Category Archives: Summer Gardening

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!

Desert Dryness Continues, Garden Continues to Grow Well

Well, it is now official. We are now in a moderate drought here in Indianapolis. The very wet and cold March is now but a distant memory. Obviously, I have been watering the garden on a regular basis now. Despite the drought, the garden continues to grow and produce. Harvest still continues on the lettuce and the first harvest of broccoli will begin today, hooray!! I have started to harvest a few Green Arrow peas, with many more to harvest over the next few weeks. I have been having all kinds of problems with sparrows pulling on the leaves and tendrils of the pea plants. It got so bad that I had to cover the plants with a large row cover, for a time. I have since removed the row cover. A few birds have returned, but not as many as before, so hopefully those issues are passed. Harvest will also start soon on some of the Kossack kohlrabi plants as they are starting to get to harvestable size. The potatoes in the grow bags are just about finished growing and some of the potatoes have started to push up out of the soil, so some harvesting of these potatoes will start over the next few weeks (I am getting tired of watering these bags every other day anyways). The pepper and tomato plants are starting to flower and are getting some good size to them. I even noticed some small tomatoes and peppers on the plants already. The Diva cucumber plants are starting to climb up their cages and should start blooming in the next few weeks. Most of the Rattlesnake pole bean vines have reached the top of the bean towers. The tops of the March planted onions have started to flop over, which is a sign that they are nearing harvest time (it has been 90 days since they were planted out). These onions (Candy and Red Candy Apple) have really bulbed up nicely and it looks like I will have a really good crop of onions for the second year in a row. The Silver Queen corn is getting really tall and should start shooting up tassels soon. Wow, can you believe it is already June 24th. I will start planting seeds of lettuce, cabbage, kohlrabi, broccoli, and cauliflower, for a fall harvest, by early July. I have loaded you up with garden pictures for this post (see below). Happy Summer Gardening!!

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Potatoes Pushing up Through the Soil in the Grow Bags, Picture Taken 6-23-23

Green Arrow Peas Maturing Nicely, Picture Taken 6-23-23

Candy Onions Getting Big and Nearing Maturity, Picture Taken 6-23-23

Onions with the Tops Falling Over, Picture Taken 6-23-23

Lettuce Plants Still Growing, Picture Taken 6-23-23

Clockwise From Lower Left to Right: Cucumbers, Peppers, Bush Green Beans, and Tomatoes, Picture Taken 6-23-23

Silver Queen White Corn Getting Really Tall, Picture Taken 6-23-23

Kohlrabi, Broccoli, and Brussels Sprouts, Picture Taken 6-23-23

Broccoli Head (Variety Packman) Ready to Harvest, Picture Taken 6-23-23

From Left to Right: Rattlesnake Beans, Fordhook Lima Beans, and Ancho Peppers, Picture Taken 6-23-23

Early October Garden Still Producing

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:

Broccoli (Packman) 18
Cauliflower (Snow Crown) 6
Kohlrabi (Kossak) 12
Cabbage (Stonehead) 12
Lettuce (Sierra) 12

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.

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Happy Fall Gardening!!

Broccoli Heads Ready for Harvest, Picture Taken 10-5-22

Brussels Sprouts (Left) and Broccoli (Right), Picture Taken 10-5-22

Cabbage (Lower) and Cauliflower and Broccoli (Upper), Picture Taken 10-5-22

Cabbage, Kohlrabi, Cauliflower, and Broccoli Growing in Very Full Raised Bed, Picture Taken 10-5-22

Kohlrabi Ready to Harvest, Picture Taken 10-5-22

Celery, Green Onions, Peppers, Lettuce, and Small Self-Seeded Lettuce Plants Growing Nicely, Picture Taken 10-5-22

Poblano Pepper Plants (Caged) at Least 6 Foot Tall, Picture Taken 10-5-22

Outstanding Corn and Tomato Harvest, Fall Garden Planted

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!!

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Three Very Full Bags of Roma Tomatoes Ready for Processing, Picture Taken 8-1-22

Last of the Harvested Silver Queen White Corn, Picture Taken 8-3-22

Silver Queen White Corn Ready for Eating, Picture Taken 8-2-22

Many Roma Tomatoes Still on Plants. Notice the Row Cover Over the Carrot Bed to the Right, Picture Taken 8-5-22

Late July Garden Harvest, Drought Continues

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 7-23-22

My Spoiled Chickens Enjoying Some Leftover Corn Cobs. Their Name Are: White Chicken, Ruby, Rosie, Aubrey, Abbie, Tipper, and Domino, Picture Taken 7-24-22

Desert Gardening Anybody? Why The Heck Not!

