It's That Time of Year Again

Time to figure out what seeds to buy and start growing inside. I want to grow everything, but I only have so little space this is really tough!

2010 PLANTING PLAN

1. BED ONE (large + fence) 42 x 94.5 = 3.5' x 7.9' = 27.6' = 27.5'
Spring: lettuce
Summer: Trombonchino squash, 2 italian frying, 2 green bell, 2 red or something bell peppers
fall: nothing

2. BED TWO (small + fence) 31.5 x 46 = 2.6' x 3.8' = 9.8 sq ' = 10'
Spring: mustard greens
Summer: cucumbers & endives
Fall: nothing

In front of beds 1 & 2: gem marigolds
Front: calendula bed
Fence: climbing nasturtiums

3. BED THREE (small) 31.5 x 47.5 = 2.6' x 3.9' = 10.14 = 10'
Spring & Summer: Strawberries and Chard

Behind bed three: Chamomile & Borage, lavender

4. BED FOUR (large) 58.5 x 126 = 4.9' x 10.5' = 51.45' = 51.5'
Spring: radishes & arugula
Summer: soybeans, cavili squash (Parthenocarpic), Chinese cabbage, hot pepper
fall: lettuce, carrots & turnips

OTHER SIDE OF YARD
5. BED FIVE (large + fence)
Spring: peas, radishes
Summer: tomatoes & jalapeno
Fall: nothing

6. BED SIX (large + fence) 39" x 94" - 3' x 7' - 21 sq '
Spring: Carrots & turnips
Summer: same
Fall: arugula, mustard greens, mache

nearby: bush nasturtiums

7. BED SEVEN (shade, in ground)
Same perennials - ferns, mint, shisho (will hopefully reseed), yarrow, anise hyssop

8. NEW BED EIGHT:
Spring: ???
Summer: Emerite beans & leeks, basil

Well, that was easier than last year. I already went and bought all my seeds! Good thing too because the squash I wanted was only sold by one place, I'm sure it will sell out. Here's what I bought, and that's all I'll need. Everything else I have saved from last year.

• Cucumbers - Diva (slicer), Cool Breeze & Rocky (both mini picklers). All 3 are Parthenocarpic.
• Endive (witloof) - Totem OG
• Nasturtiums, climbing - Jewel of Africa
• Nasturtiums, bush- Kaleidscope OG
• Summer squash, bush - Cavili, also Parthenocarpic
• Chinese cabbage - Lettucy type
• Carrots - Napoli OG
• Leeks - King Richards (early & long) & Giant Musselburgh (old heirloom, very winter hardy)

The only other thing I'll have to buy are a few pepper, tomato and basil plants, since I think it would be too much to grow from seed inside. I will probably do the cucumbers and squash inside to get an early start, as well as marigolds like I did last year. I'll get the others from this nursery in NJ: http://www.chileplants.com

Not a Fail Afterall. Hooray!

It turns out the carrots and turnips weren't dead afterall! It warmed up and hit 50 this Saturday, so I went outside to see if the carrots were still edible. To my surprise, the green tops had perked back up and looked alive! They were still damaged, but nowhere nearly as bad as the greens in the other bed (which are definitely still dead, or at least dormant).

The next test was taste, and the carrots passed with flying colors! Sweet and cruchy, they tasted just as good as they did in the summer. So I picked 90% of them. I figured I might as well eat them when I knew the eating was good, before it snows again. I left in just a few as a test, to see how long they'll last.

The turnips were also alive, but the ones I picked seemed a tiny bit soft. I am still going to try cooking them to see how they taste, but I haven't gotten around to it yet.

I lightly steamed the carrots along with some green beans, then finished them off in a saute pan with a bit of vegan butter, toasted fennel seeds and garlic. They were delicious! It was my first time using fennel seeds like that. I would definitely make this dish again (it was based off this recipe).

I had two friends over for dinner last night so I served them along with chickpea cutlets parmigiana (with Teese mozarella), homemade teese & unpepperoni stromboli, and saffron risotto from Nonna's Italian Kitchen.
We also had an endive and apple salad as a first course. Next year my goal is to grow endives so we can have them fresh in the winter. In any case, my friends were happy they trekked on NJ transit all the way from the LES. :-)

Four Season Gardening = Fail

Well, not a total fail - but definitely not a success! The plants under my rowcovers have been dead since it first dipped into the low 20's back in early December. Here is what the greens bed looks like today:
Even the mache is frozen. So much for that!

And here is the bed of carrots. The turnips look the same.
I wish I had known this was going to happen, so I could have at least picked everything when I saw the temps were heading down that low. A lot of good food was wasted. My brother says I can still dig the carrots up and eat them, but I've read in other places frozen ground will turn them into mush. In any case the ground is frozen hard right now, and it is so cold out I have no intention of going out there to dig. Nope, I'm staying right here on the couch with my fuzzy blanket, snoozing doggy and tea.

Overall, I don't feel too bad. At least it was a learning experience. Now I know what the Agribon can do, so next year I can plan better. And it did at least make everything last until early December. If it hadn't been the coldest winter on record in over a decade, it might have worked better. I'm also still glad I built the rowcovers, because I'm sure it will help me get an early start in the spring. Now I've just got to be patient and wait for horrible January and February to pass!

C'est la vie!

Update: Looks like the problem is I needed an additional layer of poly. Thanks Robin! I am definitely going to try it. http://www.mofga.org/Default.aspx?tabid=833