Vegetable Review

Vegetable: Cabbage
Variety: Derby Day Cabbage
Seed Co: Territorial Seed Co.
Description: "Grows very rapidly in the chill of spring, and can hold up to 5 weeks without bolting if the weather is right. The early maturing, round, blue-green heads weigh in at 3-5 pounds and measure 5-7 inches in diameter. The dense interior is extremely sweet and tender and makes great slaw, both cold and hot".
Sown: March 15, 2008
Transplanted: May 3
Germination: good
First Harvest: about July 3
Days to maturity: Stated: 58 Actual: 60
Held in field/length of harvest: 4 weeks
Problems: The usual slugs, cabbage worms, and blue aphids, easily removed or washed out with water.
Results: Easily grown, tasty cabbage. Picked the first after 60 days at 4-5" diameter. Later plants matured to large and dense heads of 6-8".



Just at the first harvest, after about 2 months in the ground.


Last one was very large, no splitting either.

Vegetable Review

Vegetable: Lettuce

Variety: Buttercrunch

Seed Co: Territorial LT392

Description: Crispy and crunchy, very light textured. Semi-heading. Great for sandwiches and fresh eating.

Sown: 3/15/08

Transplanted: 4/17/08

Germination: good, very slow comparatively, took about 12 days to fully germinate

First Harvest: 5/25/08

Days to maturity: Stated: 48 Actual: 40-50

Held in field/length of harvest: Was good eating from May 25 through July 5, or about 5 weeks

Problems: Very attractive to slugs, I had to put Sluggo down once a week to keep them from getting eaten too much

Results: Great spring lettuce, held for a very long time without bolting. I probably planted too much at one time, and should have split my indoor sowing into two groups 3 weeks apart. I’ll be planting more soon for fall and winter harvest.

Transplanted at four weeks old under plastic during a cold month of April.

5 weeks later just big enough to start cutting.

Vegetable Review

Vegetable: Snap Pea

Variety: Mega

Seed Co: Territorial PE629

Description: 3-4” long, thick-walled, stringless, edible pods on dwarf 30” non-climbing vines.

Sown: March 6

Transplanted: April 5

Germination: very good, 5 days

First Harvest: June 24

Days to maturity: Stated: 55 Actual: 100

Held in field: 2 weeks

Problems: Long to mature - this one took about 100 days from germination to harvest. When they did mature, they produced only half as heavily as the same amount of snow peas nearby. This "enation resistant" variety did not resist much - leaves were yellowing and flowers dropping a few weeks before the snow peas.

Results: The peas were sweet, very crisp and very juicy, but seemed to lack flavor. I'll be trying a different variety this fall.

June 14: Just about ready.

July 1: Enation sets in.

Vegetable Review

Vegetable: Snow Pea

Variety: Oregon Sugar Pod II

Seed Co: Territorial PE624

Description: 3-5” crisp green pods on dwarf, non-climbing 36” vines

Sown: March 6, indoors

Transplanted: April 5

Germination: very good

First Harvest: June 17

Days to maturity: Stated: 70 Actual: 90

Held in field/length of harvest: 3 weeks

Problems: Succumbed to enation (according to Steve Solomon) before 2^nd round of flowers could set pods fully

Results: Matured later due to abnormally chilly May weather which slowed growth. Produced twice as heavily as Mega snap peas. Crisp, juicy, stringless pods were great fresh or stir fried. Stronger “pea” flavor than snaps. Good eating even when peas were allowed to swell up.

Yum.

Vegetable Review

Vegetable: Spinach (Spinacea oleracea)

Variety: Bloomsdale Savoy, Oriental Giant

Seed Co: Territorial Seed Co.

Description:

Bloomsdale: Dark green savoyed leaf, a spring and fall spinach

Oriental Giant: fast, large leaved, bolt resistant for a quick maturing variety

Bloomsdale spinach at harvest

Sown: 02/24, 03/09, 04/27

Germination: sowed 4" wide bands, 1st sowing at end of Feb was poor, 2 week later sowing was average, Oriental giant at end of April was good

First Harvest: 05/15

Days to maturity:
Bloomsdale Stated: 50 Actual: 51
Oriental Stated: 40 Actual: none

Held in field: 7-10 days

Problems: I really had trouble with spinach this year. I sowed before a few weeks of unseasonably warm and sunny weather in late February, so germination was good. Cold, wet weather (including snow) later on pretty much wiped out the first sowing. A second sowing 2 weeks later came up and grew much better so I was able to harvest a few plants. The last sowing of Oriental giant at the end of April germinated well, but grew very slowly and did not produce leaves of edible size. All remaining spinach bolted last week.

Bolting! Bloomsdale on left and tiny Oriental "giant" on right.

Results: Spinach is known for being more difficult to grow well than other greens. Next time I will try to sow at more appropriate times to ensure better performance. Choosing the right variety at the right time is crucial: a quick maturing variety like Oriental Giant could be sown in spring a bit later than longer varieties if I must wait for good weather. Later on, a heat tolerant and bolt resistant variety like Correnta could be sown to help prolong harvest into hotter June weather. I may have not provided enough nitrogen either. Spinach is a heavy feeder. The organic fertilizers I use need to be broken down in the soil before nutrients are available for plants. In the cold, wet soil in February, biological activity is minimal, so those nutrients are not being released. Perhaps liquid fertilizer solution will work better. I'll try a fall crop this summer and try again.

Vegetable Review

Vegetable: Radish

Variety: Easter Egg II blend (F-1)

Seed Co: Renee's Garden

Description: .75" to 1.5" diameter bulbs in red, white, purple, and pink. Green tops to 6".

Sown: April 5

Germination: very good

1st harvest: May 16

Days to maturity: Stated: 28 Actual: less than 41

Held in field: about 2 weeks

Problems: None. Began splitting at 50 days, as can be expected. No flea beetle or root maggot damage

Results: very easy to grow, germinated very well, thinned to 1" initially, then to 2" as leaves touched. Radishes were crisp and mild flavored, great fresh on salads and sandwiches or stir fried. Last of the crop was pulled June 8 (64 days) and all but a few were split wide open.