Succession Planting, Broccoli

A nice head of broccoli forming in September.


Will a frost sweeten up this Tuscany black kale?


I didn't do near enough succession planting as I should have this year. All season I struggled with what I felt were tough, crappy growing conditions. We had tornadoes in April. It was bitterly cold and rainy or snowing in May. We had a upper 90s heat wave the first week in June. We recorded record rainfall in both June and July and a drought in August.

The first crop of broccoli bolted. Lettuce quickly seeded out, too. I had spring-planted carrots set flower heads! The radicchio just never tasted right. The black kale went from fairly good juvenile leaves to very bitter adult foliage very quickly. Fennel formed seeds without setting bulbs. The peas got buried in the rambunctious growth of grape leaves after waiting an extra six weeks for the buds to unfurl their leaves. The mesclun mix I planted early season was over-run with leafy, fast-growing mustard.

During the small windows of good weather, I planted, transplanted, weeded, attempted to rototil. I couldn't get out to the garden to plant a second planting of sweetcorn, the rain never let up.

I did plant a couple additional seeding of mesclun, a fall crop of peas, and a second round of carrots at both gardens. I replanted cucumbers and honeydew after the first crop did not sprout.

The broccoli continually tried to bolt until the weather started to cool. I had kept cutting back the shoots that seemed to bolt out a foot tall and burst into yellow riotous bloom overnight. The few heads I harvested in August seemed riddled with the worms of cabbage moth, a result of the rainy June and July. Now that the weather has cooled the worms seemed to gone on vacation. Eating broccoli is no longer like walking through a gastronomic mine field.

The mesclun seedlings have been turning out a bowl of greens every couple days in my potager and the family garden. The 'China Rose' radishes I planted also just get longer while maintaining a sweetness that bolted from my grasp in June.

A second planting of dill would have been nice. Planting more carrots would have been nice. Onions have not yielded anything near my expectations.

In small spaces, succession planting is key. I have not made good use of all my space resources. I could have done better.

Pictures from the Potager 2

A work house garden Roma-style tomato, 'Opalka'.



'China Rose' winter radish, has a strange growth habit, growing above ground. The taste has been good and sweet though.


Grapes are nearly ready for juicing. I had spotty pollination this year.


The largest Beefsteak tomato I have ever seen. It seems more the size of a small melon.


Celery, I not too excited about the way it has grown for me.

As you can see, I need to harvest and preserve this bounty.

Later...

Cooler, More Moderate Temperatures

The bridal wreath spirea is starting to go by because of the extreme heat.

The cooler breeze is a godsend this morning. I admit it. The hot and humid weather was wearing me out. I felt like I was just dragging about. I wish we could have had at least a quarter-inch of rain as the front moved through, so watering was not at the top of my list this morning, but I will take what I can get.

Yesterday, I did harvest all the 'French Breakfast' radishes and replanted some "Watermelon' radishes in the potager. I was also able to cut a 4-quart bowl of salad greens. I also planted some yellow summer squash and cucumbers.

Today, I will work again in the family garden. My goal is to get some mulch down around the berry plots and some compost on the asparagus bed. Weeding would also be a good choice activity. The sweet potatoes have not been set out, but are looking great in their pots. Preparing a sweet potato bed would be a good activity.

The Mantis tiller is on the fritz...

Planting Peas

Tomatoes under my lights!

Although it is supposed to be cold this weekend, if you haven't planted peas, you need to get on this. If you want spring peas, I planted sugar snap peas so I can eat them pod and all in stir fries. I will probably plant another round of peas mid-August to preserve. I soaked them overnight and planted them about two inches apart and one inch deep. I did not use an innoculant. I'll track my yield. My two rows are about nine feet long.

As I mentioned, I planted fifteen hills of Yukon Gold potatoes. I dug holes about eight inches across and deep and 18"-24" inches apart. I have them in an area I can water easily. Potatoes like grapes need plenty of water. I cut whole seed potato into sections, each bearing two to five eyes, about one and a half inches by one and a half inches by a couple inches. I placed one section in each hole. My row is about 24 feet long. I only press about an inch of deep down on top of the potato section so I can hill it up as it grows.

In front of the potatoes, I have a red leaf loose leaf lettuce, 'Little Fingers' Carrots, and French Breakfast radishes. I even planted the carrot is a short day variety, so I will be harvesting this stuff before my potatoes start to take up all the space.

That parsley I though was faking life? It has new growth, as does the oregano. Especially as it reached 80 degrees on Sunday and the parsley got "warm". I have to consider it passed the "warm and dead clause" and has effectively established it's biennal self in my yard. This parsley was the Italian flat-leaved variety (versus the curly type), if any of your are looking to have perennial parsley in Wisconsin.

I also intersowed my garlic with black annual poppies. I think the curly heads of the garlic will be attractive above the blooms of the poppies.

I planted out spinach without hardening them off, with no apparent ill-effects, which is something to remember.

I could also have planted out some of my other cole crops: kales, cabbage, broccoli, and probably will in the next couple days.

I should have my tiny cold frame together and I could have planted fennel and dill already as well.