Monthly Archives: September 2013

Slowing down

092213 prepped fall winter bedsRight now I’ve got enough lettuce, beans, tomatoes, leeks, basil, and squash to last me another 3 weeks-tops. Nights are projected to be in the mid-40’s later this week, with highs in the 70’s. My newly planted lettuce seeds are growing quickly in this cooler weather. So are all the remaining cooler crops which I’ve planted. The change in weather has really slowed the summer crops. By the picture you can get an idea of what I’ll be doing this winter in the garden. I’ve got 10 more squares to plant in the next 2-3 weeks and then I’ll be done for the year. After that it’s just a matter of protection and minimal watering for the huge winter harvest season. I doubt it will be as cold as it was last winter so I’m really looking forward to all the great things growing right now. I can’t wait until is snows so I can go and hang out in the garden-with some of the tastiest things around.

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The square foot garden winter harvest

leeks 091513Here in zone 6 it’s time to fill all your empty squares with things you like to eat during the winter. Most of us try to avoid our gardens during this usually bleak time of year, but you don’t have to. By using the right crops that love cool or cold weather and providing the minimal amount of protection, you can be eating out of your garden all winter. And the eats are good too!! The varieties are a little different than many are used to, but my guess is you’ll love the taste of virtually all of them. If you don’t have your garden filled up yet, you still have a couple of weeks to get many of the crops in that will thrive during the winter months. Leeks, turnips, parsnips, lettuce, spinach, mache, claytonia, mizuna, minutina, arugula, pak choi, raddichio, carrots, etc. are some of the things I grew successfully last winter. I’ll be having my last gardening workshop of the season this weekend if you live locally. Bring a friend and come on out. Visit my website for more information. I’ll be having a one of a kind class during the first week of December. You’ll be hooked when you see it then…[ois skin=”below post”]

I blew it with the wrong support

tomato plant broken supportSometimes it’s not such a great idea to use just anything you have around the garden for certain things. I’ve always grown my tomatoes vertically, and mostly on supports made of 1/2″ electrical conduit. It’s always worked. Many years ago I had some of these 7 or 8′ green stake supports that I’ve grown tomatoes on-occasionally. Even though you might think they look solid enough, they aren’t. I hope you can recognize them when you see the picture. I even doubled up on the supports and tied them together with Velcro. We had strong winds that came by a few weeks ago and I came home to find this. These are just made out of a very thin and cheap layer of aluminum inside. No way that’s going to be strong enough to hold the amount of tomatoes you’ll be growing on it. Do yourself a favor-do it right from the start. Use the 1/2″ electrical conduit, place it over a piece of rebar that’s been pounded into the ground, and then you won’t have to ever worry about coming home to this….[ois skin=”below post”]