finished producing for the year. I was able to cut the last harvestable lettuce leaves a few days ago. I am still harvesting carrots, but those should be finishing up in another two weeks or so. Low temperatures in the Indianapolis area reached the upper teens on November 28 and 29th, which effectively ended the 2023 growing season. Right up to that time I was harvesting the last of the brussels sprouts, cabbage and kohlrabi. Even though it is late December, I am still enjoying the cabbage and kohlrabi as they tend to keep for a long time in the refrigerator. I snapped a few pictures of some of the mid November harvest below. Overall, I was very pleased with the production of the 2023 garden and am looking forward to a hopefully very productive 2024 garden. This January, I will be going through all of my seed inventory and making my seed order for the 2024 gardening season. Here is wishing all of you a very happy and productive 2024.
Well, a hard freeze hit the garden on October 31st, with lows hitting 23 degrees. The cool season plants that I wanted to protect were covered with row covers and they survived, although I had my doubts. The brussels spouts were not covered (it is hard, if not impossible, to cover those, being that some of the plants are almost five foot tall). Despite not being covered the brussels sprouts did fine as they seem to tolerate cold very well. Before the freeze I was able to harvest some of the last peppers and tomatoes. I also harvested the first three of the six cauliflower heads on October 29th, they were huge! (see one of pics below). I still have two heads of cauliflower in the garden. The lettuce continues to grow very well, which was covered with a plastic covered hoop. I always let some of my Sierra lettuce plants self-seed in the fall, which have really taken hold in half of the lettuce plot. The carrots were also covered with a plastic covered hoop. I will be harvesting more of the carrots as we move through November and December. The harvest has pretty much finished up on the broccoli. The fall broccoli did really well this year. I did manage to harvest a few heads of cabbage and one head of kohlrabi over the last few weeks, with many more to come. I have some really giant heads of kohlrabi still in the garden. I will be harvesting those over the next month or so. I was able to plant seven small rows of topsetting onions (these were the ones that were saved from this years plants) out into the garden in the last week of October. I covered these with some dry leaves and then temporarily covered them with a row cover to keep the squirrels from digging them up until they grow some roots.
Since the hard freeze, the weather has turned warmer, but it is still very dry in the garden. I have been watering the carrots about every three days. The rest of the plants seem to be doing okay without additional watering. The 2023 gardening season is winding down, but if the weather stays warm enough, I should be harvesting up and into December.
Kohlrabi and Cabbage Harvested, Picture Taken 10-27-23Giant Heads of Cauliflower Harvested, Picture Taken 10-29-23Lettuce Plot, Notice the Smaller Self Seeded Plants on the Right, Picture Taken 11-3-23Carrots Still Growing and Looking Nice, Picture Taken 11-3-23Brussels Sprouts Ready for Harvesting, Picture Taken 11-7-23Chickens Feasting on the Remaining Broccoli Plants, Picture Taken 11-5-23
The excellent fall harvest continues. The first heads of broccoli were harvested on October 2nd and a lot of the broccoli continues to be harvested as it matures. The brussels sprouts continue to grow and it now looks like I will have a pretty decent harvest when the time comes to pick them off of the stalks. The first of the cabbage is almost ready to harvest as well as the kohlrabi. I like to keep kohlrabi in the fall garden as long as possible as it gets sweeter with a few frosts. The cauliflower continues to head up, so I started to tie up the outer leaves of plants to keep the heads white. The garden did experience two lite frosts about five days ago, but it did not do much damage, even to the warm season plants. I finally received some much needed rain over the last week or so!!!! The last of the green beans were harvested about four days ago. Limited harvest still continues on the peppers and tomatoes, but their days are numbered. Harvest still continues on the lettuce and the celery, with more to come. The late July planted carrots are just getting to harvestable size, so I might be pulling a few of those within the next week or so. Overall, I have been very pleased with the production of the fall vegetable garden this year.
The early fall garden is growing really well despite the very dry conditions. Most of central and northern Indiana is experiencing a moderate drought. At least the temperatures have been cooler, which helps most of the fall plants in the garden. As long as I continue to water these plants, they should do well. Evaporation rates this time of year tend to decrease which helps out a lot. My garden did receive some much needed rain two days ago, although it was not nearly enough to break the drought. The heat loving plants like the peppers and tomatoes are still producing. I had one of the best tomato crops ever. I had so many Roma tomatoes that I stopped watering the plants, but they continue to push on new growth and new tomatoes. The peppers are also still producing, but I have watered them a little more. The mid to late summer planting of bush green beans starting producing around the second week of September with many more beans to come. The Rattlesnake pole beans continue to impress me with their constant production, despite not really being watered much. The early August planted seedlings of lettuce, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, and kohlrabi are really starting to grow. In fact, I have many small heads of broccoli starting to form on most of the plants. I anticipate harvesting some of these heads in another week to ten days. I have been harvesting lettuce again for about a month now, with more to come. The Tango hybrid celery plants have grown just okay this year. I lost many of the plants due to black heart disease. This was probably due to the very hot and dry conditions. I still have three mature celery plants growing and have been harvesting stalks from them. The late July sown carrots are finally getting some good top growth. The brussels sprouts are starting to mature with a few plump sprouts showing up on a few of the stalks. I really enjoy gardening this time of year as the plants mature much slower which allows you to enjoy a fresh harvest over a longer period of time. The average first frost for central Indiana is fast approaching (usually around October 10th). The two week weather forecast is still showing slightly above normal temperatures with no signs of frost, but unfortunately, not much rain either. Happy Fall Gardening!!
