More goodies

Cherries are ripening fast now - so far we have picked 6 lbs off the backyard tree. More brassicas too.

Emily with fresh cherries (made a nice pie), broccoli, and kohlrabi.

This is 3 broccoli heads, cut up and ready to be frozen. First blanched for 3 minutes, then chilled in ice water, patted dry....

...and bagged and vacuum-sealed in a freezer bag. We're going to try canning this year for other vegetables, but I will be freezing whenever possible as it just seems a lot easier.

Brassicas

Excellent spring weather helped the (late planted) brassicas mature quickly - they're rolling in now. Ideally, I would have had the first small plantings of quick maturing varieties in by mid-march, followed a month later by the main crop plantings. The idea is to avoid being overwhelmed by an abundance of, say, kohlrabi (which one can only eat so much of) all at once, and instead to spread out the harvest over a month or more. Succession planting and smart varietal selection: something to focus on next year.

Derby day cabbage, a short season 58 day variety, ready for picking after 63 days. I also planted a long season fall cabbage.

The earliest of the Fall broccoli blend, a mix of 4 varieties, is ready. Looks like about half of the dozen or so plants I have are early, with the other half about a week away.

Supersmeltz kohlrabi. The biggest are softball size, with others as small as golfballs. It's an upgrade from broccoli stems.

More transplants

I dug two more raised beds this week and got the brassica seedlings in. I bought some steer manure/compost mix and an all-purpose organic fertilizer and have been incorporating both into the top 6 inches of each bed as I go. Really need some organic matter in this soil.

Kale, kohlrabi, two kinds of cabbage, and broccoli mix, ready to go in.


I'm using wider spacing this year than I have before. I've always been limited by space, so I've used "intensive planting" to fit as much in as possible. Intensive planting can work well, but more plants per square foot means more frequent watering, heavier fertilizing, and smaller plants due to crowding and competition. Now that I have plenty of room, I'm giving each plant plenty of real estate.

Up-potting

Up-potting is moving seedlings from a communal, crowded pot to their own private cell, where they get a little more foot room to grow on without competition for light, water, or nutrients.

Start with a pot of seedlings with at least 2 true leaves. Red russian kale in this case.

Roots have made it throughout the entire pot. The soil should be slightly moist and hold together when the pot is slipped off.


Starting at the bottom of the soil cube and working around the perimeter, gently break apart the root ball. Try to break as few roots as possible, you want to make this process as stress-free as possible for the seedlings.


You can see the potential root growth for one little plant after about a month.


Each separated seedling gets potted into its' own cell.

I up-potted all the brassicas (broccoli, cabbage, kohlrabi, and kale). One or two weeks under the lights will help them to recovers and begin growing quickly again, then it's out to the cold-frame to harden off for a week before being transplanted outside.

First frost

Bellingham's average first frost the the 1st of October. It held off for a few weeks but we got our first frost last night. It wasn't a hard freeze, but it did kill everything that is considered tender or a hot weather veggie.

The last of the basil was killed off. Despite our chillier than normal summer, it did great this year.


Dahlia foliage and blooms were killed off as well. The plants were then cut off about 6" from the ground, which will promote the growth of new "eyes", which will be next years' growth. After two weeks, they'll be dug up, cured for a few days, and stored through the winter to be planted out next spring.

I took out the last of the tomatoes, amended with some compost, and sowed crimson clover.

The hardier vegetables took the frost with no problem. I hope we have enough remaining days of decent weather and enough light to push them to maturity before real winter sets in.

Chinese cabbage, leeks, and carrots.

Kohlrabi and a few broccoli plants.

Fall transplants

Got pretty much everything in the ground now. Realistically, I'm a few weeks too late. It's possible that a frost or even a freeze can roll in by the middle of September, or it may be sunny and frost free till mid October. So I'm hoping for a mild fall and planting like crazy. The last lettuce will go in this weekend.

Cabbage in front and Broccoli in the back. This bed was in such bad shape I have not used it this year till now.

Kohlrabi. I sowed crimson clover in this bed as well to see how well kohlrabi can be interplanted.

Monumental Chinese cabbage goes in a bed with other winter tough veggies, leeks and carrots.

I've sown crimson clover as a cover crop and green manure in all bare areas at the garden plots. As soon as the tomatoes and peppers are done (as well as any other lingering crops), they'll be pulled and crimson clover will go in there as well. I'm hoping to have a dense cover over everything as soon as the winter rains start coming in.

Went down to the garden a few days ago and surprised some wildlife in one of the plots at the community garden.

They ate about 8 feet of a row of runner beans, stripping off all the leaves. I'm glad I've got a 6 foot fence!

My fall brassicas are coming along nicely. Instead of thinning 3 or 4 plants down to 1 per cell, as I did in spring with my early brassicas, I ended up pricking out these seedlings and potting them up to individual 2" pots or into a cell tray with 2" cells. I'm planting more of each vegetable than I did this spring.

That's cabbage in the front 2 rows and broccoli in the back 2 rows. These were sown about 25 days ago and should be transplanted some time next week.


Chinese cabbage in front and kohlrabi in back sown 2 weeks ago. Hopefully these will be out in the garden in 2 weeks. That's about 2 weeks later than they should have been out, but I'm hoping for a long, cool fall with no early frosts.

I sowed a few more fall veggies a couple days ago:
- one 4-pack Italian Silver Chard
- one 4-pack Red Russian Kale
Both frost hardy varieties that should stand through the winter.

More Fall veggies

Started some more cool weather crops this weekend, hopefully with enough time for them to get in the ground and be ready before really cold weather shows up.

one 4-pack Kohlrabi Superschmelz (KH348)
one 4-pack Lettuce The Redder the Better mix (LT443)
one 4-pack Monument Chinese Cabbage (OV572)
one 1 Qt. Sweet Dumpling Delicata (SQ822)

I've heard that squash and cucumber can be tricky to start, and they were for me. My first squash didn't come up. My two 1 qt. pots of cucumber all came up but all damped off within 2 weeks. It's almost too late now, but I'm trying one last time anyway.

Stopped by the garden plot last night and had some ripe Sungold cherry tomatoes - our favorite variety.