Category Archives: Seed Starting

More Harvesting and Planting, Tomato Trouble, Celery Disease,

The first harvest of the white Silver Queen corn took place yesterday (very tasty!!), with many more ears to harvest over the next few weeks. Harvest continues on the pole beans and broccoli side shoots. The last of the spring planted cabbage and kohlrabi was also harvested over the last week. The first few early jalapeno peppers were also harvested with many more continuing to ripen up on the plants. The cucumber harvest continues and I was able to put up ten jars of refrigerator pickles recently. The Scarlet Nantes carrot seeds were sown on July 23rd and most of them have germinated within the last day or so. Derby bush green beans were sown around the middle of July where the spring peas were growing and another planting of these beans were sown on July 25th where the spring onions were growing. About a week ago the dried and cured yellow Candy onions were placed in mesh bags and moved to the basement for long term storage. The harvest from these were pretty good, but maybe not as good as last year. The Roma tomatoes started out this spring looking pretty good, but the early blight has taken hold and they now look awful (see pic below). In the end, the very wet spring was there undoing. The last several years I have had really good tomato harvests, but not this year. I am currently researching determinate plum tomato varieties that have good disease resistance. I will not be planting Roma tomatoes going forward, as they have little to no early blight disease resistance. I am also battling disease on my celery (variety Tango). I have now come to the conclusion that my issue has not been “black heart” disease (which I thought I have had over the past few years now), but rather Celery Anthracnose or Leaf Curl Disease (see pic below). See the following good description of this from Cornell University: https://www.vegetables.cornell.edu/pest-management/disease-factsheets/celery-anthracnose-leaf-curl-disease/ Even though I have been practicing a four-year crop rotation, I still have been having this issue. My guess is that I need to make sure to discard all parts of the plants, including leaves, and not let them get into my compost bins. I am currently researching some “least susceptible varieties” of celery. Some might say why bother, but if you never had truly fresh celery right from your garden, then you are missing out. I plan on getting some lettuce, cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower seedlings planted out into the garden in about another week or so. I still need to harvest the rest of potatoes in the two 4ft-4ft raised beds, which I will do within the next week.

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Roma Tomatoes With Early Leaf Blight, Picture Taken 7-28-24
Celery Showing Signs of Celery Anthracnose Disease, Picture Taken 7-28-24
Silver Queen Corn Looking Good, Picture Taken 7-28-24
Close Up of the Silver Queen Corn, Picture Taken 7-28-24

Fall Seeds Started, Onions Pulled, First Harvest of Potatoes, Green Beans, and Peppers

The fall seeds of broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, kohlrabi, and lettuce were started indoors in cell packs on June 30th. The seeds have since germinated and are now growing outside under my covered back porch. I pulled up the onions about a week ago and they are now curing on shelves on top of hardware cloth in my barn (see pics below). This is the second year I have cured my onions in the barn like this. I think it is great way to cure onions for long term storage. I harvested the first batch of bush green beans and pole beans on July 7th and have been harvesting a few potatoes, as needed, over about the last week. Also, the harvest has begun on the hot banana peppers, albeit limited at this time. The early jalapeno peppers are just starting to get some size to them, but are not quite ready to harvest. The potatoes in five of the grow bags will hopefully be harvested within the next week. Harvest continues on broccoli side shoots, but the growth on these seems to have slowed down a little. I might have harvested the last of the spring planted lettuce today, as the plants are starting to bolt (all good things must come to an end). I was able to pressure can five quarts of bush green beans on July 8th. I have not canned green beans in many years and it was good to be able to fine tune that skill. I am planning on canning tomatoes later on this summer. The Silver Queen white corn continues to grow like a weed and I even think I observed some very small ears already starting to form. The spring planted celery has finally started to grow, but I need to make sure to keep it well watered. Wow, the cucumbers have really started to vine like crazy and have already reached the top of my second cages. They are also loaded with flowers and I have even noticed a few small cucumbers on the vines. I have not pulled up my pea vines as of yet, but plan on doing that sometime over the next week. After they are pulled I will be seeding some bush green beans in their place. The weather has been very dry, but some much need rain is forecasted for the area today and tonight.

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Onions Curing on Hardware Cloth in Barn, Picture Taken 7-8-24
More Onions Curing on Hardware Cloth in Barn, Picture Taken 7-8-24
Silver Queen White Corn Pic 1, Picture Taken 7-8-24
Silver Queen White Corn Pic 2, Picture Taken 7-8-24
Five Grow Bags with Potatoes Ready for Harvesting, Picture Taken 7-8-24

Peas, Potatoes, Lettuce and Cole Crop Seedlings Planted, Total Solar Eclipse

Garden activity is really starting to ramp up. Pea seeds (Green Arrow) were planted out into the garden around the third week of March and have since germinated. These were the saved pea seeds from last year’s crop and almost every pea seed germinated, which is great. Lettuce seedlings were transplanted out into the garden under the plastic covered hoop on April 9th. The following number of seedlings were transplanted out into the garden on April 18th: 17 broccoli, 6 cabbage, and 6 kohlrabi. Brussels sprout seedlings will be transplanted out in about another week. Seed potatoes (Red Norland and Superior) were planted out into the two raised beds and various grow bags in the first week of April. Some of these have started to emerge from the soil.

