What Are You Planting Today, This Week, This Month?

[Hattie the Hen]

Hi karanleaf, If you are planting Mitzuna now try to put it in the shadiest place you can otherwise it will probabl go to seed very quickly. You can always sow some more in the early fall to last you through the winter. I now grow most of my veg in raised beds as I don' need a huge amount just for me but I grow a variety of things & always try a few different things every year. That keeps me on my toes. This year I have sowed Artichokes- "Violetta di Chioggia" so I can cook the little chokes to use in salads &, if I get enough , preserve in olive oil for the winter. They are so expensive to buy. I also grow Cardoons which come from the same family. They are a bit of a pain to prepare because you have to wrap the stems to blanche them (for a few weeks) before you cook them but are delicious. The Italians love them so I usually use t heir recipes. The make massive plants-- about 7-9ft tall A look like giant thistles with their huge leaves. They would make a great summer fence to shade chickens. Otherwise I grow the usual things: corn, beans of various kinds, tomatoes, cabbages, spinach, chard, kale, a few potatoes, mostl the salad ones, leeks, spring onions, garlic, carrots, parsnips little turnips, kohl-rabi, radishes, shallots, tree onions, courgettes, cucumber & a few peppers. This year I'm trying pumpkins & melons. I also have a selection of herbs & quite a lot of fruit trees & bushes. As I keep chickens I use any surplus stuff for them but it does mean I have to keep them off the produce so I tend to use floating fleece quite a lot. The theory being what the can't see very easily they won't go after. The same thing goes for the bugs. If plants need to be pollinated I make a wall round the raised beds with canes to which I peg walls of the fleece. THis means the pollinating insects can get in the open top. It works well for me (except in very high winds)!!!!!!! Tell me what you grow & how you keep off the pests. I look forward to hearing. You are right there is nothing like the excitement of seeing the first plants coming up every year & then later the first meal made with your own produce--YUM- YUM!!
:rose Hattie :rose

 

[karanleaf]

Thanks Hattie, I will have it planted where it will get plenty of sun so maybe I should shade it :/ This is also my first year for planting kohl-rabi and swiss chard, so any preparing instructions would be most helpful. I love growing many things and I try new plantings every year. It's a wonderful adventure. As for keeping control of the 2 and 4 legged critters. We have lattce fencing on the north of our raised beds to the east is the boundry fence and to the south for temporary I have put up plastic snow fencing. On the west side is our Greenhouse. It is 20w x 38L x 12H feet (I don't know what that is in meters) Again thank you for the book suggestion I will look it up. Happy Gardening :watering :tools

:happy_flower Karan

 

[tomatokate]

I planted mixed Asters today.

 

[Hattie the Hen]

I've had a great day today ( it is night-time here now). This morning I went down to my local town where it was our monthly Farmers' Market along with the weekly ordinary market ( which has been going on since the Thirteenth Century)!!! This fact always fills me with awe; to be part of such a long history! I went especially to buy plants that have been grown locally. I got some cabbage plants to tide me over until mine are ready to plant out -- I started late this year as the winter was much longer & colder than usual. I was also getting over flu which lasted 7 weeks Now I'm bouncing with health I'm playing catch-up. I got various flowering plants to plant among the large stones & pebbles surrounding my little pond (full of frogs which keep down a lot of nasty bugs along with my chickens). I love blue flowers so I aim to collect them together there. I'm in the process of moving some statues (copies of 18th century ones) so that they will be reflected in the water. They are 2 children about 2ft 6" high & well weathered; they are very charming & used to stand on an island in the big pond I had in my previous garden. As they are very heavy I have to be careful :weight -- don't want to hurt my back. The boy statue is in place & I'll move the girl tomorrow, maybe. I have one other, a copy of a !9th century statue of Pandora & I'm trying to decide where to put her. I rather fancy making a kind of grotto for her. I like creating picture & vistas in my garden; I was a theatrical designer before I retired so I can't help myself.....!!!!! When I got back from the market I found my bare-rooted Autumn fruiting raspberries had been delivered & were sitting on my doorstep. They were beautifully wrapped & in great condition so I have put them in a pail of water. I will keep these separate from the Summer fruiting ones. Eventually I'll take cuttings of the new ones to increase my stock. So today I didn't do a lot of actual gardening except water the raised beds & the flats full of seedlings; everything is bursting out of the earth, it's so exciting at the moment!
:rose :rose :rose

Hi karanleaf, I have to go to sleep now but I will reply about chard etc. in the morning. I'm jealous about your large greenhouse, I've always wanted one Perhaps one day......:watering !! Good night, you have a great day in the garden :bouquet

:rose Hattie :rose

 

[karanleaf]

Well today is my birthday so after work DH took me out for steak dinner.
Now I am taking my pot of hot herbal tea and going to the greenhouse out to transplant more seedlings into cell packs, and start another flat of Sugar baby watermelon.

Thanks Hattie, sounds like you had an eventfull day and I would love to see how your garden comes out with the statues Sounds wonderful

I hope everyone is having good gardening weather this week :coolsun :tools :watering
Yeah Spring

:happy_flower Karan

 

[warmfuzzies]

I planted 50 strawberry crowns and about 50 garlic bulbs too, i diddnt count them all.

