Category Archives: VEGETABLES

cool season vegetables planted

This week I finally planted one of my raised beds up by the house. But first I prepped the soil by digging in 3 inches of composted horse manure-then I planted spinach, snow peas, cauliflower, lettuce, arugula, lettuce and mesclun seeds. Then I put the existing drip system  in place that I will use after it stops freezing at night. Afterwards I covered the bed with medium weight row cover. For now, I hand water right through the row cover which is nice as it doesn’t disturb the seeds and gives protection from the cold at night and the rabbits when the seeds sprout. I’ll take pictures as soon as they come up.

2009 giant veggie garden video

Romanesco Broccoli

I am starting some Romanesco broccoli seeds from Seed Saver’s Exchange, which if it will grow here, should be beautiful as shown. The apple green spiral pattern looks fantastic and they say the flavor and texture is better than regular broccoli. Grown and prized in Italy. The only drawback is it’s length of time and it likes cool weather. Great! Maybe I should grow it in the winter then but I’m gonna try it anyways!

The secret of carrots and beets in winter!

A couple of days ago was beautiful here so I went out and took out the last of my carrots and beets from last year so I can start some new ones for this year. I’ve been taking them out all winter even though it has been really cold here. The secret? I covered them last fall with about a foot of straw and they have been doing nicely under all that insulation. The ground never froze. Here are the carrots after I pulled off the straw and just before I dug them out.

The next picture is the freshly dug out carrots and beets. Notice I grew both purple and orange carrots. I planted all these last spring!

This picture- they are cleaned up in the kitchen. I love those purple carrots-really sweet tasting. They are purple on the outside and orange inside. Awesome!

And lastly is a picture of the chard from last year doing nicely. I will leave it in and cover it back up and will uncover it when it warms up. Chard is one of those vegetables that will come back each year if protected. And another bonus is the rabbits don’t know it exists under all that straw!

‘The Heirloom Tomato’ by Amy Goldman

The Heirloom Tomato by Amy Goldman

This winter I got a beautiful book called “The Heirloom Tomato” by Amy Goldman in which she tested and rated many heirloom tomatoes. I am going to grow some of the tomatoes that got rated really high by her for flavor. So I’m trying ‘Aunt Ruby’s German Green’ -suppose to be one of the best (sweet) green tomatoes and a tomato called ‘Great White’ (one of the best white tomatoes) which is suppose to taste like angel food cake!-that plus a bunch more that she rated highly. Since getting into our Farmer’s Market last year as ‘The Tomato Lady’-“Heirloom Tomatoes and Exotic Veggies for the Discriminating Cook”, I did more research this year and picked varieties with different attributes. Some with good old fashioned tomato flavor, some that are really sweet, some great for sauces, some beautifully fluted and some different colors. Besides I like to educate my buyers as to the history of each type of tomato and there is lots of info in her book on this. You can go to my 2010 seed list page and see all of the varieties that I want to grow, including a few hybrids. I’ve put AG next to all the ones I picked from her book, although I grew black cherry tomatoes last year before I got her book and am growing this fabulous tomato again.

PS-I get nothing for promoting her book, I just love the info and pictures.

Baby tomatoes are just up!

Here are the tomatoes seedlings just up!

I had trouble with the tomatoes being too cold last year at night so I put some insulation around the lightbox this year and last night with the natural flourescent lights the temperature stayed at 72 degrees. Here is a pic of the light box with insulation. The pic shows the seedlings with the plastic cover off but I will leave it on until most of them germinate..

Picture of seedlings and insulation around the light box.

Growers lightbox tips for starting seedlings

Hey- I did I mention that the site where I did my plans for my garden this year is also a good source of other info on growing veggies. I just found a great article which you may want to check out which addresses pretty much how I use my “lightbox” to get my seedlings started that I just planted on Mar.1.  I use a lightbox instead of a greenhouse or hoophouse. Here is the link for the article at www.growveg.com.  I made my own lightbox as seen in my previous entry but of course you can buy one at considerably higher cost. Your choice.

TIPS FOR STARTING SEEDS UNDER A LIGHTBOX

I’m waiting for my seeds to germinate. They are on a heat mat to help with germination and I cover them with a clear top which keeps the moisture in. After the seedlings germinate, I will move the lights down within 2″  of the baby seedlings and take them off the heat mat and take off the cover so they don’t stay too moist as that is a condition for a fungal disease called damping-off which kills seedlings. To help prevent this besides taking off the clear cover, I spray the little seedlings every few days with Chamoille tea which I just make up a pot of it  (cool it) and put it in a little hand held sprayer and spray the seedlings AND soil every few days-it really works-no dead seedlings!

Starting some of my seeds!

Time to start some of my seeds! So here is how I do it:


Yesterday I got out the light fixture I made last year and brought it in the house. This year I’m going to try some natural light bulbs (instead of the flourescents I had last year). I also washed all the pots and containers in a 10% bleach solution to disinfect them in case there was anything to deter the baby seedlings growth. Then I number the pots with some masking tape and waterproof marker so that they correlate with my seed list of plants I want to grow (so I know what I planted in each pot). I put tape on the pots with the number instead of stakes with the name  in the pots as sometimes the stakes fall out. Nothing like a mystery plant where the tag falls off!


Today I got the soil in the pots, watered the soil and then planted some of my seeds to their proper depth and put a little sand over them (the sand seems to stay moister and the seedlings can push through it easier). Then I mist the sand. That way the seeds don’t get disturbed or washed away. Afterwards they go on a plant heat mat to keep warm till they germinate. I will put the lights on a timer after they germinate. Some plants need light to germinate and some don’t. I’m still learning about this. I believe I read somewhere that tomatoes don’t need light to initally germinate but do right afterwards and of course thereafter.

