End of September Update

I'm crazy busy with a lot of non-garden stuff right now so this update will be somewhat short... which kinda works since its nearing the end of the summer gardening season... and moving into cover crops + winter greens time...

enjoy!

So we did a big harvest last weekend had a bunch of friends over and took down A LOT of stuff.. tons of tomatoes, all the kale, most of the beans, all of the corn, the last of the squash... and a few other things here and there... it's weird seing the front of the house as we pull up from a day at work...

another shot of the beheaded corn field...

I decided that It'd be nice to have some ornamentals, and of course I wanted them to be as carefree as possible... so I got a bunch of perennials... well really I said the misses can get flowers as long as they fall under at least one of the following categories...  

Medicinal

Edible

Attracts Beneficial insects

or..

They're perennial

and so after a day at the nursery we came home with 25 small new perennial flowering plants.  Dropped them in the front along the fence, and some closer to the house...  so hopefully in the next few years we will get to see some more color in the front of the house and all around, which i must admit would be nice..  Greens great and all but sometimes its nice to have little accents of color.

the left overs of what hasn't been harvested yet...  that's the plan for this weekend is to pretty much clean this out and plant all of the winter greens and cover crops...  as long as i can find time...

well Back to work for me!  

Garden Planning - The 8 year rotation

So I'm inside today... planning out my garden, for not only winter (i know im a little late for winter/fall harvest)  but also for my crop rotations over the next 8 years...  I will just do very broad planning at first using the elliot coleman 8-year crop rotation.  and then I will delve down deeper for the first few years as to more specifically what I want to plant.... so... Oregon sugar pod II snow pea, instead of just peas...

I just found another 8 year crop rotation chart... not sure from where... but somewhere on the internets.

Here is Elliot Coleman's 8-year rotation. (Stolen from the internets)

some more information found and stolen from the internets...  

Keeping in mind that Elliot Coleman lives in the northeast so different then my NorthWest climate... but i think crop rotation is crop rotation... and all of the same rules apply.

Potatoes follow sweet corn…because research has shown corn to be one of the preceding crops that most benefit the yield of potatoes.

Sweet Corn follows the cabbage family because, in contrast to many other crops, corn shows no yield decline when following a crop of brassicas. Secondly, the cabbage family can be undersown to a leguminous green manure which, when turned under the following spring, provides the most ideal growing conditions for sweet corn.

The Cabbage Family follows peas because the pea crop is finished and the ground is cleared [early] allowing a vigorous green manure crop to be established.

Peas follow tomatoes because they need an early seed bed, and tomatoes can be undersown to a non-winter-hardy green manure crop that provides soil protection over winter with no decomposition and regrowth problems in the spring.

Tomatoes follow beans in the rotation because this places them 4 years away from their close cousin, the potato.

Beans follow root crops because they are not known to be subject to the detrimental effect that certain root crops such as carrots and beets may exert in the following year.
Root Crops follow squash (and potatoes) because those two are good “cleaning” crops (they can be kept weed-free relatively easily), thus there are fewer weeds to contend with in the root crops, which are among the most difficult to keep cleanly cultivated. Second, squash has been shown to be a beneficial preceding crop for roots.

Squash is grown after potatoes in order to have the two “cleaning” crops back to back prior to the root crops, thus reducing weed problems in the root crops (19).

Garden Update... September 08 2012

Things are starting to go to seed now....  while others are still producing like crazy...  Heres the photo update with notes associated with certain images...

APHIDS!!!!! BLASTED APHIDS!!!!   so I'm not sure what's wrong with my corn but it seems to be started to get infested with aphids... I kinda think it's because I've been neglecting my crops and not watering enough... thus making them unhappy and prone to attack..... I will have to spray them all off tonight and Water the crops, and then tomorrow morning I will do an EM Spray or maybe worm casting spray on everything.... and hope for the best...  I'm not really sure what else to do... but I do know usually aphids are only around if there are issues with the plant.... and I guess no being water frequently enough is definitely an issue... especially with all the hot heat we've been having...

Attack of the Killer Squash!!!  The Red Kuri Squash I planted with my 3 sisters mix is exploding and taking over the yard...  This one is creeping out past the front fence into the parking are of the house....