I diddnt have anywhere to put them yet, so I hand dug two 4 x 12' beds about 10 inches deep. I planted the Garlic in between the strawberries, i read that they like each other, so heres hoping. I had to do something they were both growing too much!!

 

[Hattie the Hen]

:happy_flower Hi warmfuzzies, I didn't know that garlic & strawberries like each other. I must remember that for later. I'm growing garlic for the first time this year as it is expensive to buy here in the UK and often the quality is not goood. I've planted both the pink & the white kind just a few few days ago. I can't get over just how quickly they shoot up; mine are now 7" high. I grow most of my veggies in raised beds & start them with sheets of glass or clear PVC over them as we are still having bad frosts at night. I had been thinking of putting my surplus garlic bulbs round my favoutie roses as they are supposed to help keep bugs away from those --we will see!! :watering

Good morning karanleaf :happy_flower
:rose HAPPY BIRTHDAY :rose
(I know it's a bit late -- hope you had a great day)

Both kohl-rabi & chard are really easy to grow; good to look at too (always a bonus)! Just don't sow too many of the kohl-rabi at one time; stagger the sowings otherwise they all seem to come at the same time & you want to eat them young & smallish (a bit like turnips they are best when eaten golf-ball size). As for chard, are you planting the green or the rainbow mixture? I plant the green in the spring & then about early in August I grow the rainbow mixture in modules to plant out for winter colour plus food for both me & my chickens through the winter. I see you keep chickens too so try it & see, mine love it. I like the color in the winter: it cheers me up & they survive & come back well even after snow & ice (here at least). I think you might have to shade the chards, along with your mitzuna if you are planting in a very sunny situation. I tend to grow these kind of crops in the shadow of much taller crops to protect them from getting burnt & frizzled. My grandpa taught me to do that; he had a large allotment away from the house where he grew all the veggies for a family of 10 children........!!!! He was a very busy gardener I think he loved the peace & quiet, away from the noise of the kids.
Do you grow the various kales -- I love these, they are so winter hardy & good to look at. This year I'm going to try growing Cavalero nero, a large Italian black kale which is delicious -- you can find such wonderful recipes for it including wonderful Italian soups for cold winter days. The French have great recipes for chard which they call blettes. I use the tiny young leaves in salads like spinach. Then as they get larger I steam the leaves. When full-sized you cut out the stem and use it, cut in pieces with a sauce over it & serve the green leafy part as a separate vegetable. You can also use it in stir-fries. I find it so useful--it's a must have! Oh one other use is when you are cooking a large piece of meat on the BBQ. You sear the meat on all sides over a high heat then lay down a bed of the outer large leaves of the chard along with your herbs; place the meat on top & cover with another thick layer of chard etc & leave till cooked. I often do this with a shoulder of lamb or the little wing-rib of beef. You won't believe how delicious this is. The taste of BBQ without that terrible (and bad for you ) acrid & burnt taste. I cook spatchcocked chickens that way too and the hardest of all -- Pork chops ( I think these can get so dry but this way they are moist & very tasty, it allows you to cook them long enough so they are safe to eat & not pink inside).

Sorry I seem to have digressed a lot --It's just that I'm mad about cooking ( I had a restaurant for about 6 years. I had to give it up because of ill-health).

Have you got photos of your garden & greenhouse . I will take some of my garden when I've come to terms with my new camera & learnt how to get it to work with my laptop ( I only got the laptop in December & it's difficult to learn all these new ways for an old biddy)!!

Bye for now,Happy Gardening :tools :tools :tools :tools :tools
:rose Hattie :rose

 

[lupinfarm]

Yesterday I planted Spinach and Romaine Lettuce seeds in the garden... and now I have to cover them so they don't wash away cause we're getting rain the end of this week!

 

[vfem]

Happy Belated Birthday Karen!!!

I haven't planted anything today YET... I'm going to the store, then going to bake a cookie order.... then when my daughter is taking her nap I'm planning on putting out more Foxglove I have ready and a few cherry tomato plants. I just wanted to finish making their signs first. Maybe I'll just make those tomorrow.

 

[karanleaf]

Thanks Girls row

vfem I loved your signs I will have to get busy and do some we have these cedar strips I think may work well.

Warmfuzzies I didn't know that about strawberries and garlic either. Thanks for the info. I have a surplus of garlic chives last year I divided my rhubarb (which is in the same bed as some of my herbs) and I cleaned out a wheelborrow full of Garlic Chives and still left some there. DH is wanting a strawberry bed so we may try that. :tools

Hattie , Oh thank you so much, I planted the rainbow chard for the color and just to try it out at the table. I love to cook also, I have a couple of bookcases full of cookbooks, I have worked at my husbands aunt's cafe on and off for years. They closed it this year. too bad a lot of folks in our small area ate there . I love to try new recipes too
We have started our brocolli, cabbage, brussel sprouts, and kohl-rabi in the greenhouse so I am transplanting seedlings out in the raised bed. If we like the chard and kohl-rabi then I will do a second planting this fall.
My Grandparents also are the ones that instilled the love of gardening in me. I hope to in part do the same with my grandchildren and nieces. :tools :watering row In these trying times It is nice to know that I can teach them to provide for themselves and their famlies in the future. Just as the settlers did here and their forefathers did. :tools
Nothing healthier and enjoyable than working in the garden
:happy_flower Karan