Eggplants and Hot Peppers

Today, I set up my grow lights and heat mat and started eggplant and hot pepper seedlings. I started four each of Ping Tung and Diamond eggplant, and two each of Thai red chilli pepper and Jalapeno. The hot peppers will be grown in containers on the porch as will at least some of the eggplant.

I also finally ordered my seeds from Sand Hill Preservation Center: kale, peas, green beans, cilantro, flowers. Once they arrive, I should be all set for seeds for the year.

Beginning of the Season

I started my first seedlings today. Bulgarian Giant leeks. Very exciting! I sowed four cells, which I will cover with a clear plastic dome and put on the radiator. Let’s see if this will work. I am saving my grow lights/heat mat set-up for my other seedlings (peppers, eggplant, basil, and maybe kale), which I will start in a couple of weeks.

New seeds! I am very excited about the Mexican sour gherkins.

2022 in Review

August 19, 2022

My gardening year 2022 started late because I had COVID, which kept me unable to do much for most of the spring. So, I did not start planting until the very end of April. We had a very dry and hot summer, which was great for tomatoes, but terrible for cucumbers and many other crops. Like last year, I did not mulch with hay, trying to get the pill bugs under control. They appeared to have been reduced in numbers, so hopefully next year, they will be even less of a problem.

I noticed in general that many plants were kind of stunted and did not grow very tall this year. I think I have to seriously amend my soil early next season to replenish nutrients. It may be time for another soil test. We did have both community garden work days in person this year, which was very nice. It was great to tackle some bigger projects, such as replacing some rotted timber borders, together as a group.

August 17, 2022

Fruiting crops (tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, eggplants) It was an amazing year for tomatoes. The dry hot summer provided perfect conditions. I had planted 13 tomato plants (10 different varieties total). My favorites were Ananas Noire, Dr. Wyche Yellow, Green Zebra, Striped German, and Black Prince. The Black Strawberry looked amazing and was one of the earlier varieties, but I did not find the taste very interesting, and the skin was kind of tough. I had a ton of tomatoes. To preserve them, I did several rounds of oven-roasting them together with garlic and herbs. I packed them in jars covered with olive oil and stored them in the freezer for use all throughout the winter and spring. The cucumbers did well until early August when they all shriveled up and died. It was just too hot for them. I only got a few slicers and a handful of pickling cucumbers, just enough to make two jars of refrigerator pickles. Peppers were planted only on the porch this year. The Jalapeno did really well, but the Thai hot pepper plant stayed kind of small compared to last year and also produced small fruit, not enough to make more sriracha. The eggplants were pathetic. They never grew, and while they set fruit, they were too small to harvest.

September 3, 2022

Squash. I had planted three varieties of winter squash: Butternut, Delicata and Honeynut. All three plants looked healthy and well in the beginning of the season and set fruit, but then simply disappeared. The same with the zucchini plant. It had set fruit looking good, but then the fruit stopped growing and the plant died. I did not notice any pests or mildew. Other gardeners had nice big squash, so I am not sure what is going on.

July 28, 2022

Root vegetables. I planted beets, carrots and radishes. I think I did a bad job thinning the beets, as I only harvested a few handfuls and they were small. The carrots did well, especially the fall carrots. The porch radishes were great as usual. It is always great to harvest fresh home-grown vegetables early in the season.

August 7, 2022

Brassicas. I only planted kale this year. Three plants, which was plenty. They stayed small like most other plants, and I did not have the bounty I was hoping for. They also had aphids later in the season, so I pulled them.

May 16, 2022

Greens and lettuce. I planted chard and lettuces in the plot; arugula, chard and lettuces on the porch. The chard in the plot stayed small until it perked up in the fall. I had a smaller harvest than I hoped. The container rainbow chard did very well, and I got a pretty good harvest out if it. Plus, it looked very pretty. The lettuces did great, I wish I had planted them earlier. The porch arugula was great as well.

April 25, 2022

Legumes. I planted peas and Kentucky Wonder pole beans this year. Both did great. As usual, I planted the beans not until late July and had a bountiful harvest until mid-October.

