November Garden Update

Posted on November 26, 2024 by Dave @ HappyAcres

Today I want to share a few of the things that are growing here this November. It’s been a mild fall so far, with warmer and drier than usual conditions. We finally had our first hard freeze this morning, which is about a month later than average. The unusually warm weather we’ve been having has allowed some of the warm season vegetables to go on producing, including the peppers and a few of the eggplant. I also have cool season vegetables planted too, and they are doing well after our recent rains.

vegetable garden in November

It’s amazing to have peppers still coming on this late in the season, but quite a few of our plants are still producing. And I’ve also gotten a few eggplants, though they are a bit smaller than they might be in summer.

Aji Colorado plant

Dancer eggplant

In late summer a planted a variety of Daikon radishes and turnips. The turnips have done a bit better than the radishes, and I have started pulling them for our use.

turnips sizing up

Hakurei and Hirosaki Red turnips

I also planted the Topper turnip, which makes lots of greens but no edible roots. They are doing quite well, and I have gotten several harvests from them so far.

Topper turnips

My fall planting of kale and collards got a setback when a groundhog managed to get into our fenced garden by slipping under the gate. Most have recovered, and I have shored up the garden defenses to prevent it happening again. I have cut some of the kale already, but I am waiting until we get more frosts to cut the collards. That should make the leaves sweet and tender, and with any luck we will enjoy them through most of the winter.

collards

Meanwhile, one of the Tromboncino vines is still alive, and making new squashes. I harvested these new ones before the freeze came, and they I predict will be tasty and tender. The freeze will surely kill the vines, but they have been very productive this year.

Tromboncino squashes

And last but not least, I set out a few Forum onions sets in the planting holes where the summer squashes were growing. They have started coming up now, and I will pull them as needed for green onions and leave others to size up for next spring. They proved to be quite hardy last year, and I expect they will be this year as well.

onions coming up

And out front of our house, our Encore azaleas are looking good here in November. They might even be prettier in fall than they were this spring. These are re-bloomers that give us a show in both spring and summer.

Encore azaleas

pink azalea

red azalea

That’s all for now. I hope you have enjoyed this update on the vegetable garden here in late November. And I’ll be back soon with more happenings from Happy Acres.

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November Greenhouse Tour

Posted on November 7, 2024 by Dave @ HappyAcres

Today I want to give a quick tour of the greenhouse to show what’s growing in there in early November. All the summer plants have been cleared out now, and I have started planting crops for fall and winter growing. I’ve also begun the process of bringing in potted herbs to overwinter in there, which will provide us with fresh herbs for much of the winter. Our greenhouse is big enough to give us a good variety of greens and herbs in the cooler months, and it is one of my favorite times since the pace of gardening is much slower in the winter months.

greenhouse with landscaping in 2019

I have parsley planted at one end of the beds, and the plants I set out this summer should keep us well supplied until they complete their life cycle and bolt to flower next spring. The tallest plant in the back is Gigante di Napoli, a cold hardy Italian flat leaf variety with large leaves. I also have Cilician and Splendid planted nearby.

parsley plants

I started the seeds for lettuce and other greens indoors under lights about a month ago. I have several old favorites planted plus a few new ones like the Green Curls container kale I got from Renee’s Garden. I have it plus their Tuscan Baby Leaf kale planted in containers, and they are big enough now to begin cutting individual leaves.

Green Curls (L) and Tuscan Baby Leaf (R) kale plants

I have several containers planted with various kinds of mizuna and arugula. Miz America mizuna/mustard has burgundy colored leaves and a mild flavor that works well in salads and for soups. Speedy arugula is a long time favorite, and we use it on pizzas along with other dishes.

arugula and mizuna

The Salanova line of lettuces always do well for me in the greenhouse. I have the Red and Green Oakleaf varieties planted in one small salad box, and Red and Green Butter planted in a larger box.

