It's December, and here in the northeast that means it's getting pretty cold especially at night. I still have lots of things going in my gardens. It's wonderful to be able to eat fresh veggies at this time of year. The photo above shows some winterbor kale, baby bok choy and barely visible on the left, swiss chard. With my mid weight row cover i can keep these vegetables going for quite awhile yet. It keeps the soil from freezing allowing me to harvest when most uncovered vegetables have died for the season. I also have row covers on my beets (for beet greens), my full size pac choi and my carrots. While carrots will over winter without protection, once the ground freezes you can't harvest them anymore. The row cover keeps the soil from freezing and allows me to harvest carrots much longer. These are all in raised beds, so the soil freezes faster than if I was gardening directly in the ground. I could harvest all winter long if i used cold frames under the row covers. Hopefully i'll be able to do that with a hoop house next year on some land my partner and I are starting to work. More on that next post.

 Living in an urban area, i have to be creative about gardening spaces. This is one of 3 garden areas i work for myself. In the above photo from left to right are; red russian kale, collards and garlic covered with straw mulch. We've had several frosts so it was time to cover the garlic. You want to wait till after a frost so that pests won't over winter in the mulch. All organic gardeners struggle with pests enough during the season, you don't want to help them with a nice cozy over wintering place. You can also see row cover hoops over the red russian kale. This type of kale can take some frosts but it's not as cold hardy as winterbor. Once the weather starts getting really cold I'll cover the row so i can keep harvesting longer.

This photo shows another view of the same garden space. In the lower left is parsley which is still fine. You can see i already have a row covered. Under the row cover are chard and carrots. Carrots can take the cold. You can even over winter your carrots in the ground with no protection and they'll be fine to harvest next early spring. You'll want to harvest the carrots as soon as the ground unfreezes though, or they'll use the energy from the root to flower and go to seed. The reason i have the carrots covered is to keep the ground from freezing so i can harvest them longer. Row covers can allow you to harvest your crops much longer than you would without them. If you have some small cold frames, and put those under row covers you could harvest most of the winter. This is why it's good to plan having fall crops a good size by the time it starts getting cold. They won't grow much during the winter, but the extra protection allows you to harvest much longer and possibly all winter long.

We've had a wonderful extended fall here in CT. Above are some of my sweet potatoes. You want to wait to harvest sweet potatoes till the vines start to die and turn black. Usually that happens with the first frost. The reason is, while the vines are still green and vibrant, they are still growing your sweet potato tubers, making them bigger. The first frost also tends to add sweetness to certain vegetables. Carrots, parsnips and collards are good examples. We had a frost here last friday night and the sweet potato vines turned black, so saturday i harvested the sweet potatoes. It was a good harvest. Got over 200 potatoes from one 30' row. Some you might want to eat right away, but a lot you'll want to save to eat over the next few months. Best way is to harvest them and lay them out in the sun for the day. Being in an urban area, if i did that, i wouldn't have any left the next day! So, next best method is to brush off as much dirt as possible, and lay them out in an airy place for a week to 10 days. Don't wash the sweet potatoes before you cure them, you are letting the skins get a bit tougher and that will protect and help keep the sweet potatoes for a longer time. Store only those potatoes that you haven't cut in 1/2 while harvesting, or have other deformities. Whole, blemish free potatoes will store the best. Store them at around 55 to 60 degrees with about 85% humidity. They will keep for you all winter long this way. If you don't have a cellar you can store them in, try keeping them in the fridge.

I usually plant my garlic in the middle of october. We've been having some nice warm weather lately so I put off planting for a week or so. You want to plant your garlic so it has time to acclimate but not so much time that it starts to grow too much. If it starts to put out leaves, it will have to stop when the weather gets too cold and the ground freezes. That takes energy from the garlic clove that it doesn't need to be expending now, as it will have to do that in spring.

Garlic is a heavy feeder, so I enrich the soil with composted manure or compost before i plant. Separate the garlic head into individual cloves. Plant the cloves (pointy end up) 4" deep, 4-6" apart and 6-8" between the rows. You should cover your garlic with mulch for the winter. 6-10" of mulch for hard neck garlic, and 10-12" for soft neck garlic. Don't put the mulch on till after the first frost, if you put it on too early, it will give overwintering insects a nice warm home for the winter, and give them a jump on your crops next season.

Most garlic types are winter hardy, though some varieties of soft necks only do well in warm climates. The reason you add the mulch is to prevent the bulbs from heaving out of the ground. When the temps start to drop, but warm up during the day, or in spring when it's getting warm but then gets cold again, the bulbs can heave themselves out of the ground. The mulch keeps the soil temp from fluctuating too much and keeps the garlic in the ground.

