PNW: May 2014

Morning everyone!  I get to go on a walking field trip with my daughter's kindergarten class on the hottest day of the year:
I need to water the SFG today.  Just a bit - we'll be getting rain again on Saturday.  Here's my peas all trellised:
Broccoli is crawling along.  Haven't seen a cabbage moth yet, but the wasps are bad this year already.  Green onions are so thin they aren't showing up in the picture, but they are growing quickly.  Time to harvest most of those radishes and replant.  Will do re-try my lettuce squares when I go out to water today.  Happy gardening everyone!

Thanks for the heads up about a rainy weekend; I need to get some outside stuff done before then.  Gwen, you need to turn your TTs into triple deckers so you can have more gardening space!

Finally, I'm eating something fresh from the garden everyday, which helps my winter weight gain disappear without even trying.  So far it's been lettuce, radishes, spinach, bok choy, and chard.  Turnips, beets, and kohlrabi are beginning to bulb.

Some broccoli and cauliflower.  I'm sure I'm going to see a few cauliflower buds in a day or two.



Stealing some grid space to keep those radishes coming on regularly.



Horseradish is going crazy this year.



Greenhouse peas are happy.  Outside peas are not happy this year.



Won't be long 'till harvest time:



I've direct seeded some corn.  I need to get some squash and tomato starts transplanted.  It's a little early for me, but I think I'll plant a few squares of beans tomorrow.

Our dog, cat, and chickens are all sprawled out and soaking up the sun.  I think I'll go join them.

Looks great, boffer. How many horseradish do you have planted? And do you worry about them spreading everywhere?

We started with two finger size pieces 3-4 years ago.  We harvested some 2 years ago, but not last year.  

I think the horseradish is going to lose the spreading battle with the sunchokes that are on the right side of the fence. You can see the sunchokes poking up on bottom right of the pic.

Gwen your table tops look great!....hope you had a good time on your field trip and didn't get to burnt   

Boffer sounds and looks like your garden is doing great already this year as always!   your bok choi is so pretty!

Today we had our first family salad out of the gardens!....first time none of the lettuce was soapy or bitter..... it seems the lettuce loves mushroom compost!

In the last few days we direct sown......

Pole yellow/green beans, Pole rattle snake beans, 5 types of cucumbers into our back yard 3 1x4 beds

luscious corn and Kandy corn out in the back garden.....

Painted mountain corn, Pole Scarlet runner beans and butter nut squash in our 3 sisters SFG bed #1

more lettuce and spinach behind the sugar snap peas in SFG #2....hoping it will be nice and shaded thru some of the summer....

In our front yard growing area we direct sown some Red Russian kale, blue Kale and Rainbow swiss chard.....and acorn squash in our front 4 tier SFG box......

we also transplanted 6 tomatoes that we bought from a local nursery.....2 in SFG bed, one in our son's self watering container and 3 out in the front garden into pots.....thinking about getting a few more as the weathers has been so warm Im starting to think this maybe a tomato year   

and for the most exciting news.....three asparagus spears are up and good size thickness  to eat!!!

happy gardening
rose....who is pushing the limits in her familygardens  

Woo-Hoo!  Go, FG!

I sure HOPE it's a tomato year.  We put in probably 30 or so tomatoes...  At least...

Oh this is just beautiful, folks! I was thinking on the way out to look at my garden today, after days of cold and rain, that I would be able to stop buying lettuce from the store. But I looked at my poor sad little lettuces and there's no way I can start picking the leaves yet. Someday... soon.

FG, yippee on the asparagus!!!  Are you going to split those three up and share with the family? Or will they all be for you in secret?   I won't tell.

Boffer, if I had broccoli like that I'd never see the flower. The leaves would all get put into the smoothies. And your pak choi!  One day of sun (today) and my teensy pak choi is starting to bolt already. I do better with that in the fall but I guess I forgot.

You guys are so far ahead of us!  Bean time??? Really?  This is very exciting to watch!
  
CC

CapeCoddess wrote:...Boffer, if I had broccoli like that I'd never see the flower. The leaves would all get put into the smoothies...

I've got 6 quarts of frozen juiced broccoli leaves from last fall that you're welcome to! It's way too potent for me.

It's odd, but I do like eating the leaves cooked, so this year I need to find a way to preserve them, other than juicing.

 Boffer wrote:CapeCoddess

...Boffer, if I had broccoli like that I'd never see the flower. The leaves would all get put into the smoothies...

I've got 6 quarts of frozen juiced broccoli leaves from last fall that you're welcome to!  It's way too potent for me.  

