May 18, 2015

All winter we were wondering when we would see seasonable January temperatures. Now we know the answer - May. Temperatures have been averaging in the low 60's for a few weeks now with almost constant overcast skies that break in the late afternoon, very much a June pattern. "June gloom" is now "May gray". With hopes from the warm evening lows the past two years I was going to go for another bumper crop of peppers with an idea to try my luck with eggplants but now those hopes seems dashed. The latest predictions are that the cooler weather will continue to prevail with a look towards a very wet winter come next year from a very large El Niño currently forming in the Southern Hemisphere. At least the coming summer should give us better sleeping weather.

We've harvested quite a bit and cleared space for new plantings since the last post. I've learned that due to my initial exuberance from the new raised beds and planting area I had crowded to much into to little space so am planting this time with an eye towards better spacing.

The two planting of peas had good production. The shelling peas need time to mature, I should leave them in a bit longer. For some reason the snap peas didn't look all that good, not as green as I expected with a good amount of mildew on the plants, but the yield was good and tasty all the same. Apparently the best protection against mildew is to wet the plants a bit more - who knew?

Box 1

We pulled the radicchio which had stayed in the ground too long and lost their flavor. I had seeded some basil and mesclun but neither really ever came up. I reformatted the irrigation to only soak the east end of the box leaving the garlic to mature dry until I harvest them next month. The garlic never sent up any flower stalks I think due to the regular watering from the irrigation. Apparently consistency in the watering schedule is a primary factor when trying to inhibit blooms.

I seeded radish, lettuce, mesclun, and beets in between the irrigation lines this week.

Box 2

The peas have been harvested. Next time I'll try to make sure the seeds produce a more consistent crop as many of them never came up this time. There are still a few lingering beets which are growing well so as long as they do I'll keep them in.

The first squash from Jeff is starting to grow and bloom and I added a crookneck yellow on the west end of the box. Once they are growing, the beets should be done leaving more room for them.

I set the north end of the box for two staggered rows of beans including a Romano, a couple of French bush beans and the tricolor pole beans - the layout follows the stakes in the photos with about 5-6 seeds surrounding each one in a circle. I planted four then will do another two successive plantings about 3-4 weeks apart.

Box 3

The tomatoes seem to be growing nicely, there's even a few fruits on the Sungold already. I removed the 14" stakes and laid the shrubblers on the soil, 2 per plant pinned opposite each other at the edge of the plant's leaf spread. I'm considering replacing the stakes in a few weeks after verifying that they work as expected. We may not have quite the yield as we have from the past two summers due to the cooler evenings but we'll see what happens.

Box 4

The herbs have really been spreading out and I'm wondering how many of them I want to keep in the box. Those left in the containers have been doing very well so not sure how much space I want to devote in the box to the tarragon, thyme, and oreganos. Both of the original parsley plants I put in back in January are gone as they got huge then died back. Since having a constant supply of healthy green parsley is important to me, I'm willing to take back some space from the tarragon as I don't use it that often and the one remaining in the container is doing well.

Oregano is key but I have two Italians doing well in containers. And the thyme is thriving in containers as well - not sure I need to have two in the box either.

I cut back the second (2/16) seeding of dill and cilantro with the 4/16 seeding having sprouted. Once they are usable, I'll remove the second seeding. I've scheduled their next seeding about 6/1 since 6 weeks seems to be the best length of time between.

 Box 5

The snap peas have been harvested. In their place I've seeded another row of carrots and a row of basil. The celery has done well but not sure if I they justify the space and nutrients they take up to plant them again. It's turning out that I haven't really made use of them. The kale and chard are just too crowded in - I added them just to have an idea of how a seeding would do. The greens, radishes, and beets are too crowded as well. The lettuce has had a good yield though, the radishes performed very well, and I've been getting quite a bit of beet greens for salads and sautéing all along.

The peppers have been pretty blah no doubt due to the weather. There are a couple of fruits coming and I'm going to add a couple of more from the Jimmys I've seeded but this just may be their year.

Containers

These all have been doing spectacularly well especially considering I've only really been watering them once a week, less than that for the rosemarys. They started to fade when I returned from NY a couple of weeks ago as they hadn't been watered for 10 days, especially the mints, but they perked right back up once I resumed watering them.

Citrus

The lemon has been doing very well, large fruits and many of them. Even though we had less than normal rainfall, I think the large storms in December and February made a real difference.

The lime is still green and has some small fruits but no leaf growth yet - it may take a couple of years for it to adjust to its spot.

April 19, 2015

Temperatures were fairly high last week, close to 80°F one day, but has since cooled off considerably to about a high of 62°F today. We found out that our new irrigation system has been using quite a lot more water than we'd suspected when we got our bill from the water service. When I went to get familiar with the meter so that I could monitor it closely and determine how to lower our new usage, I found it to be going backwards. Now that the meter has been replaced I'm keeping tight reins on it.
It turns out by far the most water was being consumed by the irrigation for the general landscaping and not nearly as much from the vegetable raised beds. I ran each station for 5 minutes to log the amounts and created a table to reflect the data. As a result we've cut the time for the general back to about 25% of what it had been using.
We've been harvesting quite a bit of our crops and replacing with new ones for summer growth.

Box 1

I've pulled almost all of the arugula and set up a row of mesclun seeds and another row of basil seeds. The remaining Little Gem lettuce is starting to bolt so they've not long to stay. The garlic is still growing and noticeably not sending up blooms so far. I have to think it is due to the regular watering from the irrigation. I'll have to figure out how to reconfigure the lines when it comes time to stop watering them altogether.

