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Happy New Year!
Sheri
The cool, crisp days of September are upon us. Most of the garden harvest is in and you may be thinking of putting your garden to bed for the winter. But wait! There is still time to plant more cool season crops in the Mid-West.
While it is true what you can plant this month is limited, there are still quite a few options for your fall and winter garden. Prepare your cold frames and frost covers just in case you need them. Remember you can make a cold frame from four bales of straw and an old window. This will protect young seedlings as well as older plants from frost or chilly nights.
This month you can direct sow argula, Chinese cabbage, collards, endive, lettuce, mache, mustard, parsley, peas, radish, sorrel, spinach and turnips. You can also transplant Chinese cabbage starts into the garden if you have any. Remember to keep your seeds and seedlings well watered. Getting your plants to grow well right now is the key to keeping them alive longer. Cool weather plants that are fully grown can be stored and harvested directly in the garden if they are given adequate protection from frost and fridgid weather.
If you are looking to plant cover crops over part of your garden, September is the time to plant alfalfa, buckwheat, hairy vetch, mustard, oats, radish, winter rye and winter wheat.
Want to learn more about gardening year round? Pre-order a copy of The Complete Idiot’s Guide To Year-Round Gardening written by Delilah Smittle and Sheri Ann Richerson.
Filed under Gardening News, Vegetable Gardening by on Sep 4th, 2009. Comment. 
The dog days of summer are indeed upon us. August is one of the hottest months of summer. It is also time when children return to school and you may find you have a bit more time to garden than you did this summer.
Here in Indiana, zone 5/6, there is still plenty of time to plant cool weather crops. Some of these crops have their flavor enhanced when frost hits them. Other crops can be grown almost all winter with the use of cold frames or hoop houses. Cold frames and hoop houses do not cost a lot to make, but can provide an unlimited amount of protection for fall and winter crops.
A simple cold frame can be made out of four bales of straw and a window. Simply set the bales of straw up in a way so they are end to end in a square and place an old window on top. A hoop house can be made using plastic conduit and a piece of 6 mil. plastic. Simply push one end of the conduit into the ground, gently bend it over so the other end touches the ground on the other side of the piece that is in the ground and push it down. Put the conduit pieces two feet apart, making the hoop house as long as you like, cover with 6 mil. plastic and put sand bags, rocks or bricks on the plastic that touches the ground to hold it down.
Some good crops to direct sow this month include arugula, beets, carrots, chard, Chinese cabbage, collards, endive, kale, kohlrabi, mustard, peas, radish, sorrel, lettuce, spinach and turnip. Cover crops include alfalfa, buckwheat, cowpeas, mustard, oats, radish and sunflower.
If you still have plants in your greenhouse or have access to seedlings, August is a good time to transplant young plants of broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, Chinese cabbage, kale, kohlrabi, lettuce and scallions.
Want to learn more about gardening year round? Pre-order a copy of The Complete Idiot’s Guide To Year-Round Gardening written by Delilah Smittle and Sheri Ann Richerson.
Filed under Gardening News, Vegetable Gardening by on Aug 6th, 2009. 3 Comments.
Yes, folks, you read that right, today’s topic is planting vegetable seed in July. It is not too late here in the Midwest to get started gardening. If you already have a garden going, maybe there are some things that are just puckering out that could be replaced or maybe you have room to add some new crops. If you didn’t get around to planting this spring, well, you still have a chance to do just that. So, what are you waiting for? Get out there and get your garden in gear!
Seeds that can be direct sown outdoors this month include beans, both snap and dry, just be sure to pick short season varieties. Carrots, chard, chinese cabbage, collards, cucumber, edamama, kale, kohlrabi, mustard, okra, parsnip, radish, rudabaga, sorrel, squash – both summer and winter varieties and turnip seeds can all be direct sown in July. As with the beans, look for short season varieties. This information can be found on the back of seed packets.
If you didn’t get enough herbs planted earlier in the season, now is the time to direct sow basil, cilantro and parsley.
