Harvest Monday-September 23, 2013

Not too much in the way of a harvest today.  It is a transition time in the central Florida vegetable garden with fall veggies still a ways from harvesting and the last of the spring/summer ones slowing production to almost nothing.  Most of the pepper plants planted in March are looking haggard and will be pulled this week.  Gonna leave some in to try to overwinter in the hopes they restart production in the spring.  In this part of the country, peppers and tomatoes can be kept growing year round, for the most part, although they aren't in fruit production the whole time.  I just pulled a Mountain Magic tomato plant that I planted in the tower garden (an aeroponic setup) last summer.  I, absentmindedly, let the reservoir get low on both water and nutrients while we were in England and, coupled with the heat, it just couldn't recover properly.  This year, I plan to leave two Tabasco peppers, three Yummy Snacking peppers and, possibly, a jalapeño.  All six have grown very tall and lush and are covered in blossoms.  Other than some carpenter ants on the Tabascos, I see no signs of disease or other bugs.

Does any one else keep peppers going throughout the year?  I wonder if pruning and potting them would help or is it better to just leave them and see what happens?  Sounds like another experiment, and I love a good garden experiment!

Here's the small harvest from this rainy Monday morning:

Hot and sweet peppers, many of which were picked as they started the transition from green to red and are, therefore black.  Could have left them to ripen more, but the snails are back in full force and I didn't want to risk losing them.  

Two key limes

Various herbs- from left, clockwise:  chives, oregano, sweet basil, purple basil, Greek columnar basil, sage, rosemary, thyme, and bay.  My tiny bay laurel is looking very rusty, have to look into spraying it.  I'd hate to lose such a beautiful plant.

I apologize for the lighting in these photos.  I picked in a light drizzle of rain and natural light was hard to come by this morning.

I am chomping at the bit to dig up my beds of sweet potatoes but the wet weather is making it impossible for me do that.  If I had planned well, I could have done it Saturday afternoon.  We had a dry day before, but the lawn sprinklers came on and soaked the beds once again.   They say it's best to stop watering prior to digging.  Dry potatoes means less chance of damage to the skins I suppose.  It poured yesterday afternoon and all night last night so, looks like maybe later this week will be my best chance.  Look for a big (hopefully) harvest next Monday!  

As always, harvest Monday is sponsored by Daphne's Dandelions.  Check out her blog and see what everyone else is harvesting this week.  Hope others fared better in their harvesting.

Thanks for reading,

Jen

Harvest Monday, September 16, 2013

Harvested this morning: a mix of hot peppers, sweet peppers and sweet potatoes.

The sweet potatoes are small but were started from clippings about a month after I planted the main crop.  Had to dig up this part of the bed to make room for some early plantings of kohlrabi, brussels sprouts and broccoli.  I did dig up quite a few baby roots that went into the compost so, it's possible, I'll have a second harvest from the compost bin in the spring!

 

Every Monday, Daphne's Dandelions hosts Harvest Monday, a way for you to see what others in the blogosphere are harvesting.  It's amazing to see how the different areas of the country harvest completely different crops.

It's another hot morning in Florida.  The temps are already into the 80's and it's very humid with thunderstorms forecast for the afternoon.  

Got the new beds assembled.  I was lazy and bought the kits rather than build them myself.  They look nice but won't last as long since they are built with wimpy boards, not the 2" rough cedar that I love.  Here is the before and afters.  These beds are for potatoes and garlic that won't be delivered for another month or two so I'll line them with cardboard to kill the sod then flip the sod upside down and fill the beds with soil.

I moved the recently potted blueberries to their temporary home along the western boundary of the garden.  The pool enclosure will start a few feet to the right and, once built, I will move the blueberries over as a privacy hedge along the screen.  That will give me a decent pathway to the right of the new beds.

Here are the other new beds put in yesterday.

The top shows the potted blueberries where I dug them up and now the new beds have taken their place.  The far beds were built around the existing blackberry bushes that I'll move in the winter when they are semi dormant.  The garlic planned for those beds will go in after being chilled in the fridge for a month or so.  It's a mini experiment to see if the pre chilled ones grow bigger bulbs than the ones planted without chilling.

After looking at these pictures I realize how badly I need to mulch the walkways.  Here is a shot I took in the spring after the mulch was put down.  It really pulls the whole garden together and makes it so much cleaner looking.

Well, that's it for today.  I need to get out and start pruning trees before we hit the 90's, again.

Thanks for reading!

Jen

Today in the Garden

Once I got the kids off to school, I grabbed a few essentials and headed out into the garden.

Lots of activity this morning here in the Sanctuary Garden.  All the seeds I planted last Friday have germinated and I look forward to a fall crop of zucchini and cucumbers since I didn't get a single one this spring.  My zucchini got sick and I simply forgot to plant the cukes!  It's not a big deal, though, I should get a pretty decent harvest before it starts getting chilly here.  

The bees and wasps were out pollinating like crazy (thank you for your hard work, guys).  This big guy was spotted on the potted Calamondin.