July 12, 2022

Alliums. It was a good year for garlic. I harvested 57 heads total (of 60 planted the previous fall); 27 heads of hardnecks (Red Russian) and 30 heads of softnecks (Transylvania). In November, I planted only 36 cloves, as I am anticipating much less cooking in 2023 with two kids in college next fall. I did not harvest the leeks as they were kind of small, but mulched them well. I hope they will make it through the winter.

September 28, 2022

Corn. I loved the glass gem corn so much that I planted it again this year. The plants did not grow as tall as last year, and the ears stayed small. I also planted King Philip corn, which I was very excited about. Unfortunately, the rats completely raided the King Philip corn. I did not harvest a single ear. They had left the glass gem corn alone last year, but this year not so much. So, I had to harvest the ears that were left a lot sooner than planned, and they were small and not as pretty as last year’s.

November 12, 2022

Flowers. 2022 was an amazing year for flowers. The Zinnias and cosmos had a late start as I did not sow them until early June, but I had so many beautiful flowers all the way until late November. I also had planted marigolds as companion plants to the tomatoes and dahlias. Those were single-flower dahlias, which I did not like quite as much.

July 15, 2022

Herbs. In the plot, I planted basil and parsley this year. Both did exceptionally well. I made a ton of basil pesto and harvested the parsley all throughout the year. The porch herbs did great as usual, and I got to make several batches of Thai basil pesto. My new favorite. The kids and I love to use the pesto in this recipe. I had basil on the porch as well but forgot to plant a second round of porch basil later in the season (July) like I did last year.

April 25, 2022

Perennials. The rhubarb is still doing very poorly. I bought another plant from the Neighborhood Farm, but I might have ripped it out accidentally while cleaning out the plot for winter. Oops! I guess, we will see in the spring. The asparagus definitely was slowing down. I divided it in November and hope that this will reinvigorate its growth.

June 13, 2022

Porch. I grew mostly herbs and flowers on the porch this year. I grew two cherry tomato plants: one Black Strawberry (grown from seed) and one Super Sweet 100 (given to me by a friend), and they did okay. I really should stop growing tomatoes on containers as there are better uses of my space. I also grew three pepper plants: Thai, Jalapeno and Sweet Pickle. All of them did okay with the Jalapeno being the most productive. The herbs were the stars as usual: basil, rosemary, sage, mint, thyme, chives, Thai basil, cilantro, parsley. The Thai basil did especially well. I got three batches of pesto out of two “plants” (each of them the result of a batch-sowing of four or five seeds). The Swiss Chard did really well. I will do that again next year but in an even bigger pot. The salad greens (May Queen and Salanova Mix) did well.

May 29, 2022

Plans for 2022. I will need to rethink what and how much I grow next season as both my kids will be off to college next fall. The amounts my household will eat will be very different. I had 13 tomato plants, which was great as both my kids were home this summer helping me consume them. Next summer, only my son will be home as my daughter is studying abroad in the spring and summer. So, I will reduce the number to eight to ten plants. Still more than I can eat, so I will make sure to stagger early, mid-season and late tomatoes. I will continue to preserve them by oven-roasting. I will plant hot peppers again, likely only on the porch. Two plants, one Thai and one Jalapeno. If I plant eggplants again, I might buy seedlings. I somehow have not had much luck with home-grown eggplant seedlings. They just stay small. I will probably plant an Asian variety. I will definitely grow cucumbers again, three pickling cucumber plants and two slicers. I will try to grow winter squash again, Delicata and Butternut. Perhaps a Honeynut. I will probably skip zucchini next year. I will plant radishes on the porch in early spring, and carrots and beets in the plot, this year making sure I thin them properly. I will have three or four curly kale plants, but probably no other brassicas. A for greens, I will grow lettuce on my porch and in the plot and plant rainbow Swiss chard in the plot, four to five plants. I am not sure I will grow arugula this year, but definitely a fall greens mix. I will grow snap peas and pole beans again, the latter again later in the season. I will succession-plant those, as this has worked very well for me these past couple of years. The garlic is already in the ground, and I will grow leeks again. The corn harvest was discouraging. I might take a break from corn this year. I will definitely grow many flowers. They were such a joy. I will direct-sow zinnias and cosmos, and get a few dahlia tubers in the ground as well. Those will be for cutting. I also as always will grow nasturtiums and marigolds for pest control. For herbs, I will continue to plant my kitchen container garden on my back porch (basil, Thai basil, parsley, sage, thyme, rosemary, mint), and will only have basil and parsley in the plot. As for perennials, I hope that dividing the asparagus has re-invigorated it, and that I did not accidentally pull the new rhubarb. The porch will have herbs, hot peppers and flowers. No tomatoes (just not worth it), but rainbow chard (a larger pot this time), lettuces and radishes. I am looking forward to 2023.