Lots of garden crops are still doing fine, as we haven't had a frost yet. The heat lovers though aren't very happy. It's not warm enough for them, and the sun is getting weaker than they like as well. My cayenne pepper plants have a lot of large green peppers on them. A good way to ripen some of them up is to pull the entire plant, dust off the root ball, then bring inside and hang upside down in an airy place. A good number of the peppers will ripen up for you that way. 

 My fall crops are doing nicely. The above photo is of broccoli i started indoors back on June 20th. I transplanted them to the garden a few weeks ago once another crop was finished. They're growing well (despite the lack of rain here). These will get a row cover when the weather starts getting too cold.

 This next photo is of pac choi and the smaller stuff is baby bok choy. I direct seeded these as they grow fairly quickly and will develop before the weather gets too cool. Once it does cool down i'll put a row cover over them so i'll be able to harvest them longer. It's good to have several types of row covers to help you out through the season. Light floating row covers can help protect your crops from pests or warm things up earlier so you can start planting. Heavier weight row covers can protect your crops once the weather starts getting cold. This allows you to plant later and harvest longer.

The above photo is of another direct seeded crop of yukina savoy. It's an asian leaf green, wonderful in stir fries. It grows quickly and doesn't mind some cold weather, though when it starts to get too cold i'll put a heavy weight row cover on it and be able to harvest well into the winter. Next post i'll talk about the ways you can protect crops and lengthen your harvest even through the winter.

We've had a weird summer, not much heat though most crops are doing well, or at least ok. It's the end of August so time to think about and plant your fall crops. In this photo on the left is my red russian kale, it's a great flat leaf kale but it's not incredibly winter hardy. I started winterbor kale back in mid June and transplanted it to my garden last week. Behind the winterbor kale is pac choi that i direct seeded and on the right is some nice large chard. Once the cold weather hits i'll put all of it under row covers to protect it and be able to continue harvesting up until the coldest part of winter. If i had a hoop house (high tunnel) i could use row cover in that and be able to harvest up till next spring. I will eventually use a 2 row cover system that will allow me to harvest longer than with just one single layer row cover. I'll also have row covers over my carrots to keep the ground from freezing so i can harvest them longer as well. I planted my fall carrots a few weeks ago so that they'll be ready by the time the weather gets too chilly. More on extending your harvest soon.

Seedlings & seedling log

When i first started this blog last year, a friend told me i should post every 3 days or so.. Sounds fine, and last year i tried my best to do that. This year, things are crazier.. I work for a non-profit helping coordinate 50 community gardens. Things have changed in the organization, we got a new executive director, moved the office, searching for money for the program.. it's a lot of work and keeping me much busier. So, yeah, i haven't posted in 17 days.. oh well.. This years blog is going to be a bit different, the same, but different, like life, you know?

The warm weather, so far, is pretty non-existent. It will be nice, sorta, like 50 F, which after this winter seems like a heat wave.. but then, it goes back down to freezing.. lovely.. All of us who want to start planting are getting very edgy.. but that's gardening in the new climate change world. Still i'm hopeful, sorta.. at least for this year.. so i've started my seedlings.

The photo above shows gretel and fairy tale eggplants, cayenne peppers and basil, and to the far left parsley. The basil is smaller cause i start it a week to 10 days later than the eggplants and peppers. Basil takes off like a rocket, and will outgrow the eggplants and peppers. If i start them later, they'll catch up, fast, to the eggplants and peppers and my flat will be pretty even height wise in another few days. This is important cause you want those seedlings 2" under the lights at all times.

This is why a seedling log is a good thing to do. I write down when i plant each variety, mark down when they germinate, so i can plant my flats and get everything growing at a good rate and together, as much as possible. Garden logs are good learning tools, but so are seedling logs. Even though i've been doing this for a lot of years, i learn something new every year. All that info helps me do it better the next year, I refer to what i did last year, so i can improve this year. Seedling logs will help you coordinate your seedlings so that they all get the best growth possible, and you'll get the best, most productive plants possible.

 I find it really useful to have a couple of garden planners. That way i can see at a glance, things i want to plant, when i need to either start seeds or plant outdoors as well as if i can get another crop in once the first is done. There are lots of garden planners out there. This first one is very useful if you start your own seeds. You can see by color what you want to start indoors and when. For instance, i've already started my parsley (notoriously slow to germinate) and a week later my hot peppers and eggplant, both a bit slow to germinate. On the other hand i don't want to start my tomatoes (super fast growers) till early April. By looking at my planner i can see when i should start my seeds. I can also put in when to direct seed some of my crops. I direct seed almost everything with the exception of tomatoes, eggplants, hot peppers, sweet peppers, basil, celery, a few other crops and other herbs. Everything else does just fine directly seeded in the ground. The other exception is a late crop of lettuce, kale, and others. Most lettuce will not germinate in soil temperature too warm. So i'll start some inside in late july for a fall crop.