I planted some tomato seeds, some pepper seeds and some eggplants. All these plants seem to take the longest to get growing to decent size before transplanting, so I like to start them early. I still have more tomato seeds to start but are waiting for the seeds to come in.


Last year I used Jiffy Soil starter  and wasn’t happy when I first watered the seeds as the water rolled off the soil-so this year I got this new soil (Sun Gro Metro Mix 300) and the water immediately soaks in-much nicer! I am also going to put some insulation around the light fixture to keep the plants warmer at night as my tomatoes struggled last year when the house was cooler at night. I hope this will help. Tomatoes and peppers hate to be cold as I learned last year.

Also last year I was able to “sneak” my tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants in early- April 23 (our last freeze date is May 15th) in wall of waters and they did really well (look at my slide show to see them) so that is another reason I start them this early but we will see what this year brings. We’ve had a very cold and wet winter so far (it was snowing again today)..sigh. But it was nice to be in and doing something gardening wise!

Hercules

Here is a picture of my largest pumpkin I grew last year. The picture on the sidebar is Hercules at 166 lbs and in this pic, Hercules actually got to 352 lbs which is the second largest pumpkin ever grown here in New Mexico. I thought you’d like to see it. This year I hope to grow a 500-600 lber with the knowledge I’ve gained and will share here on my blog as the growing season unfolds.

Chinese red noodle beans

Here’s a picture of my Chinese red noodle beans that took first place at the New Mexico State Fair last year in 2009. They got to about 18″ long. They were a really beautiful purple color and were tasty too! I plan on growing some kind of longbean this year because they are so fun to watch but not sure of which variety.

striped german tomatoes

Striped German TomatoHere is a picture from August 17th of last year of one of my giant tomatoes-an unriped Striped German tomato that was approximately 18″ circumference and weighed 2.5 lbs at this stage. It got to 3 lbs-but way before the State Fair here in New Mexico so we had to eat it! I did take first place for largest tomato at the NM State Fair but it was only 2.5 lbs at its ripest.

2010 Giant Pumpkin and Giant Veggies List

Here is a list of Giant Pumpkins and Giant veggies I am thinking of growing.

2010 GIANT PUMPKINS & VEGGIE LIST

2010 GIANT PUMPKINS

895 Grande (1016 Daletas x 1385 Jutras)

1166 Mohr (1385 Jutras x 1055 Jutras)

949 Harp (1689 Jutras 06)

1184 Barker (1631.5 McKie x 1689 Jutras)

GIANT MARROW

206.5 Wursten 09

75.4 Wursten 09

GIANT TOMATOES

7.18 N. Harp 09n (5.58 Timm x open)

5.416 N, Harp 09(5.58 Harp x open)

Big Zac (fr Totally Tomato)

Church

GIANT SUNFLOWERS

Titans

2010 veggie list

Here is my list of veggies I will grow this year for food.

2010 VEGGIE LIST

BEANS-Rattlesnake and Tavera

PEPPER-Shishito

SUMMER SQUASH-ZUCCHINI-Costata Romanesco and Lungo Bianco

SUMMER SQUASH-SCALLOPED-Yellow Custard and Bennings Green Tint

WINTER SQUASH-Marina di Chioggia and Galeux d’Eyesines

EGGPLANT-Little Fairys

CUCUMBERS-Parisian, Boothsby Blonde, Poona Kera, and Parade

CORN-not sure of variety yet

LETTUCES-FR COOK’S GARDEN-Provencal Mix, Mesclun Mix, Buttercrunch, Yugoslavian Red, Santoro Lettuce, and Little Gem

SPINACH-FR COOK’S GARDEN-Indian Summer and Double Choice

CARROTS-FR COOK’S GARDEN-Kaleidoscope (mix of red, purple, orange and yellow)

BROCOLLI-Brocolli Romanesco

ARUGULA-Apollo

BOK CHOY-Extra Dwarf Pak Choy

CHARD-5 Color Silverbeet

PEAS-DWARF SUGAR, OREGON SPRING II

2010 tomato list

Here is my list of tomatoes I want to grow this year. I grow tomatoes for either excellent flavor, or gourmet or for size (competition). I try to pick some new ones I haven’t tried.

2010 TOMATOES

HEIRLOOMS

San Marzano-red plum/80 days/AFN

Striped German-bicolor-SFGH

Black Cherry-black/75 days-AFN

Paul Robeson-black/75-85 days-AFN

Cherokee Purple/80 days-AFN

Cherokee Chocolate/80 days-AFN

Prudens Purple-purple/70 days-BH,TOMFEST

Black Krim-black-69 daysAFN

Pantano Romanesco-red/70-80 days-BH,TOMFEST

Great White/80-85 days-BH,TOMGROWERS

Costoluto Genovese-red/78 daysTOMGROWERS

Goldsman Italian American-red-BH

Aunt Ruby’s German Green-85 days-BH

Gold Medal-bicolor-75-80 days-BH

HYBRIDS

Lemon Boy-AFN

Park’s Beefy Boy-red-70 days-AFB

Big Beef-red/73 days-TOT TOMATO

Bella Rosa-red/75 days-TOT TOMATO

COMPETITION (biggest)

Big Zac-red/80 days-TOT TOMATO/AFN

Church-red/85 days-TOMFEST

Timms-red/80 days-dif growers