Some good ol marigolds...

Tomatoes seem to be happy... all finally starting to ripen

Not quite sure what this is about... maybe another watering issue...  Dang I really need to get an automatic system setup it's soo hard to remember to water everything when I'm working a lot....

My snow peas look almost ready to harvest for seeds...  I think I might experiment and plant another round soon and see if i can get a winter/fall crop...

My Red Kuri squash.... I found out recently that the best way to know whether or not the squash is ready to be harvested is by looking at the stem.... It will turn a yellow brown color and look dried + dead... then the winter squash should be good to go.

Weird corn'ess....  No wrapper just the corn... not sure why that happened...  probably my fault for something to do with not keeping my plants happy enough..

Scarlet Runner beans...  nice to have the little hit of color.

Some lovely plums.... I learn from a friend this year that cutting all of the suckers that the plum tree shoots up will allow it to produce WAY more fruit....  Stress out the tree, get more production... interesting...  well it sure seems to have worked... I have TONS of plums on this tree...

An overview of the backyard...  Asian Pear, peppers (in hoop house), and tomatoes (in hoop house) to the right.  In the center are a bunch of radish seeds drying and preparing to be harvested for seeding next year... or maybe a fall/winter crop.  Then in the far distance the other garden!...  o yea and the big movie screen for outdoor movies to the left.

one of my two asian pear trees...  I'm worried this tree got fire blight this year... I cut off the branch that had it and sent it off in the city compost... but still not sure if it had already spread of what... I'm worried bout this little guy....  but I guess thats how it goes... Looking back, I also should have not let it fruit this year... being that it was its first year... It's better to allow the tree to put its energy into its roots for the first few years... to really ensure that its healthy and happy...  O well  Live and learn... next time I will do better...  

My sad little fingerling eggplant....  looking very pale and unhappy... but I just noticed now in looking at the picture that there is a new one starting.... VERY COOL!!!.... although its kinda late in the year for it to have time to grow or anything... interesting summer heats and colds and wets this year... at least  I think it was... I never really pay attention to the weather until I started gardening just this year...  I think I kinda got some beginners luck this year with how productive everything has been...  but hopefully next year will be intermediates skill that will carry me through the growing season...  soo much to learn...  even just learning about gardening in my microclimate of my yard... It'd be interesting to grow in other places once i get a handle on my yard as I hear thats the best way to be a good gardener, learn to grow everywhere now in just one spot...  but i guess learning is learning...  and every bit of experience and knowledge will help along the journey... just can't give up or get discouraged...  well I think I'm rambling now... so I'll shutup and move on to the next image.... weeeee!!!

Calabrese Broccoli going to seed...  I had harvested all of the heads of brocoli back in July, but the plants decided they still wanted to produce... so i let them... I've been grabbing little florettes here and there and throwing them into salads or stirfrys and then leaving some with the hopes of collecting seeds.... thinking about it now, it should be interesting to see how things go next year growing wise with growing with all of the seeds I've saved instead of bought by professionals...  hmm...  interesting indeed...

my JUMBO Black Beauty Zucchini.... I'm planning on saving seed for this zucchini so I decided to let a few of them grow big...  this one is about 18-24" long... and about 12" in diameter...  or for you true canadians our there...  45-60cm  long and about 30cm in diameter.

This is a leaf lettuce that I got from my teacher, Grant, in the Gaia college "Growing Food" class I've been taking...  It grew really well and so i decided to let some of it go to seed after a long harvest of lettuce... I was even able to supply my moms non-profit childcare center with lettuce quite often for their lunch program.... very cool to be able to support kids with organic produce... and save the center some money...

Mesclun going to seed... what a beautiful flower!

Lacarno kale.... also known as DINOSAUR KALE!!

Flat leaf parsley...

Borlotti beans drying on the vine... I think some of these are almost ready to be harvested... then as far as I understand you put them on a try in a window sill or something after threshing them and allow them to dry for a bit before popping them in a jar to save for the winter...  Very excited to have Beans and rice with MY OWN beans this winter... or maybe soups... mmmmm... 

