Planting on Christmas Eve

I continue to experiment in Hawaii. On Christmas Eve, I planted about 50 snow peas in a raised bed, and transplanted a small okra plant outside. I spoke with someone who farms here, and he said he thought it would be too cold for okra (which I thought as well, but figured I would try anyway). He thought it might do OK here in the summer.

At the moment, I have a pumpkin plant that is doing pretty well, a broccoli that the bugs are eating alive, a jalapeno that is slowly coming along, and I just transplanted some oregano.

I am having trouble getting tomatoes and basil started. Once basil does get started, I have been told that it does very well here. Tomatoes are succumbing to fungus because of the very wet weather. The farmer said that I need to have them in greenhouses.

In the cool weather right now, I need to focus on carrots, broccoli, and cilantro.

Hawaii Update

I have not updated this for a while, but I am settled in Hawaii and experimenting with what will grow here. I have some pumpkins, zuchinni, summer squash, snow peas, broccoli, jalapenos, and tomatoes that are in the ground outside. The tomatoes look pitiful, but the pumpkins and broccoli seem to like the weather. Inside I have planted okra, basil, cilantro, and oregano for transplanting outside later. I want to get some carrot seeds in the ground as well, but the soil I am working has a lot of rocks in it - not good for carrots.

It has turned cool here, but it never freezes. I suspect that most things will do well right through the winter, but don't know if it will get warm enough for things like okra. At this point I am more or less experimenting.

I do have several fruit trees in the yard, and can enjoy a fresh-squeezed lemonade pretty much every day.

Birds Destroyed My Broccoli

Got back from Europe to discover that my broccoli heads were demolished. They looked like they had been shot with a shotgun. The second time I went out, I saw the culprits. Birds. At first I thought it had probably been insects (or maybe the birds were eating the insects?) but it appeared as if the birds were feasting on the broccoli. Thus ends my experimentation with spring broccoli. From now on, it is a winter crop for me.

The carrots are still coming on great. In pulling them from the ground, the tops kept snapping off, leaving the carrot in the ground. I decided I better water the soil first and soften it up a bit, otherwise I am going to have to dig the carrots up.

Tomatoes have really exploded, although no fruit yet. Yellow squash and zucchini continue the pattern of rotting after the blooms drop. Although it looks like I now have a couple of zucchini that are going to develop.

Finally, jalapenos and okra are both about to bloom. Looking forward to that, although I don't have enough of either planted. Actually, I planted quite a few of each (from seed) but only had 1 jalapeno and 2 okra plants survive.

Phase I is Complete

I came back from my European trip on March 5th to find that some of the squash had died. The temperature got down to 26 degrees twice while I was gone, and while my wife covered them up, the cold got the weaker ones.

Still, there were 5 or 6 that survived, and while they don't look good, I am hoping they come back now that temperatures are in the 70's and 80's. The 10-day forecast has no freezing weather, which probably means we are out of the woods.

Carrots have broken ground, and the peas are coming on strongly. It's been a month today since I planted them, and the carrots look like they are only a week old. I guess they only sprouted when it warmed up a bit more. I would guess that 80% of the peas sprouted, but their stems are very weak right at the ground. It looks possible that something has been chewing on them. The cilantro has really exploded; we have far more than we can use and I had only put out two plants last fall. We also had a lot of broccoli heads ready for harvest.

Of the seeds I had planted, I recognize a couple of jalapenos, a couple of crookneck squash, and a couple of okra coming up. There are some other plants coming up, but I can't tell if they are weeds or something I planted.

Today I also went ahead and put all inside plants in the garden. This included 3 tomato plants I grew from seeds (they are really small; I am not sure they will survive), 4 jalapenos, 2 okra plants, and a zucchini. In addition I put out a basil plant I had been growing since last summer (it looks like a small tree) and some oregano.

Phase I of the garden is in. Once I pull up all of the carrots, and the peas and broccoli are done, I will plant more warm weather plants.

The Wet Seedlings Recovered

Just an update to the previous post, when it looked like my entire broccoli planting had drowned. I got the flats dried out, and the plants all came back. I currently have them indoors near a window. Of the 20 seeds that I planted, I now have 14 decent looking broccoli seedlings. The snap peas didn't fare as well; only 5 of the 20 sprouted. I read somewhere that you should nick pea seeds with a file to let water penetrate. I didn't do that, so I don't know if that's a trick I needed to apply. I have never grown peas before.

I have had some broccoli outside since August, and it is just now really taking off. I have to remember that next year; broccoli can survive some pretty cold temperatures. Next year I will start the plants indoors in late summer, and then transplant them outside just as soon as the weather cools off a bit. If I plant in rich soil, I should be able to get a crop in before the weather turns cold. But even if I don't, as soon as it warms back up it should take off and produce a crop then.

I planted some tomato, jalapeno, marigolds, and (as an experiment) one okra seed in containers about a week ago. Today, the okra and some of the tomatoes have broken ground. I probably should have started the tomatoes earlier, as Home Depot already has decent sized plants for transplanting outdoors. I planted the okra in a big pot and I have it in the garage where it can get some light from a window. It is much too early for okra; it really excels in the heat. But I thought I would get the plant up to a foot or so in height and then try to transplant it.

I have had the flu, so I haven't been able to work the mulch into the soil. I am hoping that I will feel like it this weekend. At the latest, I need to transplant all of the broccoli and peas outside, and plant my carrots, by next weekend. I fly to Europe for 3 weeks the following Monday, so I need to get the cold tolerate plants in the ground.