Salanova butter lettuce plants

I also have lettuce planted in one bed on the right side of the greenhouse, along with a few curly kale plants. I potted up a few of the seedlings about two weeks ago to help them develop good root systems, and they have taken off nicely while growing in the protected environment of the greenhouse. The lettuce I planted includes favorites like Starfighter, Bergam’s Green and Grazion plus newcomers here like Tehama and Thai Oakleaf. The kale I set out is Winterbor and Starbor, two that do well for me in the greenhouse and in cold frame plantings.

planting the lettuce

Grazion lettuce seedling

After planting, I spread Sluggo Plus on the bed to help keep down the slugs and sowbugs, and then gave all the plants a good drink of a fish emulsion/seaweed solution (Neptunes Harvest).

inside the greenhouse

I have more chores to do in the greenhouse, including planting the other side of the beds with some onion sets and a few collard plants I have growing, If there’s room, I can even set out more lettuce plants since I still have quite a few left. I plan to get those things done in the next few days.

collard seedlings

I hope you enjoyed this look at what’s growing in the greenhouse. I’ll be back soon with more happenings from Happy Acres – including an update from the vegetable garden.

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Harvest Monday October 28, 2024

Posted on October 28, 2024 by Dave @ HappyAcres

It’s time for Harvest Monday, where gardeners from all over celebrate all things harvest related. First, a little update. Like I’ve been doing for several years now,  I’ve decided to take a break from the Harvest Monday posts for the winter months, until next February. I’ll be back with Harvest Monday on February 3rd, 2025. Until then, I will post here about other garden news as it happens, and you can always follow my Facebook page and Instagram feed for harvests and other garden news. Thanks to all for reading and participating in this celebration of the harvest that has been going since 2009. Now, on to my meager harvests!

I got another big harvest of persimmons last week from our little tree. I’ve gotten 14 pounds of them so far this season, and the tree is still loaded. We had friends visiting us last week and I sent a bunch home with them. We also enjoyed persimmon bread and persimmon cookies while they were here.

persimmons

And I also made a cutting of lettuce for our salads. This time I cut the green leaf Slo-bolt and the red Cherokee. These have both done well, and I sent some extra seeds for them home with our friends as well.

Slo-bolt and Cherokee lettuce

I got a few more hot Peppers from the Sugar Rush Peach plant that has been super productive this year. I’ve made a lot of hot sauce with this variety, which is about all I do with it since it’s too hot for my tastes to eat raw or dried and made into powder.

Sugar Rush Peach peppers

That’s all I harvested last week. Our friends Steve and Sharon drove up from Alabama to visit us for a few days, and we were busy showing them the sights around our area. My wife made some fabric art of a photo of the four of us horseback riding together back in summer, and I made a wooden frame to match the fabric. It was a fun way to memorialize our fun trip to the Cumberland Falls area, and my first time up on a horse in many years!

art piece

horseback riding

Harvest Monday is a day to show off your harvests, how you are saving your harvest, or how you are using your harvest. If you have a harvest you want to share, add your name and blog link to Mr Linky below. And please check out what everyone is harvesting!

 


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Harvest Monday October 21, 2024

Posted on October 21, 2024 by Dave @ HappyAcres

It’s time once again for Harvest Monday, where we celebrate all things harvest related. With frost in the forecast, I dug all the sweet potatoes last week, and as I feared they did not do well at all this year. After a wet spring, we had drought conditions for much of the summer and I didn’t do a great job of keeping the plants irrigated. The ones in the photo are Korean Purple, a white fleshed one that yielded 6.5 pounds total. Beauregard is an orange fleshed one that normally does quite well for me. This year the five hills only yielded less than five pounds total, with two of the hills having no roots at all. Last year the five hills of Beauregard yielded 13 pounds, so it’s easy to see that this year was a disappointment. I’ll share the other sweet potato harvests in a future post.

late October harvest

Hot peppers are still doing well though. We had our first frost(s) last week as forecasted, and I picked as many of the peppers as I could find beforehand. Aji Rico is one of my favorites of the C. baccatum types. Mad Hatter is another one I like, though it has been a shy yielder this year.

Aji Rico and Mad Hatter peppers

I picked a few more of the hot peppers, including a few big San Joaquin jalapenos. San Joaquin is a 2023 AAS Winner and was loaded with peppers this summer.