Ready for Winter

Today I got my plot truly ready for winter. We had a few night frosts this past week, so I pulled the flowers, Swiss chard and tender lettuces, which all had frost damage. The fall greens are still going strong, so I am keeping them in for a few more days. I also still have carrots growing, which I will pull in a few weeks. Same with the parsley, of which I harvested some today. I am planning to overwinter my leeks.

I finally divided the asparagus, yay! I divided the big clump into six crowns and gave them plenty of space in between. I hope they will establish over the winter. I had planned to do this these past two years in early spring, but this spring I had COVID, which knocked me out for the entire month of April and made me miss the dividing window, and the year before the ground was frozen solid for much longer and then it got warm very quickly. Fingers crossed. The worst case scenario is that I won’t have much to harvest next spring.

November Clean-Up

Today, I finished cleaning up my plot and getting it ready for the winter. The only thing left to do is to take out the flowers and divide the asparagus (or leave the latter for early spring next year). I still have Swiss Chard, leeks, fall greens, carrots, parsley and flowers growing. I spread salt marsh hay on the garlic patch and around the chard and leeks. It has been in the 70s today, and we have not had a frost yet this year.

Front left: next year’s garlic plus parsley. Back left: leeks. On the right: carrots, fall greens and chard. Flowers (cosmos, Zinnias and dahlias) at the fence in the back.
Next year’s garlic

Back Porch Cleanup and Tulip Planting

Yesterday, I cleaned up my back porch to get it ready for the winter. I covered the table and chairs, pulled most of the plants (the only things still producing are the Swiss Chard and the herbs) and moved containers away from the railings for protection from the elements. We are still promised a few warm days (upper 60s) this week, and I will enjoy sitting on my South-facing bench as much as possible until the first frost will force me inside for good. I also planted about 150 tulip bulbs, both in containers and in the front and back yard. I planted Little Princess Botanical tulips on my back porch, and the following tulips in the front yard: Queen of the Night combined with Apricot Parrot, and Purple Prince combined with Orange Brilliant Fosteriana plus more Princess Botanical. In the back yard and in the herb garden and the little side bed along the back porch, I planted Mixed Triumph Tulips. All bulbs are from Holland Bulb Farms. I am looking forward to a lot of color next spring.

Our neighbor’s maple is gorgeous this year

Anticipation

My corn is not yet ready for harvest but I am very excited about the King Philip corn I planted this year. It is a historic Wampanoag flint corn native to New England (named after the Wampanoag chief Metacom who adopted the name King Philip) and has copper-colored, reddish kernels. Flint corn has a hard outer layer around each kernel (protecting it from rodents) and is mostly used for coarse corn meal. It can also be dried and used for popcorn. In addition to King Philip corn, I grew glass gem corn again this year. While mostly used for decoration, glass gem corn can also be ground into meal or popped for snacking.

Green Beans and Flowers

My Kentucky Wonder green beans have been taking off. I love having beans this late in the season. They grow slower now that the days are shorter and cooler meaning that I can harvest more at the same time (as opposed to a handful every day in the height of summer, which I find less useful in terms of using them to cook). The flowers also are finally in a really good place, which makes me happy as I now will have flowers until the first frost. This is the perk of getting a late start this season, ha! (The beans were planted in mid-July. On purpose.)

Early September

Butternut squash

I did some weeding this beautiful Saturday morning and also thinned the carrots. Many tomato and cucumber plants seem to have recovered from the heat waves, the corn is tall, the beans are flowering, the winter squash are (finally) growing. Some tomato plants are looking very sad though: Black Strawberry and Ananas Noire have dried, brown leaves; Ananas Noire even has fruit rotting on the stem. There is still lots to come from my plot this late summer and fall: green beans, Swiss chard, kale, corn, squash, salad greens, beets, carrots, leeks.

Scotia tomatoes. Very prolific.
Glass gem corn
Kentucky Wonder tendrils looking for something to hold onto