Tag Archives: vegetable gardening

New vegetable garden section update

Here is a picture of the new vegetable garden section this morning after a dusting of snow. It is now fenced completely except for the 2 gates, one of which was created today but still needs to be hung. All the raised beds are done.

My friend Adam, has been helping me and boy what a help he is! Quite the worker bee! He came out the other day and finished creating the beds except for one area that has a giant rock in it.  I swear  this rock keeps the whole neighborhood from sinking! So we let it remain (like we could dig it out-ha!) and will make an area with a bird bath and flowers to show it off.

The new garden has gone through an amazing transformation since I cleared the land last fall. I still have to put the horse manure in the new beds. It’s been a lot of work but is coming along nicely and should be ready by tomato planting time.

Garlic coming up nicely

 

The garlic I planted last fall in November is already 8 inches tall and growing like weeds! I just love planting it in the fall, putting straw over it and watering it maybe once a month in winter. It is the first thing to come up in early spring and will be ready for harvest sometime in late June-early July. Such an easy crop to grow and a must grow for cooks. Nothing like cooking with fresh garlic. Plus a bonus is bugs don’t like it and rabbits don’t like it-nice! This year I grew both hardneck garlic which tastes great and softneck garlic which lasts a long time. Just be sure to save some of the biggest cloves to plant for next fall. Bigger cloves=bigger bulbs the following year!

So many things to do for the vegetable garden in March!

Time to Get Busy!!

March is an incredibly busy month for gardeners. So many things to do (or should do) that it makes my head swim. New garden sections to make, ordering my final seeds, starting seeds inside, starting seeds outside, transplanting seedlings, amending the beds-the list goes on and on and I love it! Soon my hands will be brown again from digging in the dirt. No wonder I liked to play in the dirt when I was a little kid!

Next I will complete the new beds, finish the area around the new garden, make two gates for the new garden section to keep the rabbits out. Then I will put horse manure as a soil amendment on all the beds both new and old. My trailer was so full, my Forerunner could barely pull it. I bet I have about 2000 lbs of poop in it!  The stuff I got is still a little hot (oh really? the manure was a little steamy when it was loaded!) but will cool down over the next 2 months before I plant tomatoes. I’ll use my really aged (6 months or more) horse manure, aged chicken manure and compost for the potatoes and fava beans that will go in the old section later this month. The vegetables I plant in May will get this newer ‘aged’ manure as it will have time to decompose and cool down.

I’ve decided to put the greenhouse on the back burner until the garden is in and then have it ready for fall which makes more sense anyways as it will be hot in June.

Seed starting INSIDE

I’ve been planting seeds INSIDE for a couple of weeks now. Here is my update on my seed starting endeavors this spring so far.

PEAS-Not everything is successful-My pea seeds I planted inside have NOT done well as I had hoped. They are barely coming up now inside so I planted more outside and if these make it, I will add to the other seeds that I planted outside on Saturday. I think the heating mat was too hot for them so I put them on a table under the lights but with no heat. We will see..

FAVA BEANS-I’m so excited-I’ve never grown fava beans before but are trying them this year. I sprouted fava beans that I got from that Homegrown seed swap and bought some more that I got from Spanish Table Market here in Santa Fe. The companies would like to say that the ones they sell you to eat are different then the ones they sell you to grow.  If they are treated then that would be true but so far I have not found that to be the case. They are both sprouting just fine. Today I saw three of them breaking ground in their little pots on the heat mat under the lights. Once up I will transplant them outside as they like the cold. I’ll talk about them later.

CHARD, BOK CHOY seeds planted-MAR 13-The chard and bok choy germinated in 2 days!

BORAGE seeds planted-MAR 13-Germinated in 3 days!

MORE LETTUCE-seeds planted-MAR 13-just starting to come up

SPINACH seeds planted inside as well as outside -MAR 13-Not up yet

TOMATOES-seeds planted today-Sunday, MAR 18-planted 27 different varieties! Hope to put them out 8 weeks from now-mid May or sooner. Last year I planted tomato seeds inside on Mar 21.

POTATOES-I’ve been chitting them for a week now. Chitting is getting the potato eyes to sprout.

The next major inside seed starting will be in 2 weeks-Basil, oregano, marjoram, zinnias and probably a lot more.

Planting peas on St. Patrick’s Day

I always use St. Patrick’s Day as the day to remind me to plant peas. I don’t always get them in exactly on that day but it is my reminder to get them in soon. The weather was great this past week so I planted peas yesterday on St. Patrick’s Day before the horrible winds hit today. The winds were horrific up here at the house today-I bet 60+ mph. UGLY!! The bed I usually plant peas in has garlic in it this year so I have to put them somewhere else as PEAS DO NOT LIKE TO GROW BY GARLIC. Wherever you plant them, amend the soil with some aged horse manure (or compost) digging it in the soil.

