Posts Tagged ‘turnips’
My Spring Break is Over
my grandson's cousin enjoys some baby carrots
I made an obvious decision to forgo writing about and photographing my garden so far this year. It was a nice break that actually allowed me to enjoy getting my patch of green off and running without the encumbrances of camera and computer. Gardening is a messy business and I recall last year finding sudden inspiration while having muck up to my elbows. Dashing to the camera or computer in such a state required significant clean up which somewhat interrupted the flow of both the gardening AND the inspiration. This year when inspiration came I simply said, “Eh…” and returned to pulling weeds in the rain.
A friend on Facebook asked me “What do you have in your garden?” That’s my reason for returning to this.
I am experimenting with new varieties of mostly heirloom vegetables. This year I have purchased nearly all my seeds from Seed Savers Exchange, an organization dedicated to preserving and sharing the heirloom seeds of our garden heritage. With any luck this year’s garden will contain:
• Kentucky Wonder Pole Beans from SSE – This is a wonderful old standby that I grew in my first garden in 1973. It’s the only bean I’ve ever grown. For next year I have my eyes on some Rattlesnake Snap beans. I don’t think I can resist “dark green pods that are streaked with purple – very fine flavor.” I like the name too.
• Wisconsin Lakes Pepper from SSE – I’ve always grown California Wonder peppers but wanted an heirloom variety with seeds I can save for next year.
• Jalapeño Peppers from Burpee – just one plant in a bucket from last year’s left over seeds
• Summer Crookneck Squash from SSE – I love the nutty flavor.
• Burpee’s Fordhook Zuccini – I used some leftover seeds from last year.
• Sweet Dumpling Winter Squash – I got these seeds from my son who grew them in Brooklyn.
• Purple Top White Globe Turnip from SSE – I’ll plant a fall crop of these too.
• Scarlet Nantes Carrot from SSE – I’ve finally discovered that the secret to growing carrots is deeply-tilled ground.
• Cherry Roma Tomato from SSE – These are replacing my Sweet 100 cherry tomatoes from the last two years. We’ll see…
• Red Brandywine Tomato from SSE – These are replacing my Better Boy Hybrids from Burpee. Those were pretty good but I want to save my seeds for next year and I can’t do that with hybrids.
• Brandywine (Sudduth’s Strain) Tomato from SSE -another experiment in flavor and seed saving
• Calabrese Broccoli from SSE - I was looking for larger heads this year which I didn’t get from the DeCicco variety I grew last year.
• Giant Noble Spinach from American Seed - These are left-over seeds from last year. My twenty-month old grandson likes this!
• Lettuce a variety of nine lettuces including a Gourmet Blend from Burpee, Black-Seeded Simpson, Burpee Bibb, and Roman Emperor (romaine)
• Mary Washington and Jersey Giant Asparagus from crowns I purchased at Home Depot
Please feel free to leave comments, questions, useful information or idle chat below. Maybe you can tell me what’s in your garden. There is more to come. I promise.
And thanks for asking, Mark.
Last Gift
I like surprises. Well, most of the time I do. I don’t like finding a bug in my coffee or a parking ticket on my windshield.
Finding a dozen turnips from last year’s garden under the snow this morning is the kind of surprise I like. It’s a little like finding a dollar bill in the pocket of an old pair of pants. For me it’s also a reminder that even in the Chicago area a garden is not only a year-round commitment but it also can have a year-round payoff.
I don’t suppose there are any good tomatoes under there…
surprise turnips
Pumpkins, Carrots, Turnips & Bison
Today I spent a lot of time in the garden. I tore out an area next to the pumpkins that had a couple of sickly zucchini plants and weeds. After cleaning it out I planted carrots. In a similar fit of activity I pulled out the remaining turnips – maybe 20 or so – and planted a fall crop of turnips.
Animals have chewed my pumpkins.
They've even chewed my funny-looking one.
The pumpkins continue to grow but word is getting around the animal world that pumpkin is pretty tasty. Does anyone have any idea how to protect pumpkins from the squirrels/rabbits/raccoons/birds that are sampling them? Do I use chicken wire?
I’d love to hear some ideas.
Katie asked if we could take a trip to Fermi Lab in Batavia where there is a great hike through a large meadow of grasses and wildflowers and woods. What she really wanted to see was the Bison herd.
It was a great way to wrap up the day.
Katie with wildflowers in the woods at Fermi Labs.
Katie photographing bison.
(Mostly) Progress
In spite of cold and threatened snow (some fell overnight but none remained this morning), the lettuce, radishes, and turnips have begun to appear. The spinach planted in the egg crates has sprouted but we’re still waiting for the spinach that was planted directly into the ground.
bibb lettuce
My grandson’s pumpkin seeds sprouted almost immediately after planting inside in two yogurt containers. I’ll let them grow a little more before planting them into the ground. They will be planted in the spinach area. With spinach growing quickly in cooler weather, I expect that it will all be picked before the pumpkin plants get very large or maybe even before they are planted outside. I like to have different plants sharing garden space like this. Ideally, this allows me to make effecient use of small spaces.
spinach!
Pumpkins will grow where spinach is now.
The tomato plants are looking very spindly. I put them outside one day that was pretty cold and windy. This may not have been a good thing to do to tropical plants. We’ll see if they survive. The bell pepper plants look great!
The Garden Space
Here’s where we’ll be sharing food with the rabbits. It’s three strips 24 feet long. The middle strip is four feet wide and the outer ones are 24 inches wide. The narrow strips are for tomatoes and peppers – bell and jalapenõs – and the wider one is for spinach, carrots, turnips, lettuce and broccoli. Another small plot will contain pumpkins and squash.