Planting, Planting...

I haven't been very on top of the blogging lately. I've been a bit busy planting. So this post is going to be a lot of catching up.

Nearly three weeks ago I set out lettuce, celery, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage. About a week and a half after that I planted out some of the tomatoes and all of the ground cherries. In case you aren't savvy to ground cherries they are a type of tomatillo that supposedly has a citrus or pineapple taste (depends who you ask or maybe on cultivar, not sure). Anyhow they are suppose to be great for fresh eating and pies so I figured I would give them a shot. The variety I planted is called Aunt Mollie's. At some point during all this I seeded a second planting of carrots, spinach, and lettuce.

The more present activity started with beans and sweet corn going out last week. For beans I planted “Provider” which is a old standby heavy producing bush bean. I also planted “Dragon Langerie” which is a bush type that makes flat long romano type purple streaked pods that are supposed to be great cooked or eaten fresh. The variety of corn is “True Gold”. I didn’t pick the corn for any particular reason other than that it is an open pollinated variety so I could potentially save seed from it if I wanted to.

This past Monday I planted cucumbers, melons, and asparagus. The cucumbers are planted north of the celery and I will fence them to provide the celery some shade. The variety is a heavy reliable producer called “Marketmore 76”. The melons include watermelon “Sugar Baby”, Cantaloupe “Hearts of Gold”, and Honey Dew “Green Flesh”. The asparagus is “Mary Washington” which is the old standard. I started it from seed back in February. From a pack of 100 seeds I wound up with 110 seedlings. I am thinking I need more asparagus though for market and I have been eye balling a French heirloom variety called “Precoce d'Argenteuil ”. It is a purple variety that is often blanched white. It has a few advantages in that it will produce a harvestable crop the second year from seed and it comes on earlier than most varieties.

On Tuesday I planted the “Evergreen Hardy Bunching” onions that I started from seed back in January. They are supposed to multiple, never make a bulb, and be perennial. It should be a never ending supply of green onions considering I planted around 200. I also tilled a spot in the lower swampy area where the natural spring originates. I tilled it for my cranberry plants that are supposed to be in the mail on April 26th.

Finally today I planted the last of the tomatoes, all the peppers, more carrots, and more beets. The varieties of peppers include “California Wonder”, “King of the North”, some saved seeds from an unknown huge bell type, “Orange Sun” and “Shishito”. All are standard bell types except “Orange Sun” which is a orange bell and “Shishito” which is a small slightly spicy bell that is popular in Japan.

So there it is in all its really lengthy glory. I am sure I have left things out but that is most of whats going on. The market starts May 8th for me so maybe between now and then I can get a few more posts up while I still kind of have the time.

Ready For Winter?

Despite the radical weather fluctuations common in the Midwest the unseasonable November weather has been truly bizarre. Over the Thanksgiving holiday my Uncle John, now living in California, confessed that the warm morning air of the Bay area felt cool compared to that in St. Louis. Just yesterday, December 1st, as I was headed outside in a t-shirt to pick leaf lettuce for dinner, I noticed the wireless weather station read 71 degrees Fahrenheit. Although I am grateful to still have fresh produce in the garden (lettuce, spinach, kale, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage) it is now December and I am ready for winter to come...well, at least I think so.

Even though, Nathan had mentioned last night that the forecast was calling for extreme temperature drops over the next few days, and I also heard yesterday on NPR that they were predicting snow in today's forecast, the truth is, it just sort-of went in one ear and out the other. When it's 71 degrees and your outside working in the yard on December 1st, well, I guess I just didn't pay that much attention. However, I should have know that when it comes to weather in central Illinois...anything is possible. Pictured above, today, the first snow of the season!

Still Going Strong

Not sure how much longer it will last but the garden keeps producing. The picture of lettuce is from yesterday. It is December now and we still have broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, spinach, carrots, and kale in the garden. It doesn't quite feel like winter yet but it is getting colder. I imagine any day now we will get some consistent cold that will finally wipe some of the crops out.

I already blanched and froze a bunch of cauliflower and broccoli. I also put a few heads of cabbage in the back of the refrigerator; according to what I've read they should keep good like that for a few months. I am considering freezing some kale for stir fry and spinach for cooking before the temperature gets in the teens, temperatures below the mid 20's will wipe out kale and spinach. I am just not sure if we will put it to use.

I don’t mind the early winter production and actually expect a certain amount of it but lettuce in December is a bit extreme. As long as the weather stays this way I don’t mind, although it is a bit worrisome, global warming and all that…

Aphid Attack

My Black Seeded Simpson Leaf Lettuce has been attacked by aphids. This is my own fault for (I hate to admit it) several reasons. First I neglected earlier when the plants were at the proper stage to fully thin the lettuce. I also noticed about a week ago that my lettuce had quite a few ants. Now you might be thinking that ants isn't such a problem besides ants don't eat lettuce. Well if you thought that you would be correct ants do not eat lettuce. Ants eat a sweet nectar-like secretion from aphids and ferociously protect the aphids from their natural predators like, lady bugs. I know this and yet I still ignored the obvious clue that aphids were moving in on my lettuce. Anyhow it isn't that big of a problem since lettuce is not easily bothered by pests and aphids are easily whipped out with tobacco tea spray.