What I Plan to Grow This Year

Eventually I want to start using heirloom seeds, but this year I went with what they had in the seed rack at Home Depot. My garden is laid out in a 5 foot by 25 foot plot. I may have to add some on to that. But here is what I have planned:

20 Green Goliath Broccoli
20 Sugar Daddy Snap Peas
16 Early Prolific Straightneck Summer Squash
10 Big Boy Tomatoes
6 Clemson Spineless Okra
6 Burpee's Hybrid Zucchini
5 Pimiento Jalapenos
Big Top Carrots
Genovese Basil
Oregano (Origanum vulgare)
Cilantro (Coriandrum sativum)
Marigolds
4 Flame Seedless Grapes
2 Celeste Figs

As I have mentioned already, I have been experimenting since August with some of these. Cilantro and the broccoli thrived through the winter, surviving a low temperature of 16°F (Jan 16th, per the Weather Channel's website). I had some jalapenos outside in containers, and they survived until a hard freeze in December. So I am optimistic that I can get in a really good harvest of those until late fall. I have one basil and some oregano in the house. The oregano has thrived and the basil has survived, and I will plant both outdoors in late March.

The temperatures start to regularly get into the 80's in early May, so I hope to have a crop of broccoli, snow peas, and carrots finished by then. I will replant some of the warm weather items like jalapenos and okra in their place.

Spring Planning and the Double Dig

January 22, 2009 – Freshly arrived back from Europe. None of the 40 seeds I planted before I left have sprouted, but the soil is still damp. I now have two broccoli plants that are ready to harvest. I will do that this weekend.

I harvested the compost from one of my composters and spread it around on the ground where I am going to do a double-dig of about 125 square feet. I realize I don't have enough, so I will need to either pick up more compost or some peat moss. One of the things I am learning is that decaying organic matter in the soil is very important for good growth. Not having that is why it took my broccoli all winter to produce.

I started the double-dig, and it was slow going. Lots of white rocks as big as my head have to be removed. I had put up a temporary fence to keep the dogs out, but I can see they have been in and gotten mud everywhere. My back started to get sore about halfway through the double-dig.

January 23, 2009 – I awoke this morning to find that 10 of the broccoli seeds and 3 of the snow peas have sprouted. I guess they were just waiting for me to get back home. I plan to let them grow for at least a couple of weeks – and maybe a month – before transplanting them outside. The only problem is that the flats are not very deep, and even now I have roots trying to come out the bottom.

Back in the fall when it froze and killed my nice-looking jalapeno (which in December was just about to bloom), I also had one in a container. I brought that one into the garage, and left it to die. Funny thing is that it didn't die. It doesn't look good, but I have some hope that I might be able to keep it alive until time to transplant it outside.

Right now, I am scheduled to go back to Europe on February 16th. I plan to transplant the broccoli and snow peas outside just before I go, as well as plant a row of carrots. Today I also planted 6 zucchini, 6 tomatoes, 16 crookneck squash, and 12 marigolds in a couple more flats. I plan to transplant them outdoors some time after I return from Europe the first week of March. Hopefully they won't be too packed in the flats by then. I am also going to plant some jalapenos in some small pots, which should be ready to go outdoors in March.

I went to Home Depot today and bought two grapevines (Flame Seedless) and a fig tree. I plan to set them out tomorrow.

Summarizing Fall and Winter 2008

January 11, 2009 – This will be my first entry, so I need to catch up on what I have been doing. I read John Jeavon's book book on high yield gardening, and plan to use his techniques. On August 30, 2008 I planted some jalapenos, some broccoli, some cilantro, basil, and oregano. All were in containers, but I transplanted the broccoli outside later on. The jalapenos lasted outside in a container until December, and one was on the verge of blooming. However, a hard freeze killed it, along with some basil I had transplanted. Cilantro and broccoli thrived through the cold, and here 4 months later the broccoli is about ready to harvest. The heads on it right now are about 2 inches in diameter; not sure how large they should be when I harvest. Had I planted it in more fertile soil, it would have probably been ready 2 months ago. I have some basil and oregano in containers, and they are doing OK in an East-facing window. The oregano is doing quite well and spreading, and I will transplant it outside when it warms up.

Today I planted 20 broccoli seeds and 20 snow (sugar) pea seeds in flats. I set the flats in a small plastic swimming pool, and put a small amount of water in the bottom to keep the soil moist. I go to Europe tomorrow, but when I return they should be ready to put outdoors. The Collin County Master Gardener site recommends February 10th for the peas (and for carrots and for lettuce) and February 10th for broccoli. Later on I will plant zucchini, crookneck squash, okra, tomatoes, and marigolds. These will need to go out in late March.

I fly to Europe tomorrow, but when I return in two weeks I will double-dig the bed. I removed turf from an area that is 5 feet wide and 25 feet long. I plan to have several 5x5 beds, with a 1 square foot stepping stone in between that I can stand on and work each bed. On the double-dig, I will spread an inch of mulch, remove a foot deep strip, put it in the wheel barrow, loosen down to 2 feet, and then transfer each 1 feet strip into the next trench over. Sounds complicated, but there are some YouTube videos showing how it is done. I dug a trench today just to see how much work it would be, and there are a lot of rocks in the soil. It was fairly easy to dig down to the 1 foot level, but beyond that there is a lot of sticky clay. This is also the rockiest soil I have ever seen; I keep running into white rocks the size of my head.