2015 journal of the gardens

[ninnymary]

Will you have lettuce until you plant again in the spring? I wish I could grow carrots. I've tried the rainbow colored ones and some others but they didn't do well. Costco has organic ones pretty cheap so I get them there.

Mary

 

[Smart Red]

Such a beautiful garden, Major, especially for this time of year! Wish I lived closer (for the winter) so I could have a winter garden half as good looking as yours.

I did work in my garden today for a while. I pulled out weeds and grass roots as DH turned the soil. It didn't take very long before he had to sit down and rest, so we called it a day. I am hoping that tomorrow I will be able to plant my garlic in a newly cleaned bed. Temps for the daytime are predicted to be in the low to mid 40s for the up-coming week with mostly sunny skies. Today, with the sun out and no breeze, I was able to work without my jacket at 42 degrees (F) without feeling the cool.

Fun for south-est, central-est Wisconsin!

 

[majorcatfish]

Your vegetable garden is a beautiful thing Major.
Especially those sweet carrots!
Looks like you have some trees still showing their fall colors.

that's so funny living and working in microclimates here most all trees are done dropping except the red tips, down at work 50 mins away the oaks still have their leaves...green and brown...go figure.....

Will you have lettuce until you plant again in the spring? I wish I could grow carrots. I've tried the rainbow colored ones and some others but they didn't do well. Costco has organic ones pretty cheap so I get them there.
Mary

mary will be able to grow lettuce till a real hard freeze comes. the butter leaf is more susceptible to frost than the oakleaf...so far! only expecting most of the lettuce to become small heads if that.. nothing wrong with baby lettuce...

Such a beautiful garden, Major, especially for this time of year! Wish I lived closer (for the winter) so I could have a winter garden half as good looking as yours.
I did work in my garden today for a while. I pulled out weeds and grass roots as DH turned the soil. It didn't take very long before he had to sit down and rest, so we called it a day. I am hoping that tomorrow I will be able to plant my garlic in a newly cleaned bed. Temps for the daytime are predicted to be in the low to mid 40s for the up-coming week with mostly sunny skies. Today, with the sun out and no breeze, I was able to work without my jacket at 42 degrees (F) without feeling the cool.
Fun for south-est, central-est Wisconsin!

yes it was nice to get out in a short sleeve shirt today even after this mornings frost..
glad you're going to get your garlic planted, nothing like getting fall/early winter planting done....

would love to have people like all of you living closer to here. but having everyone spread out as we our, this what makes the forum so rich in information...

 

[digitS']

DW is the lettuce person. If one or another does well in the garden, I'm inclined towards that one. That's my preference.

I'm just looking at Johnny's catalog. Nearly all those that she especially likes can be found on their Heritage page - buttercrunch, red sails, green saladbowl. Pages upon pages of varieties, tho.

I think I understand why she doesn't care for Romaine. It holds up a little later in summer but it's fairly different from the other groups. I have no idea why very successful Nancy Butterhead and Nevada Batavian don't appeal to her!

I'm not sure if I want her to see these varieties of Lolo ...

Steve

 

[majorcatfish]

johnny's catalog came early this year. so sat down while smoking thanksgiving turkeys and figured out what i was going to plant next year, with shipping and handling costs going through the roof decided to save a bit of that and go through 1 catalog. while sitting there weeded out all my expired seeds packets or with only 1 or 2 seeds in them and of course the experiment seeds that were a flop..
so here"s next years line up


Red Ace
Pelleted (F1) Beet Seed

Bolder (F1) Beet Seed

Cherriette(F1) Radish Seed

Skyphos Lettuce butterhead

Adriana Pelleted Lettuce Seed butterhead

X3R® Red Knight (F1) bell Pepper Seed

Intruder (F1) bell Pepper Seed

Highlander Organic (F1) Pepper Seed

Marketmore 76 Cucumber Seed

Salt and Pepper Organic Cucumber Seed

Fortex Bean Seed pole bean green bean

Cosmos Bean Seed bush bean green bean

Gold Mine Bean Seed bush bean yellow wax bean

Escorial (F1) Melon Seed

Diplomat (F1) Melon Seed

Orange Crisp (F1) Watermelon Seed orange watermelon

Nabechan(F1) Onion Seed green onion

Clara(F1) Eggplant Seed white

Vision (F1) Corn Seed sweet corn

Emperor (F1) Spinach Seed

Mariana (F1) Tomato Seed

Churchill (F1) Brussels Sprout Seed

course have plenty to start off with next spring's first plantings.
black summer bock choi
tyee spinach
beets
peas..... oh lord have plenty for a couple years...
a few odd tomatoes

as for herbs will purchase those from the farmers market along with a couple hot peppers.

yeah call me mister tight wod but i saved over $45 in shipping charges....

 

[thistlebloom]

Wow that's a huge savings on shipping! What you saved should get you a lot of plant starts at the FM.
Looks like another great year in your garden.

 

[ninnymary]

Major, can I ask how much you will be spending on seeds for next year? I'm just curious.

Mary

 

[majorcatfish]

seeds and shipping 126.00 last year $160 ish
other things during the year don't ask.. i don't keep records

this year i did buy in bulk with seeds that have a long shelf life.....

 

[ninnymary]

I'm sure you save some seed. But I'm guessing you like to try new things?

Mary

 

[digitS']

An outfit like Johnny's has a lot of "depth to the bench." Most gardeners could take several years to try, say, 3/4 of what they offer.

With some bulk purchases of long lasting seed, having 2 or 3 favorite seed companies and alternating seasons, a gardener could probably go many years with just one order/year.

... I can imagine, anyway. It's a fairly serious vice - multiple orders going out each year. Yeah, I keep records. Let's see ... one, two, three, four ... eight ... in 2015. Hey! That's better than 2014 when there were nine! Let's see, eight in 2013. Okay, I'm fairly consistent. I'll stop. Any day now! Oh. The digitS' on my right hand are beginning to tremble at the thought ...

digitS'