Another good thing about this type of planner, is that you can see when things will be ready to harvest and can plan on a second crop to take it's place. I plant my peas usually in mid march. Course this year we still have almost 2' of snow on the ground so i'll be lucky if i get to plant in late march! Either way though, the peas should come out by early July and that leaves plenty of time to get another crop or even two, in. Beets, turnips, carrots, late lettuce, late kale.. they can all go in once the peas come out. I can see at a glance, where space will be available, or where it will be taken up by crops that go till frost.

This second planner is really useful for second crops. You will find all the info about how long crops take to mature on seed packets or in garden catalogs. For instance, beets and turnips take anywhere from 35-50 days to mature, that's less than 2 months. If i plant beets in spring, they'll be out by early June and I'll still have plenty of time to plant something else. By using a planner like this one, you can plot out what you want to grow and when that crop is mature, what you want to plant in it's place. That way you're not pulling your beets thinking, "what was i going to plant here?!"

We get so busy, pulling weeds, fertilizing where we need to, harvesting, etc.. That it's hard to remember what we wanted to plant where. With garden planners, you can have that info easily available and not have to stress out thinking what you missed.

Another good way to keep track of things is with a seedling and garden logs. Next post i'll talk more about them.

It's been a very long winter here in the northeast. The snows kept coming, the temperature stayed freezing, the winter wonderland turned into black ice, crusted 3' snow mounds and a desire to never see the color white again. There's still snow on the ground and another storm coming, but a good way to stave off the urge to throttle winter, is to plan for spring.

First, you need to decide what you want to grow this year. Take into consideration how much space you have, as well as how much room the plants you want to grow need. If you have one 8' x 4' bed and are thinking of growing squash, you might want to rethink that, unless that's all you want to grow! Most squash vines spread at least 10' and would smother other plants too close to them. Tomatoes need a foot of space on every side, pepper need 10" - 12" of space... You need to think about that when you decide what you want in your garden. Most seed packets but especially good seed catalogs will tell you that kind of information.

I use mostly Johnny's and Fedco. Both are great seed companies (both employee owned) and both catalogs will give you a wealth of information. Whether you should start indoors or direct seed, what soil and/or nutrients the plant needs, how long to germinate and harvest, what pests and diseases the plant is susceptible to... and lots more. These catalogs are a great resource guide, as most reputable and respected ones are.

It's always a good idea to use seed catalogs from the area you are in. All the info will pertain to the growing conditions in your particular area. Weather, typical soil, planting dates, pest and disease problems, all of these vary widely even with a single state. It's good to have information that's pertinent to the area you'll be growing in. Another benefit, most of the good catalogs either get seed from around their area or grow it themselves. This means the seeds are right for your climate, your area and will do better for you than seed from a different part of the country.

When ordering your seeds, keep in mind multiple crops. If you want to grow beets, lettuce, carrots and peas, but only have the space for 2 of those, remember beets only take 30-40 days to mature. Peas are out by mid/late June (least here in CT), that leaves plenty of time to put in other crops. This maximizes your growing potential, even in smaller spaces.

Next i'll post a couple of garden planners. It's useful to mark things down to refer to, so you can plan your garden all season long.

Have fun going through all those seed catalogs!

It's January 4th.. time to start looking at your garden catalogs and decide what you want to grow this year. In my next post i'll talk more about planning your garden. Now is the time to look at those garden catalogs and dream of all you want for this year's garden.

I always go through the seeds I have left, not only to see things i don't have to order this year, but see if the seeds are still viable. Tomato seeds can last 4 - 10 years, lettuce about 3 years. So it's a good idea to go through your seeds and toss the ones that are too old. If you have a lot of them and want to see what the germination rate is there's a simple way to do that. Take a few paper towels and wet them down, ring them out so they're damp not soaking wet. Put 10 seeds on one side and fold the paper towel over them. Put them in a warm place, like on top of the fridge. Spray the paper towel with water every few days so it doesn't dry out. After 1 - 2 weeks check them to see how many sprouted. If 5 out of the 10 sprouted, you have 50% germination. If 1 sprouted, it's 10% and the seeds aren't worth keeping. Remember different seeds germinate at different rates, so don't be impatient, give them at least 2 weeks and sometimes (in the case of some peppers or parsley) even 3.

You should keep extra seeds (or seeds you've harvested from your own plants) in a covered container in the fridge, with a packet of silica gel. The silica gel keeps the seeds dry and the cold in the fridge keeps the seeds viable longer.

Another thing i like to do in the winter is have some blooming plants indoors. Helps me get through these dark, cold snowy months. The above photo shows my amaryllis called apple blossom. This amaryllis has bloomed for me every single year since i got it about 7 or 8 years ago, until last winter. Last winter it didn't bloom and i thought it was done. This year, just before i was going to start watering it again, it put up a flower stalk. I promptly starting watering it, and it started to bloom a couple of days ago! It has a light fragrance and is so nice to see in early January.