Harvest of the first of the green onions (the top setting onions that were planted last fall) started on April 8th, with more to come. Harvest of the overwintered lettuce (Sierra) started on April 9th. Harvest of the early March seeded radishes (started under a plastic covered hoop next to the overwintered lettuce) began on April 17th with more to come.

All of the pepper and tomatoes seedlings were transplanted into larger pots about one week ago. They are still in the cold frame and will remain there until they are ready to be planted out into the garden, probably by the 2nd week of May.

The weather and the garden has finally started to warm up and dry out since the garden received over 3 inches of rain in a short 24-hour period about two weeks ago. Before then it had been very dry.

The total solar eclipse that took place here in Indianapolis on April 8th was awesome. The one thing that surprised me the most was how dark it was during the approximately 4 minutes of the total eclipse. I have experienced at least 2 partial solar eclipse in the past and those were pretty interesting, but nothing like this. The time leading up to totality was interesting as well. The best way to describe it was that it looked like the sun was filtered, and you could feel the lack of warmth of the sun on your skin during the hour or so leading up to totality. The speed that it went from light to total darkness also surprised me, it was in a matter of a few seconds. Being a weather geek, I was also surprised by the drop in temperature. I heard that temperatures dropped around 10 degrees during totality, which I would believe. I was also interested to see how my chickens would react to the eclipse. They had been free ranging in the back yard for a few hours before totality. During the time leading up to totality they seem unaffected, but when totality started (total darkness) they started to make their way to the coop, but did not actually go in. I do have a light in the coop, which stays on most of the day, which probably confused them a little as well (see picture below). After totality, when it started to get light again, they went about their business like nothing happened. This was truly a once in a lifetime event that I will probably not experience again.

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(From Bottom to Top) Peas Emerging from the Soil, with Green Onion and Some Potatoes Starting to Poke Up Through the Soil in the Raised Bed. Picture Taken 4-20-24
(Left to Right Clockwise) Cabbage and Broccoli Seedlings, Radish, Overwintered Lettuce, and Green Onions, Picture Taken 4-20-24
Fall Planted Top Setting Onions and March Planted Onion Transplants are Growing Nicely. April Transplanted Lettuce Seedlings are Getting Bigger Growing Under the Protective Hoop, Picture Taken 4-20-24
A Peak Inside the Hoop Showing the Spring Planted Lettuce Seedlings, Picture Taken 4-20-24
Total Solar Eclipse on April 8, 2024

Onions Planted and Some Seedlings in Cold Frame

Spring planting is really starting to to ramp up now. I planted 182 onion transplants out into the garden on March 12th (varieties Candy and Red Candy Apple). This was a little earlier than normal, but all transplants are doing well, despite some really cold mornings in the middle 20’s. I covered all of these onions with some row covers for a few of those cold mornings, and they made it through with no issues. I was able to side dress the onions with some good organic fertilizer a few days ago. I also seeded the Green Arrow peas out into the garden a few days ago. I ended up with many more onion seedlings than I had room for, so most of them were planted out in another spot in the garden as green onions. The overwintered top setting/walking onions are really starting to grow now, so it won’t be long before harvest begins on those for green onions (see pic below). The late winter/early spring weather here in Central Indiana has been drier than normal, which I prefer as it allows me to work in the garden without all of the mud. I hope to be able to transplant my lettuce seedlings out into the garden by mid to late next week (approximately April 4-5), making sure to cover them with a plastic covered hoop. My overwintered lettuce, at least the plants that survived the winter, are doing reasonably well under the plastic covered hoop. I also was able to plant some more top setting onions and 2 small rows of radishes in this same hoop. They have since starting to grow now (see pic below). New boards for the two 4’x4′ potato raised beds were installed about a week ago, which turned out better than I expected. I will be planting out my Red Norland seed potatoes out into these beds, as well as in grow bags, in another few days. I am trying a new potato variety this year called Superior. It is a fast maturing white potato, so it should mature about the same time as the Red Norlands. I have moved all of my broccoli, cabbage, kohlrabi, and brussels sprout seedlings out into the cold frame. I have also moved my tomato and some of my pepper seedlings out into the cold frame. I plan to move the rest of my seedlings from under the indoor grow lights and out into the cold frame over the next few days. Happy Early Spring Planting!