It's odd, but I do like eating the leaves cooked, so this year I need to find a way to preserve them, other than juicing.

mix that yummy broccoli juice with some green apples or bananas or pears and carrots. Yummo! Did you ever get a pressure canner? You can can greens you know. I don't do it because I'm afraid they're going to turn out like mush but I don't know that for sure.

boffer, that sounds like a nice base for a cream of broccoli soup.

Yeah, Marc's suggestion sounds good.  Or you could try dehydrating them and making chips - like kale chips.

Some folks don't like beets because of what they call the earthy flavor.  I know the flavor they mean, but I like beets.

Juiced broccoli leaves taste like the earthy flavor to me,  only 20x stronger.  I've  mixed some with other juices like carrot, apple, and cucumbers at about a 1:10 ratio, and I still had to hold my nose to get it down.  Not worth it.

I couldn't imagine using it as a soup base.  I can can, but I don't have a dehydrator.  

I know that broccoli leaves are very nutritious, so I'll figure something out.

boffer wrote:I know that broccoli leaves are very nutritious, so I'll figure something out.

My other half uses melted unsalted sweet butter and a slice of melted American cheese to calm down the flavor.  Though it jacks up the fat content of course..

Sounds like it would make great fertilizer if nothing else.

Went to do volunteer hours at the master gardener's booth at the farmers market this morning. I always have a good time there. While out there, someone told me about a local gardening club having a plant sale in a nearby supermarket parking lot. Bought a couple of cute planters there later with flowers and greens for mother's day. While still at the market, I bought something I had never heard of until today, when a couple of my fellow students manning (womaning?) the booth raved about it -- tayberry jam. A tayberry is a cross between a black raspberry and a blackberry. Mom likes berries, so I'm set. I was tempted to buy some blue cheese from the booth next to us, the Rogue Creamery. It has not only won national and international awards, it repeatedly won for best blue cheese in the entire world. Wow! Saw the price, though, and changed my mind. Wow again. Oh well.

My lamb's lettuce has bolted, so I think I'll cut the whole swath of it out and use it as the base of a dinner salad tonight. Tomorrow I'll plant one of my Better Bush tomatoes in it.

boffer wrote:Some folks don't like beets because of what they call the earthy flavor.  I know the flavor they mean, but I like beets.

Juiced broccoli leaves taste like the earthy flavor to me,  only 20x stronger.  I've  mixed some with other juices like carrot, apple, and cucumbers at about a 1:10 ratio, and I still had to hold my nose to get it down.  Not worth it.

I couldn't imagine using it as a soup base.  I can can, but I don't have a dehydrator.  

I know that broccoli leaves are very nutritious, so I'll figure something out.

Cook up a mess of greens, eat what your want and freeze the rest.  That's what I do with collards.  Then reheat in a skillet with a bit of bacon drippings and serve with hot pepper vinegar.  Southern cooking at its best.

Kay

Boffer, if you have an oven or toaster over that can maintain a LOW temp (for leaves, I'd say no more than 125 degrees or so) then you can dehydrate them that way.  You'd want them crispy, but not burnt.

I dehydrate herbs at about 110.  But those are more delicate.

and......the rain is back in FULL force   Im sure our cole crops appreciate the cool down   

been tempted to go sow some seeds anyways, as a little bit of rain doesn't hurt any one.....  

gave in to temptation at a local nursery as I found an Indigo Rose tomato plant ......*The "Indigo Rose" tomato steps out this year as the first "really" purple variety to come from a program at Oregon State University that is seeking to breed tomatoes with high levels of antioxidants*.

http://extension.oregonstate.edu/gardening/purple-tomato-debuts-%E2%80%98indigo-rose%E2%80%99

also bought a Better Boy.....just couldn't resist as these Tomato plants are so healthy looking.....tempted to buy tomato starts from now instead of starting them on my own.....if our local nurseries are going to be carrying such a diverse variety in plants   as they had lots of heirlooms as well!

also picked up more onion starts even though hubby gave me that look like *REALLY*    as we still have ton's of green onions and leek seedlings to be planted....but these onions starts are the New York yellow onion that Deb's loves and they are suppose to be good producers and store well....how could a farm girl pass those up!

also picked up a watermelon start for our son, Crimson sweet watermelon 85 days to maturity but it doesn't care for wet weather.....wondering if we should plant this in the green house.....what do you all think??

and we picked up some Butternut squash & Crookneck squash seedlings to get a head start in the garden on these.....  got the look again from hubby.....sheeesh......I reminded him as a girl, I only have one purse and a couple pair of shoes.....it could be worse.....  

happy gardening
rose who is just to caught up in her baby chicks to fess over starting seedlings this year......

Please let us know about the flavor of the Indigo Rose.

Would wait for 70 degrees(soil) for the melons.

Please do let us know how the Indigo Rose turns out. Love the look, as well as the idea of extra antioxidants.