Then put some legume inoculate on the peas (if you have the powder form) or under them (granulated form) in the row before burying them. Legume inoculate is an organic bacteria that fixes nitrogen from the air and attaches it to the roots of peas or beans making nitrogen available to them. I can just see the little bacteria grabbing the nitrogen from the air and taking it down by the roots! The next season, leave the pea ROOTS in the soil and plant a crop that is a heavy feeder by them. Once you’ve used the legume inoculate, you don’t have to add it again to the soil as the bacteria will continue to live there. Ahhh! The growing season has begun!

2012 Vegetable Seed Lists

2012 SEED LISTS

I’ve researched and updated the seed list for this year.  I created a legend with abbreviations for each seed/nursery and then put them at the end of each seed listed.  I also show which tomatoes Amy Goldman’s ‘The Heirloom Tomato’ book recommends which I use as my ‘tomato bible’! I’ve put this in my page section called ‘Seed Lists’  at the top of the blog for later reference.

Here is the legend:
AFN-Agua Fria Nursery (plants)-1409 Agua Fria Street/Santa Fe, NM/505-983-4831
SFGH–Santa Fe Greenhouse (plants)-2904 Rufina Street/Santa Fe, NM/505-473-2700
BH– Baker Heirloom (seeds)
SSE– Seed Saver Exchange (seeds)
TS–Territorial Seeds
JSKG–John Scheepers Kitchen Garden
KS–Kitazawa Seed (seeds)
WCS–West Coast Seeds (seeds)
CG–Cooks Garden (seeds)
TF–Tomato Fest (seeds)
TG–Tomato Growers (seeds)
TT–Totally Tomatoes (seeds)

2012 TOMATOES
RED

*AG/Pantano Romanesco-red/70-80 days-BH,TF(seeds)
*AG/Costoluto Genovese-red/78 days-TG(seeds)
*AG/Goldsman Italian American-red-BH (seeds)
Fireworks-red-50 days-TG (seeds)
Honey hybrid-red-76 days-TG (seeds)
Beefy Boy-red-70 days-AFN (plants)
Original Goliath/pio-red-65 days-TT-seeds

ORANGE/YELLOW

Jaune Flamme–70-80 days-SSE (seeds)
Aunt Gertie’s Gold-TG-75-80 days (seeds)
Lemon Boy-AFN (plants)-hybrid

BI-COLOR

Striped German-bicolor-super sweet-super sweet-SFGH (plants)
*AG/Gold Medal-bicolor-75-80 days-BH (seeds)
*AG/Ananas Noir-fantastic flavor, I’m growing 2 this year-BH, SSE (seeds) plants)
Virginia Sweet-super sweet, AFN (plants)

BLACK OR PURPLE


Paul Robeson-black/75-85 days-AFN (plants)
Cherokee Purple/80 days-AFN (plants)
Black Pear-70 days-AFN (plants)
Brown Sugar-BH- ?days
Southern Nights-BH-? days

CHERRY TOMATOES

*AG/Black Cherry-black/75 days-AFN (plants)
*AG/Green Grape-green/AFN (plants) or SSE (seeds)
Sun Sugar-yellow cherry-62 days-TT (seeds)-hybrid
Golden Pearl-GS-hybrid

* AG-recommended by Amy Goldsman’s book, ‘The Heirloom Tomato’

2012 VEGGIE LIST
BEANS-Rattlesnake bean snap OG (remarkably flavored pole bean)-SSE (seeds)
Emerite bean, pole bean-JSKG (seeds) ALSO
Tarbais bean pole-for dry bean
Fava Bean-for dry bean

CARROTS-Atomic Red-BH, Cosmic Purple-SSE, Paris Market-SSE

PEPPER-Shishito (Japanese non hot pepper)-AFN (plants) or KS(seeds)

SUMMER SQUASH-ZUCCHINI-Costata Romanesco (best tasting zuke around)-BH (seeds)
CALABICITAS SQUASH-seed from local grower

EGGPLANT-Fairy Tale (best sweet, no bitter taste and soft skin eggplant I’ve tasted)-AFN (plants) or TS (seeds)

FENNEL/FINOCCHIO-Di Firenze-BH (seeds)

CUCUMBERS-Parisian Pickling, De Bourbonne, Boothsby Blonde, Poona Kheera, Armenian and Russian- I grow cukes for either taste or which variety is best for different types of pickles-all BH (seeds)