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 6-22-22

Diva Cucumbers Starting to Grow Up the Cages, Picture Taken 6-22-22

Tops of Candy and Red Candy Apple Onions Starting to Flop Over, Picture Taken 6-22-22

Hungarian Wax Peppers Starting to Get Big, Picture Taken 6-22-22

Red Norland Potato Vines Starting to Turn Brown, Picture Taken 6-22-22

Broccoli Head Just Before Harvested, Picture Taken 6-22-22

Mid June Garden Update – Very Hot and Dry

The mid June garden is growing pretty good despite the very hot and dry weather over the past 5 days. The garden this time of year seems to grow overnight. Harvest began on the broccoli yesterday, with more heads to come, although it looks like most of the heads will be a smaller this year, probably due to the weather. The spring planted peas are suffering with all of the heat but, with any luck, I should be able to start harvesting at least some peas over the next few weeks. I have started watering the garden over the last week because it has been so dry. The Red Norland potatoes have just about finished growing, but I did water them a few days ago due to the fact that they are growing in raised beds. The potatoes growing in the grow bags need to be watered every other day in this heat. Some potatoes might be able to be harvested in about another 2 weeks. Some of my onions tops, especially the Red Candy Apple onions, have started to flop over. Some of the spring planted Kohlrabi are nearing harvestable size. Some of the lettuce plants (Salad Bowl and Green Ice) will be pulled up and fed to the chickens over the next few weeks, as they are starting to bolt. The Sierra and Nevada lettuces are still doing okay. I did place shade cloth over the lettuce to help them with the heat stress. The bush green beans have started to flower, so I expect I will be harvesting some beans in about 3 weeks or so. The Silver Queen white corn is growing like mad and is already at least 3 feet tall. The peppers are growing really well and I even noticed a few small peppers on the Hungarian Wax pepper plants. The Diva cucumbers are starting to climb, but have not flowered as of yet. No pictures with this post, but look for pictures of the garden in my next post, coming soon. Stay Cool and Happy Gardening!!

Mid May Update – New Blog Feed Email Provider

Been very busy in the garden over the last week. All of the spring garden has now been planted including transplanting of all the celery, pepper and tomato seedlings. I am trying something new this year with the tomatoes. I am using black landscape fabric around the plants to see if it reduces the leaf disease issue that I have had over the last several years. Harvest continues on the lettuce, which is growing like crazy. There has been a little bit of slug damage on the lettuce, but it is not too serious at the moment. Harvest also continues on radishes and green onions. The potatoes continue to grow nicely in the raised beds and in the grow bags and some of the vines are approaching 8 inches tall. Cucumbers, bush green beans, and bush lima bean seeds were also recently sown. I am trying a new pole green bean this year called Rattlesnake. It is an old heirloom variety. I will keep you posted on how it performs. The Silver Queen white sweet corn seeds were sown about 9 days ago and they have already emerged. See pictures of some of my garden plots at the end of this post.

If you are reading this blog post via email, then you might have already noticed that I have a new blog feed provider, followit. You might want to customize how your feed is delivered to you by visiting followit through the link provided in the blog feed email. My old feed blog provider, Feedblitz will no longer work. A few of you might also be receiving emails from Feedburner. I will be deleting my Feedburner account soon so you will not be receiving emails from Feedburner after it is deleted.

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

Pepper and Tomato Seedlings Recently Planted, 5-17-22

Kohlrabi, Broccoli, Brussel Sprouts, and Some Late Seeded Lettuce, 5-17-22

Early Summer Garden Update

Sorry for the delay in posting a garden update. Wow, has time really flown by. The weather has been like a roller coaster ride. May was too cold and wet followed by a hot and dessert dry June. My garden did received some much needed rain over the last week. Despite the crazy weather, the garden continues to grow and produce.

The early summer garden is growing really well. I started harvesting broccoli on June 14th and now all of the main heads have been harvested. I just started harvesting broccoli side shoots within the last few days. The broccoli harvest has been decent, but not great this year. I have also started harvesting kohlrabi within the last week or so. Some of the kohlrabi have been really big. I have been harvesting peas over the last 2 weeks. The pea harvest has been really good this year (not sure why, I have not done anything different than in past years?). I will finish up my lettuce harvest really soon as it is getting pretty hot now. The onions tops have started to fall over, so I will be pulling those up soon and letting them dry out in the garden for a few days.

My pepper plants have really started to take off. I have even harvested a few hot banana peppers yesterday. The tomato plants have also started to look better after the wet and cold May. The cucumbers have just started to flower, so it won’t be long before cucumbers start forming. The potato vines are growing like crazy and have just started to yellow a little. Harvest should begin on these (Red Norland) in about 2 more weeks. The corn (Silver Queen) is growing really well and has just started to tassel.

I will be starting my fall seeds within the next few days. I will be starting broccoli, kohlrabi, cabbage, and lettuce in little cell six packs. I will have them growing outside on the covered back porch. The seedlings should be ready to transplant out into the garden by the first week of August.

Tim's Square Foot Garden Blog

This is where you can keep up to date on what is happening in my square foot garden, so check back often for updates!!