Garden Update: Early Squash and Beans, More Tomatoes and Peppers

Just planted some more tomatoes on the tenth and added some patty pan squash, Royal Burgundy bush beans and Windsor favas as a lark.  George and I were going to test the efficacy of corn gluten as a pre-emergent, but never got around to putting it down. 

Have had to cover the tomatoes a time or two and the Christmas lights underneath work like a charm.

Early planting

George helped me till the far end of the garden and put it up into rows.  It looks GREAT!  I took out those two square foot garden beds at the front.  They were in the way and I never did like them being there.  I used the frames to make two new ones on the other side of the garden shed. 

We put up snow fence all the way around.  I really like that part.  It makes the garden feel like there's an end to it, like it's finished.  There aren't many things I can say that about around here.  It's all so overwhelming sometimes, so to have an end to the garden, actual boundaries where I'll be done soon, is nice.

I've cleaned up the shed out there as well, and George helped me move an old fridge in there for storage.  It's working really nice already.  And the electricity is working out there!  Handy!  I'd thought I was going to have to install it.  Nope.  Glad for that.  But only one plug in works.  I need to fix the light fixture and add more plugs.  I did use the electricity to run a saw to build a cold frame.  I've always wanted one.  

Set out some tomatoes March 2.  Two each of Mortgage Lifter, Cherokee Purple, Brandwine and Matt's Wild Cherry.  I know it's early, but I want to see just how early I can get them in the ground.  If frost threatens, I'll cover them with floating row cover.  George has a great idea to put the Christmas lights in under the cover, too.  I put them in the onion bed to try to do double-duty, hoping the onions will be done and pulled by the time the tomatoes get tall enough to shade them out.

The only things left in the garden doing okay besides the onions are the Oregon Sugar Pod snow peas.  And Wandos, which aren't doing so well actually.  There's a rabbit around who keeps eating all the bok choy, broccoli, cabbage, etc., I keep putting out.  Little bastard. 

Shrimp and Bok Choy Stir Fry

Uncovered the garden today and surveyed the damage. Not too bad. We'd kept it covered since the teen-temp-time because it was dipping down to freezing temps almost every night and we didn't want to be out there during the cold mornings before leaving for work in the dark uncovering just to be back out there in the cold dark when we got home covering it back up. Some of the lettuce got bit pretty bad and a few of the coles were damaged a bit, but not much was so damaged it wouldn't come back ~ just two or three lettuce plants looked so bad I didn't have a lot of hope for them, so I pulled them and gave the chickens a snack.

After much planning and map drawing, Helen planted her square foot garden. Looks cold, doesn't she?


Some of the bok choy was flowering, so I decided to pull some. I hated putting a hole in this beautiful little bed, but it had to be done.

My prize:

And the final result ~ Shrimp & Bok Choy stir fry with peanuts.

It was fabulous! I think tomorrow I'll pull the other ones that were flowering and make more to freeze for lunches next week.

Shrimp and Bok Choy Stir Fry
two dozen medium sized shrimp, peeled and deveined
one head bok choy, chopped (or 8 or so large leaves)
half a white onion, chopped
two cloves garlic, finely chopped or put through a garlic press
handful of peanuts
few tablespoons of peanut oil
four tablespoons oyster sauce
1/4 cup fish sauce (or anchovies, maybe one small tin?)

Fry the onions, peanuts and garlic in the peanut oil 'til onions are soft. Add the bok choy, oyster sauce and fish sauce, cooking 'til bok choy leaves are wilted and stems are soft. Add the shrimp and cook until they're done, being careful not to overcook them.

This can be served over rice or with noodles, but I didn't want the carbs so ate it as is. It was really good! When I eat oriental food, I usually leave the extra cabbage once the meat is gone. But with this, even just bites of cabbage with a couple peanuts were marvelous.

14 Degrees of Separation

It was fourteen degrees when I woke up this morning, 7am. Now that's cold! But it makes for some pretty pictures. The sparkly frost on the cabbage and kale makes them all the more colorful.


I'm still miffed over the snow peas not getting to revel in their namesake.


BJ's just happy to be outside with me, poking around in the garden. She was so happy with the cold, along with all the other animals.



But fourteen degrees will change a lot. It separates the survivors from the tenderlings.

Goodbye, wandering jew.


Goodbye, crinums.


Goodbye, bananas.


Goodbye, habaneros. I'm never really sure why I planted you in the first place. Bragging rights?


See you all again next spring (with the possible exception of the habaneros).

Snow day ~ NOT!