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Overwintered Lettuce, Green Onions, and Radish Under Hoop, Picture Taken 3-28-24
Overwintered Top Setting Onions (top of pic) and the Recently Planted Onion Transplants Growing Nicely, Picture Taken 3-28-24
Some of the Seedlings in the Cold Frame, Picture Taken 3-28-24
Juwel Cold Frame Out in the Garden, Picture Taken 3-28-24

Cold Frame is Up and Compost Spread

The cold frame was put up about two weeks ago and both of the compost bins were emptied and the finished compost was spread onto the garden beds over the first two weeks of February. No plants are in the cold frame right now, but if the weather cooperates, I will try to get some lettuce starts out into the frame by the first of March. The weather has been fairly warm for this time of year, but we did receive about 5 inches of snow on February 16th. All of the snow has now melted away. Outdoor garden activity will start to increase starting in March, with onion transplants arriving by the middle of the month. Seed starting will begin in earnest by late February and into March. Looking forward to a very productive garden in 2004.

Harvest Ramps Up, Dry Conditions Continue

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.

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Potato Harvest from 4 Grow Bags, Picture Taken 7-12-23
Potato Harvest from One of the 4ftx4ft Raised Bed, Picture Taken 7-23-23
Potato Harvest from the Other 4ftx4ft Raised Bed, Picture Taken 7-23-23
Some of the Yellow Candy Onions Drying in the Barn, Picture Taken 7-23-23
Left 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

Dry Conditions Improve, Garden Continues to Produce

The extreme dry conditions in the garden have improved slightly as at least some rain has fallen over the last several weeks. However, most of Central Indiana is still in a moderate to severe drought. The garden has continued to produce very well despite the extreme dry conditions. The onion harvest has started and it looks like it will be another great year for the onions. The Red Candy onions were pulled up and are currently drying on screens in the barn. It looks like the red onion crop this year will be the best I have had. The Candy yellow onions are still in the ground, but will be pulled up soon and moved to the barn to dry. In addition, the top setting onion tops will be harvested and allowed to dry and then planted out into the garden in late fall. The rest of the plants will be dug up and composted. Over the last several weeks harvest has also begun on broccoli and kohlrabi. Harvest still continues on the lettuce, but the last of the peas were harvested a few days ago. Overall, the peas harvest was pretty good this year. Harvest began two days ago on the hot banana peppers, with many more to come. The peppers, cucumbers, and tomatoes have really exploded in growth. The Roma tomato plants have as many blooms and small tomatoes on them as I have ever seen. Needless to say, I think my tomato harvest will be excellent this year. The Silver Queen white corn is nearing 7 foot tall with many small ears already starting to form. The Tango celery plants have also started to get some good size to them and I expect harvest on a few outside stalks to begin soon. The Derby bush green beans and the Rattlesnake pole green beans are growing nicely and harvest should begin on those very soon. Some limited harvesting of the spring planted Red Norland potatoes has begun. A full harvesting of these potatoes, both in the grow bags and the two raised beds, will take place sometime over the next week to ten days.

I have decided to start saving seeds of the Green Arrow peas, so I am letting some of the better looking pods dry on the vines before pulling up the plants. By the way, I started seeds of cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, and kohlrabi on July 1st for transplanting out into the garden by early to mid August. Fall will be here before you know it! Over the next few weeks I will be planting bush green beans in the area were the onions and peas were growing. I will need to make sure to place soaker hoses in those plots first, so they the beans will have plenty of water as they begin to grow.

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Ears Starting to Develop on the Silver Queen Write Corn, Picture Taken 7-7-23
Rattlesnake Pole Green Beans, Picture Taken 7-7-23
Right to Left: Cucumbers, Peppers, Bush Green Beans, and Tomatoes (Behind) Growing Like Crazy, Picture Taken 7-7-23
Clockwise from Left: Walking Onions, Candy Onions, Celery, Hot Banana Peppers (Barely Visible), and Lettuce, Picture Taken 7-7-23
Giant Kohlrabi Harvested, Picture Taken 7-4-23
The Perfect Early Summer Dinner: Fresh Garden Broccoli, Fresh Garden Potatoes and a Perfectly Grilled Grilled Ribeye Steak, YUM!

May Garden Growing Well

The mid May garden is starting to really take off now. Broccoli and Kohlrabi seedlings were transplanted out into the garden during the fourth week of April and the brussels sprouts seedlings were transplanted out about a week ago. Additional lettuce seedlings were also planted out into the garden about the same time. Silver Queen sweet corn seed was sown on May 6th, and all seeds have now germinated. Rattlesnake pole bean seeds were sown a few days ago along with another planting of some radish seeds. A few pepper seedlings have already been planted out. All of the rest of the pepper seedlings along with the tomato seedlings will be transplanted out into the garden over the next week, as the danger of frost has now passed. I also planted out my celery seedlings about a week ago, although they are a still a little small. Fordhook 242 lima beans will be sown in the next few days.