CORN-again not this year (I’ll get it from our Farmers Market)

LETTUCES–Provencal Mix, Mesclun Mix, Buttercrunch, Yugoslavian Red, Santoro Lettuce, and Little Gem-CG (seeds)

SPINACH-Bloomsdale-CG (seeds) and Tyee

CARROTS-Cosmic Red BH (seeds) and

ARUGULA-Apollo-SSE (seeds)

BOK CHOY-Extra Dwarf Pak Choy-BH (seeds)

CHARD-5 Color Silverbeet-SSE (seeds) and Argentata Swiss Chard-JSKG (seeds)

PEAS-Dwarf Sugar Gray-SSE, Oregon Spring II-BH (seeds)

TOMATILLO-Green-70-80 days-SSE (seeds) or -AFN (plants)

JERUSALEM ARTICHOKE

POTATOES-fingerling types
2012 GIANT PUMPKINS
All came from private growers
895 Grande 08 (1016 Daletas x 1385 Jutras)
421 Cabossel (895 Grande x self )
1046 Grande 10 (901 Hunt x 1385 Jutras)

OTHER GIANT VEGETABLES
GIANT GREEN SQUASH-all came from private grower
340 Cabossel 11 which came from 903 Noel 07 (848 McKenzie x self)

GIANT MARROW-(like giant Zucchini)-all came from private growers
75.4 Wursten 09
62 Cabossel 11

GIANT TOMATOES
-7.18 N. Harp 09 (5.58 Timm x open)-private grower
5.416 N, Harp 09 (5.58 Harp x open)-private grower
Big Zac/TT (seeds)

GIANT PEAR GOURD-private grower
103 Cabossel 11 which came from 89 Scherber 10

LONG GOURD-private grower
135 Jacobus 10

GIANT SUNFLOWERS
-Titan-SSE, BH (seeds)

2012 EDIBLE FLOWER LIST-
Following is the list of edible flowers that will be planted or are already on the property:
Borage-great honeybee plant
Calendula-Orange King-BH (seeds)
Chives-AFN (plants)
Cilantro-AFN (plants)
Dill-AFN (plants)
Lavender (in existing different area)
Marigold-Lemon Gem-TS (seeds) this is the only edible marigold
Nasturtiums-Tip Top -CG (seeds)-prettiest nasturiums
Pansies-get them anywhere
Violas-get them anywhere
Roses (in different existing area)
Black Oil Seed sunflower (for the birds!)-WCS (seeds)

2012 HERBS-Following is a list of herbs that will be planted or exist on the property

Basil (Genevese)-new SHGH (plants), 
Lime Basil-new-SFGH (plants), 
Thai Basil-new-SFGH (plants)

Oregano-must replant rabbits ate it this winter

Thyme-exists
, Lemon Thyme-exists
,

Chives-exists
.

Dill-usually self seeds
,

Marjoram-new-SFGH (plants)

Mint-exists

Sage-exists
Lavender-exists

Winter Savory-exists

Lemon Verbena-exists

Master Gardener Intern Class-Vegetables

I’ve been totally busy teaching classes lately and the last class I taught was the Santa Fe Master Gardener Intern Class on Vegetables. All I can say to the interns is hang in there. Yes there are some difficult classes to get through but there are some great instructional classes as well that are like a breath of fresh air. It wasn’t till I became a Master Gardener that I really blossomed as a gardener. And now I am a rabid gardener! The knowledge you will continue to gain afterwards, the contacts, camaraderie and friendships you will develop will help you grow as well as the plants you will be growing! Hopefully you enjoyed and learned a lot from the Vegetable class. (Yes it was my favorite class when I was an intern!) So for those of you who couldn’t come to class or aren’t in the program but are interested, here are the information sheets. I want to make them available to all.

VEGETABLE GARDENING IN SANTA FE  gives an overview of vegetable gardening in Santa Fe.

INFORMATION SHEET covers what the differences are  between an Heirloom, Hybrid and GMO plant and explains what mycorrhizae fungi is and how it helps plants grow.

HERBS is a list of perennial and annual herbs we can grow here in Santa Fe.

PLANTING TOMATOES and PLANTING SQUASH both address how to transplant them into the garden and some of the things I add to help grow these beautiful vegetables and also how to help thwart the dreaded squash vine borer and squash bugs.

SEED STARTING DATE CALCULATOR from Johnny’s Seeds is the same one from the previous post but if you didn’t read it, then here it is. A great tool for when to start seeds or transplant them into the garden.

And now if you will excuse me, I will continue starting my seeds inside! Perfect day-cold, windy and snowy!

Create your own lettuce/mesclun bowl!