I got screwed!!! Screwed, I tell you!!! Here I was, all ready and settled in for a snow day ~ freezer full (it usually is), dip bucket ready by the well (in case the pipes froze), garden covered (and how), chickens tucked in (I fluffed up an entire bale of hale in there for them to burrow in), one in the soup pot boiling on the stove (not one of the ones in the pic, I swear), buffet in the barn for the horses (spent a few hours on that and the chickens day before yesterday), camera batteries charged (fully) and a six pack of Beck's in the fridge. All ready. And ... and ... and ... NOTHING! I'm not real happy with my local weathermen and women right now ~ am sitting here putting the six pack to good use, plotting their comeuppance...
They let my snow get away and go to Houston!!!

See? No snow here:

And no snow here:

And none here, either:

I don't think the chickens mind that there's none here:

Though there was a little bit in there at one point:

Oh, well. Even without the snow, it's still beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

Please pardon the shakiness of that last picture. I was putting that six pack to good use, remember?

End of November and all's well

I've NEVER had a winter garden do so well! Roger, the groundskeeper at work, said the same about the veggie garden up there. Maybe this perfect weather we've been having was our reward for suffering through last summer. Whatever it is, I'll take it!

My chard is doing wonderfully. This is Bright Lights. The tiny seedlings of Pot o' Gold I set out are still there, though one I fear has bit the dust. The rest are still busy putting out roots, so not much growth on them.


I have baby broccoli heads!! About half a dozen of them on the dozen plants I set out first. Isn't that the cutest thing you've ever seen?! (Or is that something only a mama can love...)

The bok choi is beautiful. I'm so in love with this plant. At work, when someone bemoans the fact that they have no sun except in their front yard and they "can't possibly plant vegetables in the front yard, what would the neighbors think?", I point to the bok choi. I think it'd look fabulous in a flowerbed next to some Swiss chard, tatsoi, pansies and nasturtiums, all edibles. (Or stock ~ those little stocks Helen set out next to the choi really look right at home there, don't they?)

The shallots are coming along wonderfully. They've all split into three to seven plants. I should have plenty to eat next year and plenty to save for replant.


And the lettuce! How beautiful is this bed? Both ends are pretty. I think I Need a salad tonight.



Helen and I put in two new beds, both 4'x4' square foot gardens. We planted 40 strawberry plants in one (half next to the rest of the garden are Sequoia and the other half are Chandler) with a few bulbing fennel down the middle. The other bed she'll use to play in and learn so hopefully next year she'll be more knowledgeable at work. She's all geeked about it, dreaming of what to plant in there. I understand her enthusiasm and love it.


The elephant garlic is up! All twelve cloves I planted between the beets (seedling in front) and flowering sweet peas (seedlings in a row in back).


The spinach and snow peas are doing great, too. The Bloomsdale Longstanding seeds I got from Seeds of Change were a disappointment ~ not one sprouted. But the Lavewa and Bourdeaux both are doing well in front of the snow peas.


And the Winter Density spinach is just so pretty, don't you think? Standing up so tall and crisp. Yum.


A couple other things I've planted that have come up are the Metechi garlic around the bok choi, the Inchelium garlic around the lettuce and in between the broccoli/cauliflower/brussels sprouts in the middle row, dill around just about everything, dinosaur kale at the other end of the shallots and cilantro in the corner. I just love little baby sprouts.

More cole crops and other winter things

Planted a bunch more things ~ broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, cabbage, mustard greens, chard, bok choi...

Planted lots of things including peas

Garlic is up!! A few of them are peeking their little heads through the soil, about a dozen or two dozen.

Planted inoculated Mammoth Melting (one package), Oregon Sugar Pod (two packages) and Oregon Giant (five or six packages), two rows each, one at the front of the pea fence and one behind.

Also planted a dozen plants each of Snowball Cauliflower, Packman Broccoli and Long Island Brussels Sprouts.

Tucked them all in with some turkey compost. Now if the weathermen are right about that 100% chance of showers tonight and I do get rain...

Planted some lettuce

Set out six plants of Merlot lettuce (it's gorgeous!), one plant of Buttercrunch (four inches tall already) and some more I need to enter names for tomorrow.

Got garlic and shallots planted

I got the garden tilled Friday, then planted some shallots. Saturday I got the garlic in the ground, the Texas White I got at work. It was weird though ~ Even though it was supposed to be the same type, there were some bulbs that were white and some that had a pink/purple blush on the cloves. I separated them in the dish and you can see in the picture what I mean. There was only one bulb that was a kind of hybrid between the two ~ cloves around the outside had a very light purple blush and the ones in the middle didn't.

I was tired after the plant sale at the library and didn't want to do it, but I'm so glad I did. Rain was coming and we got it in spades early this morning. I knew if I didn't get it in the ground now I wouldn't be able to for a week or so due to rain, so I just went out there and did it. It was a bit muddy from the rain we got earlier that day, but not too bad. And I'm washable. ;)

Now that it's done, I'm really glad it's in the ground. I need to get some turkey compost to top it with. And pine needle mulch for the walkways in the entire garden. It'll be so nice to work out there then.