Sierra Lettuce Growing Nicely, Picture Taken 9-27-23Kohlrabi, Broccoli, Cauliflower, and Cabbage, Picture Taken 9-27-23Two Celery Plants, Picture Taken 9-27-23Cauliflower, Picture Taken 9-27-23Scarlet Nantes Carrots, Picture Taken 9-27-23Cabbage, Broccoli, and Cauliflower, Picture Taken 9-27-23Brussels Sprouts and Broccoli, Picture Taken 9-27-23Chickens Enjoying Brussels Sprout Leaves Pinned Up Through Fence in Front of Tomatoes, Picture Taken 9-27-23
The very dry conditions continue in my early September garden, but at least the temperatures have cooled a bit over the last week or so. The fall garden has all been planted and the seedlings are growing pretty well so far. The Roma tomatoes are really producing right now. Looks like another fantastic crop of tomatoes this year, just like last year. The tomato plants are starting to develop a leaf disease that is causing browning of the leaves near the bottom of the plants, but no worries. I should have plenty of tomatoes from now until frost. The later planting of bush green beans are doing well and should be ready to harvest within the next week. Harvest also continues on peppers, celery, and a few pole green beans. I was able to harvest a few leaves from the early August planted lettuce seedlings. I have been giving these plants some shade when the temperatures start to warm up. Needless to say, I have been doing some watering, but not as much on the more mature plants of peppers and tomatoes. The late July sowing of carrots are starting to grow, although slowly. The average first frost of fall is only about 5 weeks away, so cooler weather is just around the corner. Make sure to check out the many picture of my garden below.
Kohlrabi, Cabbage, Broccoli, and Cauliflower Growing in Old Corn Bed, Picture Taken 9-2-23Cauliflower Growing in Old Potato Bed, Picture Taken 9-2-23Cabbage, Broccoli, and Cauliflower Growing in Another Old Potato Bed, Picture Taken 9-2-23Fall Planted Broccoli and Spring Planted Brussels Sprouts, Picture Taken 9-2-23Roma Tomato Plants Producing Abundantly, Picture Taken 9-1-23Early April Planted Sierra Lettuce Plants Finally Flowering and Going to Seed, Picture Taken 9-1-23Early August Planted Sierra Lettuce Growing Nicely, Picture Taken 9-1-23Late July Sown Scarlet Nantes Carrots Starting to Grow, Picture Taken 9-1-23Mid to Late July Planted Bush Green Beans Almost Ready to Harvest, Picture Taken 9-1-23
The fall garden planting has officially begun. I sowed seeds of Nantes carrots on July 29th, and they have just started to poke their green shoots above the ground. Over the past several days I have been transplanting lettuce, cauliflower, cabbage, and broccoli seedlings out into the garden. I will be transplanting additional seedlings of cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, and kohlrabi seedlings out into the garden over the next several days. All of these additional transplants will be going into the raised bed where the corn was growing. Speaking of the corn, the last of the Silver Queen sweet corn will be harvested today. Overall, the corn harvest has been really good this year. The Roma tomatoes are starting to turn red and I will begin harvesting these in earnest over the next few days. Harvest continues on the hot banana peppers and the jalapeno peppers as well as on the pole green beans, bush lima beans, celery, and cucumbers. The very dry conditions have continued in my garden, but at least some sparse rain has fallen over the last few weeks. I have continued to “artificially” water the garden, as needed.
The harvesting activity in the garden has really ramped up over the last several weeks. Harvest started on the Red Norland potatoes in the grown bags on July 12th. Total harvest out of four of the five bags was pretty good (see picture below). That is not a picture of the exact total as a few potatoes were previously harvested out of the bags. Potato harvest began today on both of the 4ftx4ft raised beds (see pictures below) and the harvest was pretty good from those beds as well. I started harvesting the first of the Diva cucumbers a few days ago and was able to put up six jars or dill refrigerator pickles. There are many more cucumbers on the vines. I will probably put up another 4 jars of refrigerator pickles over the coming weeks. I probably harvested the last of the spring planted lettuce this last week. Harvest also started on the Tango celery this last week and harvest continues on the Hot Banana and Jalapeno peppers, Rattlesnake pole beans, and Derby bush green beans. Planting of more bush green beans was completed about one week ago. The Silver Queen White corn will be ready to start harvesting in another four or five days, YUM! The six Roma tomato plants are still growing like crazy, but no red tomatoes as of yet. The spring planted Green Arrow peas were finished growing and were pulled up. The Yellow Candy onion plants were also pulled up about a week ago and those have been drying in the barn. The onion crop was excellent this year and I might just run out of mesh bags to store all of this bounty!
The garden did received some much needed rain over the last week, but it still remains very dry here in Central Indiana. The forecast looks like it will be hot and dry over the next week or so. I hope to be able to sow seeds of Nantes carrots in about another 10 days and, if the weather is somewhat favorable, I hope to plant out seedlings of cabbage, cauliflower, kohlrabi, lettuce, and broccoli by the second week of August, for a fall harvest.
Potato Harvest from 4 Grow Bags, Picture Taken 7-12-23Potato Harvest from One of the 4ftx4ft Raised Bed, Picture Taken 7-23-23Potato Harvest from the Other 4ftx4ft Raised Bed, Picture Taken 7-23-23Some of the Yellow Candy Onions Drying in the Barn, Picture Taken 7-23-23Left to Right: Red Cannas and White Disco Belle Hibiscus in Front of Chicken Run, 4ftx4ft Raised Bed, and 8ftx4ft Corn Raised Bed, Picture Taken 7-21-23
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.
If you are not receiving blog updates via email please visit the following link and get signed up, it is free: https://follow.it/tim-s-square-foot-garden-blog?action=followPub
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