What does the cat have to do with the lettuce mesclun bowl?

"Trini" the cat! Photo by Genevieve Russell

‘Mesclun’ is a term that means a ‘mixture of young salad greens’ in French. Last year I created a lettuce/mesclun bowl inside the house while it was still cold outside. I took the bottom from one of my pots (you know so that your pots don’t leak all over when you water), cleaned it with a bleach solution and drilled some holes in the bottom of it so water can drain out.

Then I filled it with some moist potting soil and sprinkled some lettuce mesclun mix all over it and gently tamped it down so the seeds make good contact with the soil. In this first picture I sprinkled sand over the half of the seeds.

Then I finish sprinkling the sand over the seeds-just enough till they were covered.

Next I sprayed the sand so it became moist with a spray bottle so as not to disturb the seeds. Then I put plastic wrap over it to hold in the moisture until the lettuce germinates. I kept it in a cool place in the house until it germinated and then I moved it by a window.

This is when I got in trouble with the cat…

Trini, "I like salad too" Photo by Genevieve Russell

Here is the lettuce bowl. Coming up nicely. Now if I could just keep the cat from eating it! She loves it! I caught her eating it around the edges by the window. I’ll have to thin it this week without her help! Perhaps I’ll have to make her a salad bowl of her own.  In another couple of weeks it should be pretty big.

Here it is ready to eat for it’s first cutting in 32 days and at $6.99/lb in the stores, it’s a deal! Harvest by the ‘cut and come again’ method and it will grow back for several cuttings. To do this, simply take sharp scissors and cut off a bunch of leaves in the amount you need to fill your salad bowl. Cut the leaves off at 1 to 2 inches above the soil. Don’t cut the crowns of the lettuce or it won’t grow back. Bon Appétit!

Lettuce bowl ready for first cutting-32 days

Garden Seed Catalogs for 2012

You should have a bunch of seed catalogs by now. More come in everyday and brighten my evenings. So far I have Johnny’s, Seed Saver’s Exchange, Tomato Growers, Totally Tomatoes, The Cook’s Garden, John Scheeper’s Kitchen Garden and Baker Heirloom Seeds. Below are my top 4 favorites. I like many other catalogs but this year these are my favs. If you don’t have any of these you can just click on their name below to be taken to their site. There, you can order one-they are all free.

1. Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds

My number one favorite catalog of all time-Baker’s Heirloom Seeds has the most fantastic photos of all their heirloom vegetables and flowers (and they only sell heirlooms). The photos are so beautiful, they make me want to buy all their seeds! Wonderful selection of hard to find vegetable seeds. A must have!

2. Seed Savers Exchange

This is my number 2 favorite. I absolutely support what they do for all vegetable gardeners. They collect heirloom seeds and make them available to us. If you become a member (and I highly suggest you do), besides getting their catalog, you will also get another huge catalog for members only.  In it are members who are offering seeds, many of which have been kept in families for years and unavailable on a commercial level. Well worth it and besides I want to support all seed companies promoting heirlooms and seed saving. A close second for me.

3. The Cook’s Garden

Number 3 and number 4 are really tied for me. I like this catalog particularly because it has the most fantastic mesclun and lettuce mixes that I’ve seen. You don’t have to mix your own with them. In addition, they have many other varieties of vegetables and flowers that are coveted by gourmet gardeners.

4. John Scheeper’s Kitchen Garden Seeds

I also love this seed catalog because I get many unusual varieties of vegetables that aren’t necessarily carried here in the US. Since I like to cook, I want to try some of these varieties that cooks’ from other countries have available to them and this catalog is good for that. John Scheeper’s Kitchen Garden Seeds doesn’t have photos but lovely hand drawn pictures of their items. Another must have.

New vegetables I will try in 2012

I’m starting to make my list of what to grow 2012. Every year I refine my vegetable list to exclude ones that didn’t work out or I didn’t like and try some new ones. I’m keeping many of my varieties that I normally have but here are some new things I want to try: tomatillos, Atomic red carrots,  Di Firenze fennel, Argentata chard, Jerusalem artichokes, and a really ugly french beet called ‘Rouge Crapaudine’ that is supposed to be divinely sweet (the seeds come from France).  Some new tomatoes I want to try are: Southern Nights, Carbon, Woodle Orange, Flamme, Lollipop and Cour Di Bue. Oh yea, I want some small fingerling potatoes (I’m not sure of which type). I’m still looking for a good catalog for great potatoes-not just your ordinary potatoes. Anyone know of one?