More Beans.... Borlotti, and a Yellow bean... that I can't remember the name of.,... actually it may be the orca bean... but then again maybe not.... I can't stress enough the importance of writing and Labelling EVERYTHING...   I think next year I will definitely invest money in either making or buying some proper signage so when i forget what I've planted where when out harvesting it wont be an issue... as well as my garden plan this year really should have been better... I roughly planned things.. like all drying and climbing beans go here... but not specifically this bean is here this one is there... and as i planted I adjusted things to fit better in the garden...  I should have updated my garden planting plan as I was planting... or well once again, learning...  

There are no mistakes, only opportunities to learn and grow!

My acorn squash... I was reading up on how to know when acorn squash is ready to harvest... and as far as I've read there are a few indicators...  one is the skin is dark green and hard... also the part in contact with the ground will go from yellow to a orange color. as well as the stem will start to dry out and die... almost detaching itself from the plant...

Some parsley from a friend that has gone to seed.

My MASSIVE basil bush...  I've made + frozen LOTS of pesto this year.. and it's still producing like crazy...  I've heard you can cut off the flowers as they start to appear to make the plant produce more leaves... but I'm letting this one go to seed so I can harvest the seed and plant some inside for the winter and then again outside next year as it did REALLY well this year outside!

My wild flower patch... It's all starting to go to seed and to dry out and die...  the color is starting to fade.... but its exciting to watch it progress... They should all self seed next year...  so I'm pretty excited about just leaving this part of the garden alone and letting it do its thing... a little bit of an insectuary, a refuge for whatever bugs want to hang out in my garden...  and I think this plant pictured here is Yarrow... which I'm learning more and more about how amazing of a plant it is... You can Make teas,  use it for all kinds of herbal healing using the flowers, leaves, roots, everything... and I've even heard you can make beer out of it!  Crazyness....  I just hope it actually is Yarrow... haha./..  if anyone knows PLEASE leave a comment....  Thanks!

Some lemon balm... i got this plant from my sisters garden and it stayed in a pot for quite some time as I was too preoccupied with other things in the garden... but I finally planted it mid-late july and it seems to be doing ok... I've heard it spreads... so I'm excited to have plants that I can use spread all over the garden.... it's a whole lot cooler than having grass spread everywhere...  although I'm sure grass serves its purpose as well  I'd prefer to have herbs spread instead..

Radish Seed drying... I yanked all of the radishes that had gone to seed out of the garden awhile ago... maybe 2 or 3 weeks... and tied them up with twine and hung them on our Theater Tarp wires, slash clothes line, slash now Drying Line!  Wahoo... so many uses... i love it!

So my wife and I cleared out ALOT of leaves around the tomato plants and snipped off all of the flowers in hopes of helping the tomatoes ripen faster...  but some of them have these weird white spots on them now... I'm not sure what it is... but it almost looks like they got sunburned.... maybe from being in the shade of all the leaves for soo long and then all of a sudden being thrown into the bright sun all day.... If i find out I will hopefully make a post about it... or if anyone knows please feel free to comment and tell me what I'm doing wrong!  Thanks!

my little peppers....  These peppers are growing in the hoop house...  one thing I hadn't thought of when using the hoop house initially was how will the pollinators get in to make everything grow...  and because I waited so long to have it open durin the day and get the bees and other pollinators in there I think the fruit set was WAY late... so i may just have mini peppers this year...  I'm excited to keep trying to grow peppers and see if i can ever get red peppers...  That's the eventual hope...

Some beautiful bleu crested Kale....  TAKING OVER!!... it's still producing like crazy... although i have been starting to see some aphids on a few of the leaves... not sure if its from not watering enough or just because its late in the season and I haven't been harvesting as much as I should have....  I've been trying to give it away and lots of people keep telling me they don't like kale.... I think they just haven't eaten it properly yet...  kale it AMAZING!.... once my lettuce starting going to seed i switched over to using kale in all of my salads instead... I love it and its super nutritious as well.... I'm hoping this kale will make it through the winter... or at least stick around long enough for me to do a few big harvests and maybe blanche and save some..

Well thats all for now... I had some Photos of the front of the house to kinda give perspective as to everything growing and what it all looks like as a whole... but unfortunately they're not uploading right now...  I'll try and do another post a little later on with them if i figure out the issue...  

Feel free to leave comments or questions...  

Enjoy!  and Thanks for READING!