San Joaquin jalapenos

I made a big cutting of parsley to go in a tabouli salad I made last week. Parsley is one of my favorite herbs, and I try and have some of it growing here year round. In the winter months the greenhouse planting keeps us supplied.

flat leaf parsley

And speaking of the greenhouse, the door fell apart last week. I had ordered a replacement last year, but managed to keep the old one together for a year with a repair job. This time I replaced the bottom half of the two part door, and we’ll see how long the old top half stays together!

new greenhouse door

I did harvest two more of the Centercut squashes last week. These mature ones will keep us supplied for pies as well as pumpkin bread and muffins.

mature Centercut squashes

And last but not least, I made a big cutting of Topper turnip greens I cooked up for dinner one night. As the name suggests, Topper makes lots of leaves but no edible roots, and the leaves are smooth and milder tasting than many other varieties.

Topper turnip greens

The persimmon tree is loaded this year, and I used some of last year’s puree I had frozen to make a batch of Grandma’s Persimmon Cookies They are soft and moist, and the consistency is really a cross between a cookie and cake. I also have a recipe for persimmon bread I want to try soon. I also use the frozen puree in my breakfast smoothies, where it adds a rich flavor to the other fruits.

persimmon cookies

Harvest Monday is a day to show off your harvests, how you are saving your harvest, or how you are using your harvest. If you have a harvest you want to share, add your name and blog link to Mr Linky below. And please check out what everyone is harvesting!


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Harvest Monday October 14, 2024

Posted on October 14, 2024 by Dave @ HappyAcres

It’s time once again for Harvest Monday, where we celebrate all things harvest related. We’ve been enjoying the summer planted lettuce, and last week I cut a big head of Slobolt leaf lettuce for use in our salads. This is a dependable performer for me here in all seasons, and it has held up well in our recent hotter than usual fall weather. The green leaves are big and tender, and we use it on sandwiches as well as in salads. This variety was  introduced in 1946 by the USDA, and has been a favorite of home gardeners and market growers ever since.

Slobolt lettuce

Hot peppers are still ripening for me, and I got a good selection of Sugar Rush Peach, Aji Colorado, and Aji Dedo de Moca Yellow. It’s been a good year for hot peppers, and I have harvested over 25 pounds of them so far.

assorted hot peppers

I dried the Aji Colorados for chile powder. I’ve also been drying the guajillo peppers of late but they were camera shy this week. It does take a lot of peppers to make a decent amount of chile powder, and I use a quite a bit of it throughout the year for various dishes.

dried Aji Colorado peppers

I also got the first big harvest of Flaming Flare for this year. Flaming Flare is a Fresno type pepper with medium heat, and a 2015 AAS Winner. I’ve got these fermenting for hot sauce, and they make a tasty sauce indeed.

Flaming Flare peppers

I did find another bit mature Centercut squash last week, this one weighing 7.6 pounds. Centercut makes a rich and sweet tasting puree when baked, and we use it mostly in pies and other baked goods.

mature Centercut squash

And last but certainly not least, our small but mighty persimmon tree is loaded with fruit this year. This is the Nikita’s Gift cultivar, which is a hybrid cross between an Asian variety and the native American persimmon that is self-pollinating and hardy to USDA zone 5. Last year we harvested 25 pounds of them, and there should be at least that many this year. The first one tasted especially sweet to me, and more will soon follow as they ripen and get soft enough to eat.

Nikita’s Gift persimmon

persimmon tree with fruit

In non-harvest news, since the pole beans are done for the year we used some of our frozen beans for dinner one night. I also grilled some steelhead trout, and baked a big Jester squash we got from our volunteer gig at Nourish. We’ve enjoyed the Jester squashes so much I am planning on adding them back in the lineup here next year.

dinner with green beans

Harvest Monday is a day to show off your harvests, how you are saving your harvest, or how you are using your harvest. If you have a harvest you want to share, add your name and blog link to Mr Linky below. And please check out what everyone is harvesting!

 


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