The spring planted lettuce is really taking off now, and harvest continues on that about every fours days. Harvest also continues on green onions and radish. All of the Red Norland potatoes have now poked up through the soil and the vines are starting to growing. The peas, after a slow start, are now starting to grow and the onions are really taking off now.

I have an update on the new lettuce/green I was trying for the first time this year, it is called Mizuna. See post about that here: http://blog.timssquarefootgarden.com/wordpress/index.php/2023/04/04/lettuce-planted-weather-is-improving I am not a big fan of this green. I did not like the flavor and it actually started to flower (bolt) very early. I pulled up the plants and fed what was left to my chickens (they seemed to like it). Besides, I need the extra room for additional plantings of lettuce.

I will post another update, including pictures, in about another week.

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Lettuce Planted, Weather is Improving

I was able to plant 30 lettuce transplants out into the garden yesterday, variety Sierra and Green Ice. About 6 or 7 Nevada lettuce seedlings will be planted out in about another week. I also planted out 5 seedlings of a new lettuce/green that I am trying for the first time this year. It is called Mizuna. The catalog described it as follows: “Classified as a mustard green or a Japanese green often used as part of a Mesclun mix. Very attractive, deeply cut and serrated, narrow leaves grow vigorously into large bunched heads that resist bolting and allow for extended picking. Mild, pleasant cabbagey flavor. It is supposed to hold up well in the heat and can be cut several times, so I am hoping to extend the lettuce growing season a little with this plant. It is also said to be cold tolerant, so I might try to replant this in the late summer for a fall/early winter harvest.

Mizuna is also described as follows (Source: https://tendingmygarden.com/mizuna-evergeen-elegant-and-delicious/): “The leaves are mild with a bit of pungency. Mizuna doesn’t have the bitterness and bite of arugula. It’s great mixed with other lettuces or used as a substitute for lettuce at times when lettuce is scarce. Sow this versatile green anytime from early spring through early autumn. It’s fast growing and the first leaves can be harvested in about 3 weeks. (Maturity takes 40 to 50 days depending on the variety.) Clumps get about 8 to 12 inches tall and can spread to a diameter of about 18 inches. You can harvest leaves at any stage. But if you want a big harvest at once, allow the plant to mature and cut it back just above the growing point to harvest all the leaves.”

The weather has turned warmer and somewhat drier. My onion transplants are definitely liking the weather as they are starting to green up quite a bit. The overwintered top setting onions are now about 4 inches tall. It is nice to finally see some green in the early April garden. I was also able to plant the rest of my really small onion transplants out into the garden yesterday, for green onions. If the weather stays favorable, I should be able to plant out Red Norland seed potatoes in the 2 raised beds and the fabric grow bags in about 5 days. Garden peas will also be directly sown into the garden in about a week.

Since it has warmed up, I was able to move my tomato and celery seedlings out into the cold frame a few days ago. If it stays somewhat warm, I will be moving the pepper seedlings out into the cold frame soon.

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Lettuce Seedlings Planted (Left) and Top Setting Onions Greening Up Nicely (Top Right), Picture Taken 4-3-23
Overwintered Sierra Lettuce is Almost Ready to Harvest, Picture Taken 4-3-23

Onion Transplants Planted – Cold, Wet, and Muddy in the Garden

Wow, the weather has been awful here in Central Indiana over the past month!! I did manage to get my onion transplants out into the garden on March 22nd (about 200 onion plants, Yellow Candy and Red Candy), right before the flooding rains hit (see pic of my onion plot below). It seems like we get one or two somewhat warm and dry days, then it rains for two to three days and then gets cold. The garden is so muddy right now, that you cannot plant anything in it until it dries out a little. I did cover part of the garden with a plastic covered hoop to keep that area drier for my lettuce seedlings, which should be able to be planted out into the garden in a few days, making sure to keep them protected until the weather gets better. I moved all of my cool season seedlings out into the cold frame. I still have my tomato and pepper seedlings inside under grow lights. Some of the seeds have not sprouted as of yet, but should over the next week or so. My fall planted top setting onions are starting to push on new green growth. It is always good to see any kind of green in the garden this time of year. I still have many leftover small onion transplants that need to get in the garden. I like growing these for green onions. If the weather stays somewhat dry, I am hopeful to be able to get my peas and seed potatoes planted out within the next 2 to 3 weeks. Happy early spring gardening!!

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New Onion Transplants Lower and Top Setting Onions Upper Part of Picture, Picture Taken 3-27-23