Keep the weeds down to encourage better growth in your garden. Use newspaper – shredded or whole, straw – even if it has got wet, cardboard or any other type of material that will help block weeds. Plastic should be avoided if possible as it will sour the soil. You can also mulch your garden with finished compost to add extra nutrients to the soil and help block weed growth.
Filed under Gardening News, Homestead Happenings, Vegetable Gardening by on Jul 23rd, 2009. Comment.
Yesterday we finally got around to planting two of the vegetable gardens. Peas, turnips and lettuce are already up in some areas of the garden but we needed to get other crops sown. Although the garden was tilled earlier in the season, weeds wanted to take over, so a second tilling was necessary.
The first thing we planted was corn – many varieties this year. We planted How Sweet It Is Hybrid – 87 days, Country Gentleman – 90 days, Kandy Korn Hybrid – 89 days, Obsession – 80 days, Supersweet Jubilee Hybrid – 85 days, Silver Queen Hybrid – 88 days and Bon Appetit – 71 days. I also planted a pack of ornamental corn for decorations.
The next big planting consisted of green beans. We chose Tricolor Bush Beans from Renee’s Garden. These have gold, purple and green beans in the package and the days to harvest are approximately 55. We also planted Royal Burgundy bush beans – 60 days and Nugget bush beans – 52 days. My favorite beans are the Royal Burgundy. Pests seem to leave the purple colored beans alone and the pretty purple color makes picking beans fun!
Speaking of fun, I have several bonus packs from Renee’s Garden. She comes up with some of the coolest seeds and planting ideas. If you have never been to her website or bought her seeds, take a moment to check her out at http://www.reneesgarden.com/ Anyway, back to the story. I had a bonus seed packet called Native American Three Sisters Garden which contained seeds for Earth Tones Indian Dent Corn (great for grinding into cornmeal), Scarlet Runner Beans and Sugar Pie Pumpkins. These went into the front of the garden so they could be seen from the street. Next to them I planted the bonus pack Seeds For A Butterfly Garden so when we were tired of working and wanted to sit in the swing we would have something pretty to look at and some gorgeous butterflies to watch. This packet contained Zinnia Persian Carpet, Cosmos Purity and Sunflower Red Sun. Next to this pack I planted my last bonus pack which contained Seeds For A Hummingbird Garden. Inside this packet was seeds of Scarlet Runner Bean Magic Beanstalk, Nasturtium Summer Charm and Zinnia Scarlet Flame.
Now that the pretty plants were in, it was time to get back to planting. I planted a large amount of Fibre Flax Evelin – Linum usitatissimum. Hopefully this year the flax will grow and I will be able to turn it into fiber for spinning and weaving. I also planted colored cotton – Red Foliated, Arkansas Green Lint, Erlene’s Green and Mississippi Brown. Anyone know where I can find other natural colored cotton? I bought this from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange.
Next to be planted was Grain Amaranth. I planted both Golden Giant and a mix from Bountiful Gardens. I also planted Sorghum GSO-7440 M6-1 from Bountiful Gardens. It says this variety is very rare, from KUSA.
The last seeds I planted were for Radish Watermelon.
I was hoping for some rain last night, but since we did not get any, I am off to water and finish up the rest of the vegetable garden.
Filed under Gardening News, Homestead Happenings, Vegetable Gardening by on May 11th, 2009. 1 Comment.
This year we are getting a bit of a head start on our vegetable garden. Jerry helped put the cold frame over a raised bed that was dry enough to weed. He also put a window frame over the part of the bed that the cold frame did not cover.
Before this could happen there was weeding to be done. Low and behold in the weeds were carrots! Purple Dragon Carrots that had survived the winter and were growing new tops! They will be ate with our supper tonight.
Once the cold frames were installed I planted lettuce, spinach and carrot seeds. Hopefully it will not take too long for the seeds to begin to germinate. I am anxious to begin eating out of our garden again, although we do still have plenty of canned food from last year. It has been a great feeling knowing we have plenty to eat and that we grew most of it ourselves.
Filed under Gardening News, Homestead Happenings, Vegetable Gardening by on Mar 9th, 2009. 2 Comments.