I will keep ya posted on the taste of the Indigo Rose   just hope we have a good tomato summer, if not there may not be time enough to get these to ripen as 80 days to mature is pushing it for our PNW growing season.....one advantage we have is these seedlings are pretty big as of now and healthy and staying in our little green house protected for a bit....

happy gardening
rose who wonders if its time to start a PNW 2014 tomato thread  

FamilyGardening wrote:I will keep ya posted on the taste of the Indigo Rose   just hope we have a good tomato summer, if not there may not be time enough to get these to ripen as 80 days to mature is pushing it for our PNW growing season.....one advantage we have is these seedlings are pretty big as of now and healthy and staying in our little green house protected for a bit....

happy gardening
rose who wonders if its time to start a PNW 2014 tomato thread  

I hope it is! I think I'll transplant my first tomato from a one-gallon pot into its permanent home tomorrow. I'm itching to get going with summer planting -- beans, squash, tomatoes, malabar spinach, etc. -- and to start more serious spring harvesting -- peas, lettuce, spinach, even flowers. The problem here is that summer can so quickly sneak up on spring that it can be hard for either me or the plants to know what to do. And 35 degree temperature differentials from day to night means you can be living in two seasons on the same day.

FamilyGardening wrote:...who wonders if its time to start a PNW 2014 tomato thread.

You can start one. I'm not even going to plant tomatoes this year.

BTW, if anyone is interested in being the new PNW Regional Host, please speak up. I'm ready to retire.

corn is up!  corn is up!

carrots on the other hand are doing poorly.....I planted 6 squares in the back garden and none have sprouted.....planted 2 squares in our SFG bed #2 and only about 6 have sprouted.....our son planted about a dozen or so in his self watering container and only 1 is up.....the carrots in the pots seem to be up and the carrots in the green house are up and the tops are about 4-6 inch tall.....

today we harvested another large family size salad of lettuce and spinach and a square of French Breakfast radishes....yum!....so happy to see the spinach doing so well....the last two years we didn't harvest much of spinach at all.....we still have a lot more lettuce and spinach to harvest out of our SFG bed #1 to make room for the corn that is up in this bed for our three sisters garden!

last week we went ahead and planted some lettuce, spinach, radish and carrots in a repurposed dog carrying kennel that we grew brossel sprouts in last year that is located on the north side of the house and gets a small amount of sun....also hoping to plant a container of beets and some cilantro....I have read they do well in shaded areas.....we are hoping to extend our salads longer during the heat of summer....we shall see

planted some purple bush beans out in the back garden.......no sign yet of the other beans we planted a week or so ago, no sign of the cucumbers and no sign of the acron squash yet either....

in the green house we have our sons watermelon start that I up potted into a bigger container and keeping it happy in the green house until our weather gets a tad bit warmer......2 pots with tomatoes in them and a bunch of green onions and leek seedlings....not sure where we are going to plant these guys.....

the tomatoes we planted last week or so are all doing fine so far even with the down poor of rain we have been getting....

the crookneck, butternut and zucchini starts are all doing well planted out back in the ground along our dog fence.....

happy gardening
rose who is feeling spoiled by purchasing veggie starts this year  

You sure planted a lot out. You're more trusting of the weather than I am, I guess. I've had my tomatoes and chard and lettuce and bok choy waiting patiently out back, hardening off very nicely, but haven't trusted the weather enough to transplant them out of their pots into the garden proper yet. The garden in which I intend to plant them is lower than where I've been keeping the pots, and more subject to freezes.

The weather is so weird here in the PNW. Last week 90 degrees, the week before 35%, this week 37%. This morning I helped staff the booth at the farmers market; it started out sunny, went to cloudy to rainy to furious rain to mild sun again, then went to hot and sunny where I was peeling off layers after having spent four hours outside wearing two pairs of socks and long underwear under my jeans without my toes ever getting warm.

I wish my lettuce were as productive as yours. I got germination, but then my usual pretty much of nothing as the seedlings just sit there, probably deciding whether to bolt when less than an inch high. My already established lettuce is growing very slowly except for the red roma, which does very nicely, throwing up new and pretty leaves, and growing the old ones.

Shoveled a square yard and a half of compost into the beds I use at a neighbor's house. Glad I got that done! Tomorrow I'll be putting in probably most of what I will plant this year, emptying out a lot of my container garden plants and seedlings into the beds and direct-seeding a few things probably too, like patty pan squash and cucumbers. I may wait on that, though, the weather being so variable lately. I keep forgetting to seed some marigolds -- need to get around to that, too.

I also need to set something up for my peas to climb. They're in bags up against a chain link fence. They look wonderful and I hope I get a great crop. I certainly planted enough of them -- four or five dozen.