If you've never heard of these, check them out.  They are described as an "acid orange" with a taste more like a lime.  According to the Seminole County Extension office, they are used as a lime substitute in pies and make wonderful marmalades.  I haven't tried them in cooking or processing yet, but I can say they are great squeezed into a cold glass of water or tea!  They also fruit year round and can have mature fruit, unripened fruit and new blooms all at the same time.  Mine has bloomed every single day that I've had it-about 4 months.  It pulls in the bees better than any other plant in my garden.

Other things I spotted in my morning garden walk:

Several baby cantaloupes...

Jalapeños still dripping with the morning's dew...

Cocozelle squash (zucchini)...

A beautiful basil flower...

Bananas...

And, finally...coffee!

I'm not sure how much I'll get for roasting, but it would be great even if I only got one cup of Sanctuary Garden blend brew!

What's going in on in your gardens this morning?

Thanks for reading,

Jen

What's Growing In My Garden

I figured I'd start off with a list of everything I have growing in the Sanctuary Garden along with some pictures.  Basically, there are two gardens that flank the sides of my house, one on the east side, one on the west.  The east garden is for veggies, potted fruit trees and fruit bushes (and one large nectarine tree).  The west is the "orchard".  I use that term loosely because, although I have several variety of fruit trees growing there, I have simply stuck them in the ground without a lot of planning and given them absolutely no care whatsoever.  I hope to remedy that situation this winter with an orchard makeover.  In the middle of the two gardens is our backyard that will soon, hopefully, be torn up to accommodate a swimming pool with a large screen enclosure. 

So here goes the garden roll call:

West Garden a.k.a The Orchard

Brogden Avocado

Doni avocado

Anna Apple (2)

Golden Dorsett Apple

Wonderful Pomegranante (2)

Magnolia Fig

Ischia Fig

Kadota Fig

Blood Orange

Variegated Pink Eureka Lemon

Loquat (unknown variety)

I also have the following small citrus in containers:  Lakeland Limequat and Meyer Lemon

East Garden

This is everything that doesn't fall under the vegetable category

Sunraycer Nectarine

Pineapple Guava (2)

Blackberry-Prime Ark (3)

                  Natchez (3)

                  Ouachita (2)

                  Apache

Tayberry (2)

Mysore Raspberry (2)

Calamondin (potted)

Meyer Lemon (potted)

Arbequina Olive (potted)

Bay Laurel (potted)

Camelia Sinensis (2) (potted)

Piper Nigrum (black pepper vine)

Banana-Cavendish, Ice Cream, Raja Puri, Dwarf Cavendish (about a dozen total plus numerous pups)

Blueberry-Jewel, Sunshine Blue, Emerald (all Southern high bush)

Kiwi-Hardy Kiwi (unknown variety), Issai

Coffee Arabica (2)

Glenn Mango (potted)

Muscadine Grapes-Southern Home, Sunshine, Nesbitt, Carlos, Florida Fry

Numerous Herbs and Seasonal Veggies (so many of them, I will try to list the regulars)

     Squash/Pumpkin

     Tomato

     Peppers-Sweet/Hot

     Lettuce/Greens

     Beans

     Peas

     Potatoes

     Sweet Potatoes

     Broccoli

     Cauliflower

     Cucumber

     Onion

     Garlic

     Melon

     Carrot

     Radish

I think I got most everything, but I'm sure I forgot something.  Also, I'm always adding one or two veggies into the rotation.  If I like it and it grows well, it gets a permanent slot, otherwise, I don't waste time.  In the beginning, I planted one of everything thinking I needed variety to be a real gardener.  After three years (and composting every single okra and papaya that I grew), I realized that growing only things we really liked, growing them well, and growing enough to feed all of us was the way to go.

     

Is it a lot of work keeping up such an ambitious garden?  Absolutely.

Am I an expert?  By no means.  Seriously, not even close.  I am learning as I go.

Does it help to have a flexible work schedule and a family that supports my "hobby"?  You bet!

Can anyone do this?  Yes!  Start small and grow slowly.  (I may have skipped that second part).

Here is a shot of the East Garden.  It is roughly 25'x40'.  It's actually a SE exposure andgets sun almost all day.

The same area of the garden from the opposite direction.  Sweet potato vines are in the foreground.  They are almost ready for harvest.  We have a conservation area behind the house that must be kept "in a natural state".  That means wild grape vines and kudzu that completely covers the oak trees.  

A very poorly taken picture of the Orchard (sorry, still figuring out this blog photography thing).  You can see it is in need of some serious TLC.  During pool construction, the blood orange tree to the right will be taken out( it has been in the ground for several years and never produced an edible fruit), the smaller avocado will need to be potted temporarily, and all this sod will be removed to give the the bobcat access to the yard.  Still not sure how this area will turn out.  I envision the apples, pomegranates and figs espalier style along the fence and a row of avocado and citrus between the fence and house/screen enclosure.  Oh the possibilities!

Grape vines on our pergola.  The pergola will need to go when the pool goes in but I plan to reassemble it as a freestanding grape arbor this winter.

The Eureka lemon tree on the right in front of the fence (the orchard is behind the gate) and the loquat that I planted this spring in the front yard.  Boy, I need to work on this side.  So many weeds and sod in need of replacing.

The nectarine tree.  It's been 18 months since planting and it has really tajen off!  Gotta get in and summer prune it before it gets much bigger.  I should have pruned it at planting to branch out much lower to the ground.

Thanks for reading!

Jen