Box 2

We got a good harvest of shelling peas last week, enough for a side dish and there's at least that much more to come. I finished the chard up a couple of days ago, as it had been there long enough, and started the zucchini with a plant (Romesco) a fellow gardener donated. When we finish the last of the remaining kale, I'll replace it with a second squash. I thinned the beet greens trying to let the larger ones establish their roots. We're starting to roast and use the ones we've picked.

Box 3

I'm using this year to get a grasp on how to set up irrigation for the tomato box. I got a few more tree watering stakes to devote two per plant, one on either side. I've pulled them up to get more moisture to the top but as the plants develop I'll probably push them back down a bit to get the water down further to the deeper roots.

Box 4

I pulled the first planting of cilantro and dill as they were starting to bolt and had grown enough to crowd everything else down on their end of the box. The second seeding from February has matured enough to yield what we use. In the clearing I seeded the next crop of each but much less as I get a better idea of just how much I need. I also trimmed the parsley considerably as it is also starting to bolt.

Box 5

Status quo here. We've harvested more of the Merlot lettuce and the radishes. The carrot seedlings have germinated and the snap peas are starting to bloom.

Containers

Considering I'm only watering these on Sunday, they're all doing quite well, even the mint. Maybe it's just that I have the resources to pay more attention to them even in lieu of reducing the watering levels from last year.

April 9, 2015

This year January was April weather-wise so April might as well be January it would seem. We got about 1.25" between the light rain on Sunday and the storm on Tuesday morning. The same storm dropped about 2' of snow up in the Sierras, way more than all of January. Doesn't touch the drought but very, very welcome nonetheless. And temperatures have been seasonable, finally.

We've pulled quite a bit out of the garden, lately. 

Box 1

The mesclun and radishes had started to bolt so they're gone now. We started in finally on the Little Gem lettuces and they are really good. What's remaining of the Red Lettuce Mix is starting to bolt now. I've been thinning the garlic a little for green garlic but they're now starting to mature so those days may be done. The rocket (arugula) looks about done and the radicchio will probably force me to use them soon too. Not sure what will replace this half of the box, maybe another lettuce/mesclun seeding and a row of basil.

Box 2

We've harvested most of the chard. It was very good but since it was there for a while, the leaves had become rather large and somewhat leathery to an extent but still quite useable. There were a lot of small aphids and their ant overlords that had to be washed out but they left no significant damage at all. The kale will have to be used now too before they get too long in the tooth.

The peas, Progress #9, were sold as shelling peas and they're starting to plump up quite a bit. The early pods are quite edible as raw though just a touch fibrous. I'm letting them fill in the peas and should start picking them this week. Overall I think snap peas will be a better use of our space since there is relatively little yield given the size when just shelling the peas as opposed to being able to use the entire pod.
The beets definitely can use more space. The greens have been good but I have to be on top of the thinning to give the roots space to grow.

Box 3

We cleared out the box this week to prepare and plant the tomatoes. The celery, cole crops, and chicory were all an experiment anyway. We harvested the celery and it's sitting in the frig now. I don't know how long it will store but they sure are good. The chicory was a bit more than we wound up wanting. They made for some nice dishes but a little will go a long way. I finally got a couple of the cores to form and made some puntarelle with anchovy sauce - that's still a work in progress. As I mentioned earlier the cauliflower just takes up too much room for this setup so probably won't be growing them again. The broccolini was amazing, though. Definitely a keeper for late and early plantings.

To prepare the box for the tomatoes, I turned the top half of the soil over completely, added 2 more bags of Local Hero and fortified the planting holes with steer manure, 2 bags overall. I've come up with a new method for growing the tomatoes based on the new setup and experience from last summer. This time I've added much better support to the cages using 7ft stakes. The plants got so big last year, the cages couldn't stay upright without support. I'm also experimenting with 14" tree watering stakes tied into the drip irrigation to provide deeper water to the plants, the idea being that the tomatoes grow deep roots so get the water to them down there. I've put the stakes on the perimeters of the cages but will see how and where the soil gets wet to determine the ideal placement of them as the season progresses. This should eliminate the need for any hand watering which was always a pain to maintain as well as an inefficient means of keeping them supplied with water through the season.

Box 4

The first seeding of cilantro and dill from January 15 are still going strong more or less taking over their space crowding out the perennial tarragon and the parsley I planted a couple of weeks ago. The second seeding from February 15 are coming up as well. I'm still learning the life expectancy of their growing time to determine the ideal seeding schedule for a continuous harvest through the year. So far it seems I should seed quite a bit less and less often. Maybe a two-month period rather than a one-month. The second chives are performing very well, I'll probably have to take out the first as I only need one for use. The thymes, oreganos, and marjoram are doing quite well with their spacing and twice a week watering. I've planted another basil yesterday just to have some around until I seed an entire row for the summer. I'm not sure yet where the seeding will go.

Box 5

The celery is progressing, the seeding of the kale and chard are crowded. The lettuces are doing well but the rows are too crowded. I planted a couple of new peppers yesterday giving them some room. The carrot seedlings are coming up but rather spotty, not sure why. The snap peas are growing but yet to produce any flowers.

Containers

Everything doing quite well. The rosemarys are getting into a growing groove now. I've kept watering all of this to only once a week on Sunday though I skipped this week in lieu of the rain. Last year I tried to water at least two or three times a week, I'll see if I need to step up the frequency as the season progresses, especially with the mints.