Pull your drip systems timers

If you haven’t done so, you should pull your drip system timers and put them inside. I pulled my simple timers but unfortunately I left my more complicated system in and  two days ago I went to water my asparagus bed and strawberry bed and when I turned it on (it was a nice warm day), it sprayed water everywhere. Turns out I should of pulled it as 2 of the valves cracked. I’m assuming from the freezing nights. I’ll have to take it in and replace them. I’m guessing they had some water left in them. So right now I’m watering with a hose. Wah!

Bobcat madness!

I rented a Bobcat yesterday to regrade the driveway. It was bad. Really bad. How bad? Well a friend said it was like a third world road! We had 2 storms this summer with torrential rain that wiped it out. The ground was still damp from that little snow storm  and perfect for working it. Anyways I had to rent the Bobcat for a whole day. It only took about 3.5 hrs to do the driveway and then I thought hmm, what can I do with it now?! At that moment, Javier pulled up with 2 trailer loads of horse manure, so I spread it out over the pumpkin patch that I had just cleaned up the day before. How fortuitous!  Then I went out to what will be the new garden addition (say what?!) on the back of the existing main garden. I know I said I was done adding on but I’m trying to get a three-year rotation for my tomatoes. I had cactus, piles of dirt, old compost bins and a lot of junk over there just on the other side of the long gourd tower. Well I took the Bobcat and ripped out the cactus, smoothed out the area, removed the junk and cactus, and spread out the old compost inside a couple of hours. Still had some time left so I ran it over to the area I want a greenhouse and leveled it out, removed rocks and cactus and dug up old tree stumps that would have been right in the middle of it. I had to get out of the Bobcat to push  a big piece of cement and some tree stumps into the bucket and dropped a big tree stump on my big toe loading it. Not sure but it’s either broken of severely bruised. I’ll figure that out tomorrow as I am dirt tired as I say.

Phew! Got it all done under 8 hours!

Giant Pumpkin, MAD MAX reaches 463 lbs today-Sunday Oct. 9

Today MAD MAX (according to the tape measurements) reached 463 lbs. That’s 42 lbs over last year’s record of 421 lbs!  Remember it could weigh lighter than the charts, but I feel pretty good that it will now beat the old record. It has to be all the extra water it’s been getting this past week. Over 2.2 inches in the pumpkin patch! Simply wonderful. That plus it’s been getting some extra fertilizer (seaweed and fish emulsion) right now. Pump it up MAXIE! The weather has been challenging but it hasn’t gotten down to 32°F (0°C) yet in the patch . It was suppose to but I’ve truly LUCKED OUT! I have the pumpkin plant covered with row cover and of course MAX has been covered for a month now with blankets at night. Now if it can just get through tonight, I think the rest of the week is suppose to be warmer and then it’s off to the races on Saturday!

Meanwhile the greenies are getting scary! That’s scaary good! Jabba is 349 lbs and Kyrptonite is 341 lbs! They are still battling it out for who gets to go! I hope one of them will actually sit on the mini pallet I picked up!

The other giants going to the weigh-off (if there is space) is a long gourd at 79″. It doesn’t weigh much but may have to hang off the truck. We’ll put a red bandana off the end of it! LOL. There is also a giant marrow (zucchini). I can use as a spacer between the pumpkin and greenie! And a giant pear gourd-ah what’s another 100 lbs! It should fit in the corner!

NM State Fair Results for my Giant Veggies!

It is a good year for me at the State Fair for my giant veggies! I got 5 blue ribbons and first places for all my entries-giant zucchini, giant pear gourd, giant long gourd, giant tomato and giant greenie) and 2 I entered for Elodie ( a second giant zucchini and a tomato) took second places and got red ribbons. We still have bigger veggies waiting for the national contest in Colorado in October…

Giant Pumpkin ‘MAX’ hits 350 lbs on Sept 1

MAX hits 350 on Sept 1, 2011

MAX hits 350 lbs today! It continues to grow although it is starting to slow down a bit-no more 11 lb daily gains. I was in the patch and added a few drip emitters and dug the well out again around it and put compost in the well to help slow evaporation.If we get more rain, it might help it gain more as all the secondary vines will suck up water too.

The good news is last year’s champ, Kong was 228 lbs on this date, Sept 1, of last year. I went back and compared pictures and stats from last year’s Sept 1 to this year. They look a lot alike (of course they do their siblings!) only MAX is more orange and bigger. Now mind you Max is 53 days old and Kong was 35 days old on Sept 1 of last year. Max got pollinated earlier than Kong. I figured MAX has extra growing days. Either way I’ll take it. MAX now needs 77 lbs to beat the State record I set last year. I wonder if anyone else is shooting for the State Record this year. Hmmm…